Had they passed, the proposed measures would have created a code of conduct for bishops and a special commission, including six lay members, tasked with working with the apostolic nuncio, the pope’s diplomatic representative to the United States Church, to investigate allegations of bishop misconduct. These would have been small but significant moves toward making bishops more accountable when they fail to report abusive priests, or when they are accused of abuse themselves. But even these limited actions were delayed. [...]
The Vatican’s top-down involvement is far different from the way the Holy See approached an earlier iteration of the sex-abuse crisis in 2002, under Pope John Paul II, when American bishops were essentially left to their own devices after The Boston Globe’s explosive reporting on clergy’s abuse of children. That year, the bishops conference wrote the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, known colloquially as the Dallas Charter, which set forth guidelines for addressing child abuse by members of the clergy. During Tuesday’s discussion on the proposed reforms, DiNardo said the measures would fill gaps in the Dallas Charter relating to bishop oversight and where people should go to report allegations of abuse by bishops or bishops’ failure to address alleged abuse. [...]
Massimo Faggioli, a historian at Villanova University, believes that the Vatican is putting together its own proposals for bishop oversight, which it could deploy worldwide in February, rather than let bishops of each country develop slightly different solutions. “I expect that [Vatican officials] are preparing guidelines that they will issue as mandatory,” Faggioli said. “At this point, [the February meeting] seems it will not just be a moment for sharing ideas.” Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago told me that there was also some concern from the Vatican that the American bishops’ proposals, as written, were not in accordance with canon law. [...]
On the whole, bishops and observers seemed to have two very different reactions to the Vatican’s request to delay the vote. On the side of some bishops, the Vatican’s move is bad for American Catholicism, because it prevents the bishops from taking any cohesive, large-scale action until the spring. But many liberal Catholics, such the National Catholic Reporter’s Michael Sean Winters, believe this could be good for the Church, and for American Catholics, in the long term, because it shows that the Vatican is taking greater responsibility for sexual abuse than it has in past decades. The Vatican, they believe, has an opportunity to change the culture of the Church—and will keep the bishops more accountable than they could keep themselves. Either way, however, the ball is now unquestionably in the Vatican’s court.
No comments:
Post a Comment