Many Dioceses Gave Accused A Pass

Roman Catholic leaders in 111 of the nation's 178 mainstream dioceses have allowed priests, religious brothers and lay employees accused of sex abuse to keep working, The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday.

The news came as Church leaders prepared to sit down to decide what to do about the abuse crisis, reports CBS News Correspondent Barry Bagnato. Some victims will tell the bishops they are part of the problem.

Bishops ignored warnings about suspicious behavior and allowed priests to continue to serve after diagnoses of sexual disorders, legal settlements and criminal convictions, and in some cases after the clergyman admitted the wrongdoing, the Dallas newspaper reported in a copyrighted story.

The findings come from the paper's three-month review of national databases containing published reports, court records and church records obtained in litigation.

The newspaper also conducted dozens of interviews with attorneys, law enforcement authorities and others. The survey did not include Eastern-rite Catholic dioceses in the United States.

"Bishops almost without exception opt to believe the person with whom they are personally familiar and comfortable," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "We think to change that equation, bishops have to sit down with abuse survivors."

His group is demanding a tougher reaction than the one to be considered by the bishops. It wants all abusers removed from the priesthood. And it says that bishops should be ousted if they aided the abuse by hiding it.

American church leaders did not dispute the results of the Dallas Morning News study, but questioned its relevance to the current crisis. The newspaper reviewed priestly misconduct dating back years — sometimes decades — when less was known about sex offenders, and physicians thought clergymen could return to work after undergoing treatment, the bishops said.

"I would be saddened and very much shocked if there are still bishops so caught up in the old way that they can't see a new way," said Bishop Joseph Galante, the coadjutor of the Dallas Diocese who is helping draft a new national abuse policy.

However, the paper reported that several bishops allowed accused priests to continue to serve into the 1990s. The paper cited an example in Alexandria, La., where Bishop Sam Jacobs returned the Rev. John Andries to a parish after Andries was accused of misconduct in 1998. By last year, Andries was in trouble again, criminally charged with molesting a sleeping boy.

The Rev. Thomas Doyle, one of the authors of a 1985 sex abuse report for U.S. bishops, said he thought the numbers in the News' study were low. But he said, the results point to a problem so pervasive that "the bishops don't know how to fix it."

An auxiliary bishop in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York resigned Tuesday after admitting to several affairs with women, becoming the fourth U.S. bishop to step down in the sex abuse scandal rocking the church.

Auxiliary Bishop James F. McCarthy, 59, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Shrub Oak in Westchester County, admitted to the affairs after they were brought to the attention of church officials in a letter that arrived Saturday.

The announcement Tuesday came only hours after the Vatican accepted the resignation of Bishop J. Kendrick Williams, 65, of Lexington, Ky., who was accused in three sex abuse cases.

In a written statement, Williams denied the allegations brought against him. "I do not want my resignation to give any credence to the allegations made against me," he said.

"As much as I hate to lose his leadership and guidance, he was in an extremely difficult situation. The allegations ended his ability to minister freely," said the Rev. Dan Noll of Saint Peter Catholic Church, who has known Williams for more than two decades.

In other developments:

• The Salt Lake City Diocese said three priests were removed from their posts after the bishop reviewed 50 years of abuse allegations. The allegations aren't recent, said Monica Howa-Johnson, communications director for the diocese.
• In Paterson, N.J., Bishop Frank J. Rodimer vowed to reimburse the diocese $250,000 for part of a legal settlement it paid on his behalf to the family of a young sexual abuse victim. "I don't think he has any obligation to repay, but it's his choice and he's the boss," said Kenneth Mullaney, the diocese's lawyer.
• Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput said he supports a policy that allows for no second chances for abusive priests. Chaput also said that no known abusers are serving in the Denver archdiocese.
• A 30-year-old woman filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Cleveland Diocese alleging that a priest groped and kissed her when she was in grade school. Robert Tayek, a church spokesman, said the diocese had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.