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	Bishops Faulted on Lobby Agenda Education and Stem Cell Research Are on Catholic Conference List, but Critics See No Mention of Sexual Abuse Issues By Michele Morgan Bolton Times Union [Albany NY] March 3, 2005 ALBANY -- The state's Catholic bishops will gather at the Capitol next week to lobby for the kind of social reforms that are at the foundation of their faith. Fair funding in education, ethical stem cell research, a ban on embryo experimentation and abolition of the death penalty will be among the hot-button issues. But critics say what's missing from the aggressive 7-point 2005 agenda brought forth by the clergy's public policy arm -- the New York State Catholic Conference -- is anything for clergy sex abuse victims. They note there are no renewed requests on the conference's agenda for a mandatory reporting bill. Nor for relaxing the statute of limitations for those who were victimized as children by priests. The criticism comes as hundreds of Catholics from around the state are expected to be present during lobby day Tuesday in support of priorities set at the bishops' September meeting. "You would think that protecting children would be their top priority," said Mark Lyman of Stillwater, who was 13 in 1978 when he was first sexually abused by a Franciscan friar assigned to St. Anthony's Church in Troy. He is co-director of the Capital Region chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Every diocese in the state has been hiding behind that curtain of the statute of limitations," he charged. That's unfair, said Dennis Poust, a Catholic Conference spokesman. "All bishops have pledged to report credible cases of abuse to law enforcement. They have done that, and they will continue to." Bishops support mandatory reporting, but they're not going to take a stand until state lawmakers can agree on one version, he said: "It wouldn't look right if we did. ... And we very rarely get involved in criminal penalty bills." Except, of course, for Rockefeller Drug Law reform and the death penalty, he acknowledged. Last month, as the U.S. Conference of Bishops released results of its 2004 audit, Kathleen McChesney, the head of the group's Office of Child and Youth Protection, said the clergy abuse crisis is far from over, "because over 300 reports received in 2004 identified alleged abusers previously not known." "What is over is the denial that this problem exists, and what is over is the reluctance of the church to deal openly with the public about the nature and extent of the problem," she said. Poust said New York bishops are looking to become leaders in protecting children. "We call for justice for victims, we understand that people in SNAP are hurting and there is anger there," Poust said. "But we as a church have to move forward. We can't make the focus of our lobby day looking back at past mistakes." What Poust is really saying is that the church won't lobby for something for which it gets nothing back in return, Lyman asserted: "If it's not conducive to business, they aren't interested." If you haven't corrected the past you can't go forward, Lyman said: "Sometimes, you need to take a step backward." Top state lawmakers have been all too silent on the clergy sex abuse issue, he added: "Obviously, the Catholic Conference has tremendous political influence." Catholic Charities receives 79 percent of its $36 million budget from government funding. Church officials point out, though, that the money goes to help deliver services to the poor and needy, not to boost the religious organization itself. A mediation program for abuse victims offers 50 percent of the equation -- which is money and services, victims' advocates said. But it doesn't address justice or punitive action. "It's ridiculous that the man who abused me is still wearing a collar," Lyman said. "Saying they removed him from ministry only means he's been removed from the public eye." Lyman and other abuse victims have called on law enforcement officials to look into whether the Albany diocese shielded abusive priests. "New York state is a pedophile playground," he insisted. "In any other organization, we'd remove the CEO and investigate. We put Martha Stewart in jail ... yet we don't touch the bishops. We're laying the groundwork for them to clean up their own house, and that isn't right." Mark Furnish, who now serves on SNAP's national executive committee, has also called for the Albany County District Attorney's Office to conduct a grand jury investigation of "the ongoing cover-up of clergy sex abuses." Furnish also wants access to priests' personnel files. During his campaign, District Attorney David Soares promised to take a strong stand on the clergy abuse issue once he got in office. Last week, when asked if he'll convene a grand jury to look into potential abuses, Soares said he needed time to think about it. "It is fair to say, though, that it's not out of the question," he added.
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