Bishops expected to approve abuse policy

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A Catholic archbishop predicted the unanimous approval on Wednesday of two documents having to do with the sexual abuse of minors, and he also anticipated a resolution that would urge caution on invading Iraq.

"Our position has been that we will remove from active ministry all priests who have ever offended against a child sexually," said Daniel E. Pilarczyk, archbishop of Cincinnati. "In doing that we also need to be aware of the demands of our own canon law" that provide justice to the accused, he told United Press International.

"We have norms which have now been reviewed by the Vatican which indicate how you go about doing that. ... I think we're moving in the right direction, and I think we're moving well.

"There's going to be a vote tomorrow on the norms as defined by the Vatican, and there's going to be a vote on the charter which we agreed to in Dallas last June. The charter is the pastoral document. When you modify the norms, you have to modify the charter a little bit. It will probably be the unanimous approval of both."

Pilarczyk, 68, was interviewed Tuesday on the second day of a four-day meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill. From 1996 to 2000, the Dayton, Ohio, native was chairman of the conference's Committee on Doctrine.

A delegation of four American bishops led by Chicago's Cardinal Francis George traveled to Rome last month and met with four Vatican officials. This commission revised the "zero-tolerance" policy adopted in Dallas to ensure due process rights to the accused.

Monsignor Robert S. Humitz, pastor of St. Daniel Catholic Community in Clarkston, Mich., said part of the bishops' pastoral responsibility is to ensure that administrative structures are in place to protect both the victims and the priests. He called this "a cold, hard, calculated process that's difficult to enter into in a human kind of way." But if these measures are successful, people will feel safe, he said.

Another part of the pastoral process is to generate creative ways to bring healing to everyone involved, including the families and the community that has been "wounded."

Humitz said it's important to remember, for the sake of perspective, that "some of this goes back 30 or 40 years" in a Catholic population in the hundreds of millions.

But even if the relative numbers are small, the absolute number of accusations that has surfaced in the past two years has shocked many Americans. Humitz was asked why we have not heard of furious fathers storming into rectories. Is it because the predators have been shrewd in picking their victims, preying especially on boys from broken homes?

"I think (predatory priests) have gained not only the trust of their victims but the trust of their families," the pastor replied. Being a priest also inspires trust. Under those circumstances, a father -- especially 20 or 30 years ago -- might think his child is making up a story, Humitz said. "Typically, I don't think the children feel free to say what's happened to them."

Pilarczyk was asked to outline other important business of the conference.

"We're probably going to say something about Iraq," he responded. "What I perceive we will say is: 'Yes, we should defend ourselves. Yes, we should be aware of what our enemies are up to. But let's not rush into something that we don't have to rush into.'

"We are issuing a statement about the abuse of women," especially wife beating, he said. "The abuse of women is an issue in our society. And we're trying to say, 'Look, you don't have to put up with that. We're going to try and help you with that.' ... We're going to try and get our priests to realize that they have some responsibilities. If a woman comes to her priest and says her husband beats her up, the church and its ministers should help battered women get help."

The archbishop said his confreres would be updating a document on stewardship that was adopted about 10 years ago. Pilarczyk defined stewardship as "an attitude of mind by which I see my life as needing to be dedicated to gratitude." This means sharing one's time, talent and money with people in need. "Until maybe 25 or 30 years ago, stewardship was basically a Protestant concept," he said. "Now Catholics have learned that that too is part of the Gospel."

The bishops will issue a statement on ministry to Hispanics. "The number of Hispanics in our dioceses continues to increase, and we have to find the best way to minister to them," Pilarczyk told UPI.

The archbishop was asked about the growing number of Hispanics who are turning from Roman Catholicism toward Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestantism.

"Yes, they are," Pilarczyk confirmed. "And there seems to be some indication that SOME groups of Protestants are doing what is technically called proselytizing," which he defined as arm-twisting and the use of "bait-and-switch" tactics. He said this is not the same as witnessing or evangelizing, when one attests to his beliefs and invites others to share them. Proselytizing implies subtle or not so subtle threats and involves false advertising, Pilarczuk said. "For example, if an Evangelical or Pentecostal Protestant church puts up a sign saying, 'Mass in Spanish,' that's not fair."

Pilarczyk expects the bishops to issue a statement to the effect that "the government should consider helping us" with Catholic schools. "They are a good thing, something parents need. ... A well-educated citizen is a good citizen," and Catholic schools deliver good education, said Pilarczyk, who has a PhD in Classics.