CNS STORY: Head of ad hoc sex abuse committee backs continuing 'zero tolerance'

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SEXABUSE-FLYNN Oct-7-2004 (880 words) xxxn

Head of ad hoc sex abuse committee backs continuing 'zero tolerance'

By Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The head of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse has strongly defended the removal from all ministry of any priest who admits to or is proven to have committed at least one act of child sex abuse.

"The reassignment of even one priest who then harms another child is utterly unacceptable," said Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis, committee chairman.

The protection of minors is the "overall and ultimate purpose" of prevention policies, he said in an article in the Oct. 18 issue of America, a national Catholic weekly magazine published in New York by the Jesuits.

The article appeared about a month before the U.S. bishops' Nov. 15-18 fall general meeting, when they are to review their program for preventing clergy sex abuse.

The policy of removing a priest from ministry, called "zero tolerance," is also needed to restore public trust and confidence in the church, the archbishop said.

The ad hoc committee is responsible for suggesting possible modifications to the policies contained in the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" that the bishops approved in 2002. The charter calls for a review after two years.

Critics of "zero tolerance" have said that, just as there are different degrees of sex abuse, there should be different levels of penalties. Some critics say that with proper therapy and supervision, relapse rates are very low, allowing offenders to be returned to some forms of ministry not involving contact with children. Still other critics have said that turning sex offenders loose on society may be more dangerous to children than keeping them under church supervision.

Archbishop Flynn said that past errors by bishops "have limited the bishops' flexibility today."

He cited transferring offenders from parish to parish and sometimes to other dioceses often without alerting people to the potential danger.

"These errors included a reliance on secrecy where transparency was needed," he added.

Such errors led to public perceptions that bishops and priests "saw themselves above the law," he said.

"There was a risk that the general public might begin to perceive the priesthood itself as a safe haven for criminal behavior," he said.

"Zero tolerance" for past offenders was "the most contested subject" at the bishops' 2002 meeting at which they drafted the charter policies, Archbishop Flynn said.

"Yet it was over the question of whether bishops were tolerating the presence in ministry of offenders who might offend again that a breach of trust was most keenly felt by the Catholic people," he said.

Without "zero tolerance" for past offenders, the charter would have been approved faster at the 2002 meeting, he said.

There was general agreement about applying the policy to future abuses, he said.

"We bishops have now been asking ourselves whether we had mistakenly thought we had the skills and resources necessary to assure that an offender would not reoffend," he said.

In support of continuing of "zero tolerance," Archbishop Flynn cited evidence from the study commissioned by the bishops' National Review Board and conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. The study, released last February, collected data from almost all of the U.S. dioceses on credible accusations against clergy from 1950 through 2002.

The archbishop said the study showed that:

-- The problem was bigger than expected as "there were over 4,000 priests accused and over 10,000 victims."

-- "Relatively few clerics committed only the most minor acts of abuse."

-- Even though 56 percent of the clerics allegedly abused a single victim, "in most cases, the abuse consisted of a pattern of sexual acts occurring over weeks, months or, in some cases, years."

Archbishop Flynn said that the issue before bishops is not whether there should be different degrees of punishment for different types of sexual acts. It is "whether a cleric with a proven or admitted act of sexual abuse can and should function in ministry," he said.

This does not mean the bishops have established an "unforgivable sin" for clerics, he said.

Every sin can be forgiven but it has consequences, he said. Regarding child sex abuse, "one consequence is that an offending cleric cannot remain in ministry or, in some cases, in the priesthood," he added.

"Loss of faculties to minister and even dismissal from the clerical state are not the same as losing one's life or liberty," he said.

The archbishop noted that church law provides due process to protect the rights of the accused and to adjudicate cases.

"When guilt or innocence is yet to be determined, the law must protect the rights of the accused," he said.

The bishops are working with the Vatican to ensure that accusations "are dealt with justly and as speedily as is consistent with justice," he said.

Overall, he said, dioceses are cooperating with prevention policies, and "the charter has accomplished much of what it was intended to accomplish" in creating a safe environment for children.

Cases of child sex abuse by clerics are being reported to civil authorities, bishops are consulted on policy with boards composed mostly of nondiocesan employees, and "no bishop will transfer a priest who has offended from one ministerial assignment to another," he said.

END

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