RNS
NEWS FEATURE
US
bishops defend women’s ordination in new abuse laws
By
DANIEL BURKE and RICHARD ALLEN
c. 2010 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON (RNS) — US Catholic bishops on July 15 defended the
Vatican’s decision to include the ordination of women with the
sexual abuse of children in a long-awaited revision of the church’s
most serious crimes.
The new rules, which bring together years worth of ad-hoc reforms, had
been eagerly anticipated by victims’ advocates, who had hoped
for tougher sanctions against predator priests and the bishops who protect
them.
But many victims’ advocates said the reforms don’t go far
enough, and supporters of women in the church said they go too far.
For the first time, the “attempted ordination” of women
as Roman Catholic priests will be considered a “delicta graviora,”
the church’s most serious category of crimes. Women will face
automatic excommunication, and participating priests could be booted
from the priesthood.
The Vatican is not implying that ordaining women and the sexual abuse
of children are equivalent offences, said Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the
Vatican’s chief prosecutor in punishing clergy for the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith.
“There are two types of delicta graviora: those concerning
the celebration of sacraments, and those concerning morals,” Scicluna
told reporters at the Vatican. “The two types are essentially
different, and their gravity is on different levels.”
Still, some Catholics said it was a public relations mistake to include
women’s ordination into a document that was expected to focus
on sex abuse.
“Sometimes you wonder what they are thinking,” said Sister
Christine Schenk, executive director of Cleveland-based group FutureChurch,
which advocates for increased lay leadership in the Catholic Church.
“This is apples and oranges. The phenomenon of women wanting to
serve God does not belong in same category as priests abusing children.
I am frankly stunned.”
But two key US bishops rejected such criticism, saying the Vatican is
making its priorities clear: protecting children and the sanctity of
Catholic sacraments.
“The church is making a very clear statement that this kind of
misconduct is not just about violating a civil law, but relates to core
values of our faith and worship,” said Bishop Blase Cupich of
Spokane, Wash., chair of the bishops’ abuse prevention committee.
Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl, chair of the bishops’ doctrine
committee, said the rules make an important distinction between “structural”
crimes, such as attempting to ordain women, and moral crimes, such as
abusing children.
And while “‘women have had an essential role in the life
of the church,” Wuerl said the sacraments — including ordination
— are so integral to the church that violating them requires a
strong response. The church’s “long and constant teaching”
reserves the priesthood for men, he said.
Still, Wuerl acknowledged the Vatican’s potential public relations
problem in seeming to equate the molestation of children with women
seeking to become priests.
“It’s going to be hard to keep these things separate if
you mix them up,” he said. “And so, what we’re doing
is trying to address them one at a time.”
As part of the most significant overhaul of canon law in nine years,
church officials increased the statute of limitations on abuse cases
from 10 years to 20 beyond the victim’s 18th birthday, with possible
extensions for victims who come forward later in life.
In addition, the abuse of a “developmentally disabled” adult
would be treated the same as the abuse of a minor, and the possession
or distribution of child pornography was added as an official crime
against church law.
“This gives a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment
to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse,”
Scicluna said. “If more changes are needed, they will be made.”
But David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests, dismissed the rules as mere “window dressing”
because they do not punish bishops who protected or transferred known
abusers.
“Tweaking existing church policies won’t have real impact
on bishops’ behaviour and won’t make the changes that kids
need to be safe,” he said.
In April, the Vatican had urged “collaboration with the civil
authorities” in reporting abuse cases, but a global patchwork
of different civil laws resulted in uneven reporting. The new document
includes no mandate to notify authorities.
The publication of the new laws is the latest move by the Vatican to
regain control of the scandal that first erupted in the US in 2002 and
then resurfaced earlier this year across Europe and parts of South America.
The Vatican initially blamed the scandal on excessive media scrutiny
— Benedict initially dismissed “the petty gossip of dominant
opinion” — but in recent months, the pope has turned inward,
bemoaning the “the sins of the church” and last month begged
forgiveness from God for crimes committed by priests.
(Richard Allen reported from Vatican City; Daniel Burke reported
from Washington.)
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No
part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written
permission.
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