Bishop Responds to Sex Abuse Scandal

Fresh from a two-day meeting with 20 Roman Catholic leaders in Los Angeles, Tod D. Brown, bishop of Orange, said Friday it’s clear that bishops and priests will have to yield some authority to church members as a result of the church’s unfolding sex scandal.

“I think the Catholic Church in our country has been too clerical,” said Brown, a member of the Vatican’s Curia, an elite group of cardinals and bishops whose members perform duties in the pope’s name and with his authority.

“We need to take seriously” the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, a modernizing effort of the 1960s, and get the laity involved at all levels--”as much as we can do that theologically,” he added.

Placing lay Catholics in roles of influence can produce watchdogs within the church and also bring in different perspectives, loosening the powerful grip that each bishop has on his diocese. Each of the church’s 195 U.S. dioceses operates independently, with its bishop reporting to the pope.

Some prelates already have proposed such reforms. On Thursday, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony announced an expanded role of laity in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, including using victims of molestation to review sexual abuse allegations.

Brown’s comments came after a conference of California and Nevada prelates who were preparing for the highly anticipated national bishops’ conference in June. It will be the first time the bishops have gathered since news media revelations in Boston early this year unveiled case after case in which church officials had allowed priests accused of molestation to remain on the job.

Brown said the bishops’ meeting was dominated by discussions of the scandal. He said the bishops generally agree on the basics of an effective sexual abuse policy for clergy, similar to the strict, revamped guidelines put into place recently by the Los Angeles and Orange dioceses.

The changes include a hot-line number, an advocate for victims, and outreach programs to educate church members and their children about how to recognize inappropriate behavior by priests.

However, some prelates still feel uncomfortable dismissing an otherwise good priest who has a single molestation in his distant past, Brown said.

“There are some bishops having trouble with a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach,” he said. “They’re struggling with that.”

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A Time ‘When True Healing Can Begin’

Brown said the issue of whether a priest with a past history of sexual abuse should remain in the ministry will be debated vigorously at the national conference in June, a time “when true healing can begin.”

He said efforts to give the laity more authority will generate lively discussions on sensitive issues that the Vatican would prefer not be discussed.

“If we’re going to be listening to our people clearly, we’re going to listen to what they have to say, whether we want to hear it or not,” Brown said. “So if they are concerned about celibacy [for example], we’re going to have to listen to that.”

Earlier this week, Pope John Paul II unexpectedly summoned the eight U.S. cardinals--along with two American bishops--to the Vatican next week to talk about the abuse controversy.

“The Vatican wants to become better apprised of the situation,” Brown said. “They are saying, ‘Tell us more about it, what can be done, and how can we help you?’ That’s how I see it.”

Brown declined to comment on whether he or his fellow bishops think it would help the healing process if Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston resigned after it was revealed that he knew priests accused of sexual abuse were being moved from parish to parish.

But in general, “I would say that if a bishop made a serious mistake, he needs to take responsibility for that,” Brown said. “When a bishop comes to a point that he understands he cannot restore credibility to himself and his ministry,” he should resign.

So far, “there’s no light yet at the end of the tunnel” as far as the sex scandal is concerned, Brown said, adding that the controversy will continue as long as legitimate victims of abuse keep coming forward.

There was a “certain sadness” among bishops Brown met with, “but there was a lot of strength gained by coming together and sharing our concerns.”

Brown said some of the Catholic Church’s greatest strides have been instigated by major scandals, and there are blessings to be found amid ongoing crisis.

“It’s a great cleansing,” he said. “We’ll come out of this a humbler, holier, more dedicated church.”