US Catholic bishops revise policies for abuse cases, but laity input not required
Victims’ advocates say stronger measures are needed.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops passed a slate of long-awaited measures designed to combat sexual abuse and hold church leadership accountable for mishandling cases. One change was creating a national hotline operated by an outside group for reporting incidents of abuse or their cover-up.
“I’m confident that the idea of doing [investigations] in-house is long gone,” said a cautiously upbeat Cardinal Joseph Tobin of New Jersey at the bishops’ spring meeting June 13 in Baltimore.
But the bishops stopped short of handing power to lay Catholics or abuse survivors in those investigations, sparking a debate that revolves around whether doing so would overstep guidelines outlined in a document issued by Pope Francis after a Vatican summit on abuse in February.
