Archbishop Levada calls for review of U.S. bishops' accountability By Maurice E. Healy At the June 13-15 Dallas meeting of U.S. tishops, San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada called for a study of ways to ensure appropriate oversight of bishops and to assure that each bishop in his own diocese effectively implements the bishops ' charter to protect children and young people from sexual abuse. Archbishop Levada presented a "Resolution on Episcopal Oversight" to his fellow bishops shortl y after they had voted on June 14 to accept the "Charter for the Protection of Children and
Bishops issue charter Page 5 Time Page 17 Ordinary Text of the charter..... Pages 18-19 Young People, " a wide-ranging national policy designed to respond to and prevent sex abuse that every bishop is mandated to implement in his diocese. Noting that bishops have a responsibility for the wider Church as well as that in their own diocese, the resolution presented by Archbishop Levada said, "To assure the appropriate oversight of the ministry of bishops and as an expression of episcopal solidarity, the Conference (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) asks its Committee on Bishops ' Life and Ministry to review the role of the bishops themselves in implementing the terms of the 'Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People ' in the context of the current crisis." The resolution calls for the bishops ' committee, chaired by Bishop Robert H. Brom of San Diego, to report back to the U.S. bishops at their November 2002 meeting. Archbishop Levada said, "The resolution is meant to assure accountability on the part of bishops. Its purpose is to provide a vehicle for a broad review of various factors that have arisen, which seem to require more specific guidelines for bishops, and to do so in the context first of the present issue, the protection of children. Without this resolution, we would not be letting peop le bow that we take seriously die situation of bishops who have reassigned priests who were known abusers and bishops who made financial arrangements on their own." ACCOUNTABILITY, page 5
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Craig Martin, who shared his story of being sexually abused as a child by a priest, embraces Bishop John F. Kinney of St. Cloud , Minn, during the U.S. bishops' meeting in Dallas. Four victims detailed their experiences for the meeting.
Victims speak out
Abuse leads to yea rs of suff ering, loss of f aith By Evelyn Zappia fter a recent demonstration by victims of clergy sex abuse held outside the doors of the Archdiocese of San Francisco 's Pastoral A Center, something changed. The victims were no longer just names printed in newspapers and magazines. They were real peop le who welcomed any response from those, including Bishop John C, Wester, who left their offices to meet with them. The meeting between "us" and "them , " proved to be a case of the good versus good , trying to understand e ach other, and hoping to repair the enormous damage the evildoers left behind. Unlike the maj ority of children who attended Catholic schools in the United States for the past 193 years, these demonstrators didn 't have the pride of growing up Catholic and enjoyin g the unity of Church and family. Instead , they were robbed of their innocence, creatine dark
secrets that many believed, if revealed would have destroyed their parents. " Where most kids learned the teachings of the Catholic Church, her morals and values, through the examp le of their parish priests, the silent victims met impostors, thieves who took away their spiritual nurturing, and that special feeling of God's ever-present protection. In the May 3 edition of Catholic San Francisco, some diocesan priests, spoke of their "ceaseless feelings of betrayal" by those they trusted the most, their "brother priests." Now the victims and their family members, speak of the price they paid for that same blind trust.
John Carroll
John Carroll said he was 12 years old when he entered the seminary in Ireland, and one year later the abuse began by the superior of the seminary. He was held hostage by being told by his abuser, "If you ever VICTIMS , page 10
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Optimism on budget Catholic-Buddhist dialogue
Sacred Heart helps build Ugandan school ~ Page 8 ~
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Japa nese cherish church by wayside
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Crime victims day
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Catholic bashing
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Datebook
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Film reviews
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