U.S. bishops should adopt strict sexual-abuse policy

The importance of this week's U.S. Conference of Bishops meeting in Dallas is illustrated by the fact that there is only one item on the agenda. It is an item that has commanded front-page coverage in just about every newspaper in America and the attention of the press worldwide. And how the 285 bishops deal with it will speak volumes about the mindset of the American Catholic Church's hierarchy.
The bishops will spend three days starting Thursday discussing the growing crisis in the church as a result of the ever-increasing cases of priests who sexually abused minors or prepubescent children. Thus far, 225 priests of the 46,075 in the United States have resigned or have been removed from duties because of allegations of sexual abuse since the beginning of the year.
At the heart of the debate in Dallas will be a proposed policy developed by an Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse. The policy stops short of embracing "zero tolerance" as the governing principle, and that has led to growing dissension within the ranks of the bishops and among lay Catholics.
As we noted in an editorial following an extraordinary meeting in Rome in April between American bishops and Pope John Paul II, the pope's contention that there is no place in the priesthood "for those who harm the young" is both proper and essential. It delivers an unambiguous message to priests and provides guidance to the bishops.
Anything less that zero tolerance coming out of Dallas will be viewed by Catholics and non-Catholics alike as an example of the church giving comfort and solace to those who have indulged in criminal behavior.
Removal
Under the Ad Hoc Committee's policy, the pope would be asked to remove from the priesthood any priest who sexually abuses a minor after the adoption of the policy by the U.S. Conference of Bishops. Such removal would also apply to a priest who in the past had abused more than one child or was found to be a pedophile.
However, past one-time offenders who had not abused preadolescent children could remain priests, but would not be permitted to work in parishes or be near children.
But as A. W. Richard Sipe, a former priest and a psychotherapist who studies sexuality in the church, told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, "I don't know how they can get by saying, 'Well, you only abused a child in the past, so we'll keep you in the fold.' It just won't wash." Our sentiments exactly.
The American Catholic Church needs to be cleansed spiritually, and that will only happen if the bishops this week adopt a strict sexual-abuse policy. There is no room for compromise.