U.S. Catholic bishops take steps to respond to sexual abuse crisis
Critics called on the bishops to allow outside investigators full access to church sexual abuse records and support changes to statutes of limitations.
Lawyers and advocates for survivors of clergy sexual abuse are assailing as inadequate steps announced by U.S. Catholic bishops to curtail the abuse scandals that have deeply shaken the church this year.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops administrative committee took several “actions within its authority” at a meeting in mid-September, including developing a code of conduct for bishops regarding sexual abuse and harassment and establishing a confidential hotline—to be run by a third party—to receive complaints of sexual misconduct by bishops and relay such complaints to appropriate church and civil authorities.
Critics called on the bishops to go further by allowing outside investigators full access to church sexual abuse records and by supporting changes to statutes of limitations so that more cases could be addressed in court.
