Church child safety officials voice concern over lapses by bishops

(RNS) Even as a review of sex abuse prevention policies this week gave the Catholic Church in the U.S. high marks overall, officials with the bishops’ own oversight agencies expressed serious concerns about “recent high-profile failings” in several dioceses.

The latest among those concerns is an episode in Newark, N.J., in which Archbishop John Myers failed to stop a priest from ministering with children in several parishes even though the cleric was legally barred from such interactions because of a previous molestation case.

Myers initially defended his oversight of the priest, the Rev. Michael Fugee, but under increasing pressure he reversed himself; Fugee then resigned from ministry but ongoing calls for Myers to step down have generated new headlines almost every day.

“I’ll be honest with you, Newark is disheartening,” said Deacon Bernie Nojadera, head of the Office of Child and Youth Protection in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It is like taking steps backwards.”

Nojadera, along with Al J. Notzon, III, head of a blue-ribbon review board of lay leaders that checks the bishops’ compliance with their policies, on Thursday (May 9) released an annual audit that found another drop in the number of allegations, victims and offenders reported in 2012.

In addition, almost all of the nearly 200 Catholic dioceses in the U.S. were found to be in compliance with the policies set out in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which the bishops adopted in 2002 at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

At the same time, in accompanying letters to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the USCCB, both Notzon and Nojadera noted that there has been “much disturbing news in the media” and “recent high-profile failings” that have undermined the bishops efforts.

In separate interviews, both Nojadera and Notzon said they were referring to several specific cases: the trial and conviction of Msgr. William Lynn in Philadelphia last summer for shielding abusive priests; the conviction of Missouri Bishop Robert Finn last September for failing to report a suspect an abuser to police; and the release earlier this year of records from the Los Angeles archdiocese that showed the extent to which retired Cardinal Roger Mahony and a top aide covered up for abusers in the priesthood.

Nojadera pointed to the news in February that Fugee had been appointed to a high-profile administrative job in the Newark archdiocese, and that was before the latest bombshell over Fugee’s unauthorized work with children.

Notzon said the recent lapses underscored how important it is for the bishops to be vigilant – and accountable – because even one failure to uphold the charter can undermine the credibility that the review board has worked for a decade to restore. That is why, he said, he has been pushing the bishops in meetings over the past year to find a way to call out a fellow churchman who violates the charter.

The review board itself has no authority to discipline bishops – only the pope can do that – and the bishops have adopted only a vague policy of “fraternal correction.” The provision has no enforcement mechanism and in any case the bishops rarely if ever rebuke their colleagues, even in private.

Notzon said he and the review board is coming up with specific recommendations to increase episcopal accountability and at a meeting with top bishops next month will press them to “translate what we have found into action.”

“I have no hesitancy in communicating … that this is a concern that has to be addressed and continues to be addressed,” Notzon said.

What’s new is that he and Nojadera may now have some high-level allies in their corner.

Speaking in Rome before the papal election in March, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley – the American prelate with perhaps the greatest credibility on the abuse issue – said that whoever was elected pope would need to find a way a clear and consistent policy for dealing with bishops whose “malfeasance” allowed abusive priests to stay in ministry.

“Right now, it’s not terribly clear, but it’s something the next pope will have to deal with,” O’Malley told the Boston Globe. “My point is always that if you don’t have policies, you’ll be improvising, and when you improvise, you make a lot of mistakes.”

A week later, O’Malley and the other cardinals elected Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis, and the new pope also indicated that addressing the abuse crisis would be a priority – something the review board and most Catholics would welcome.

“We are looking forward with great anticipation to hearing and seeing about the specifics on that from the Holy See – what he (Francis) will be talking about or hoping to put in place, if indeed that is to be a priority,” Nojadera said.

The annual audit of diocesan compliance that was released Thursday is mainly a parish-level view of how the charter is being implemented, and it did not specifically address the incidents involving bishops cited above.

But while the audit showed widespread compliance with the prevention policies – as well as declining numbers of allegations of abuse – it also pointed to a number of dioceses that were either ignoring the charter or were not allowing on-site inspections.