Task Force on Sex Abuse by Priests Urged

The Roman Catholic Church should create a national task force on clergy sex abuse of children and avoid reassigning abusive priests to ministries with minors, a church-sponsored panel said Thursday.

“We are concerned that the hierarchy’s authority and credibility in the United States is eroding because of a perceived inability to deal more effectively with the problem of child sexual abuse. This difficulty is a source of scandal for the faithful,” the committee said.

The group of more than 30 experts on clergy sexual abuse also urged the nation’s bishops to create independent diocesan boards to oversee church handling of allegations, and to hold a national day of prayer and penance for victims.

“While recognizing the need to protect the rights of both victims and perpetrators, when a conflict between those rights occurs, church leaders should err on guaranteeing the rights of victims,” said the “think tank” on child sexual abuse.

Members of an abuse survivors group called the report a positive step but said the church has yet to live up to previous statements of concern.

“We haven’t seen the priests that have been arrested for sexually abusing children removed,” said Mary Staggs of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The group of religious experts, which included medical professionals and recovering priests, met in St. Louis in February, but their final report was not released until Thursday, the start of the bishops’ annual meeting. The panel was sponsored by the bishops’ Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry.

The report to the bishops comes against a backdrop of increasing allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in dioceses around the country.

The committee said the church should pay for mental health costs of victims and should seek out other victims when a charge of child sexual abuse has been substantiated. The committee also recommended that abusers never again have unsupervised contact with minors.

“While the church community extends the forgiveness of Jesus, it recognizes that it would be imprudent to place more children at risk,” the committee said.