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	Canadian Bishops' Task Force Urges Ban on Priests Convicted of Abuse By Joseph Sinasac Catholic News Service [Canada] September 28, 2005 CORNWALL, Ontario (CNS) -- A Canadian bishops' task force recommended banning priests and pastoral staffers convicted of sexual abuse from any public church ministry for the rest of their lives. The long-anticipated report on how Canada's bishops are dealing with clergy sexual abuse called on all bishops to publicly and individually commit themselves to a strict method of dealing with the problem. It also called for public reporting on how the church is doing in its battle to eradicate abuse. The bishops have been asked to forward their comments on the report to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Ottawa. Comments will be presented to the bishops' permanent council in March; a final protocol will be voted on by all bishops. Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Bishop Eugene Tremblay of Amos, Quebec, co-chairmen the 10-member task force, presented their report Sept. 22 to the annual meeting of bishops in Cornwall. The task force was created in 2002 in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal that engulfed the Catholic Church in the United States. "Overall, there was general approval, but there will be more precision in some areas," Archbishop Weisgerber told The Catholic Register, Toronto-based weekly. "There were a lot of questions, which made me feel good, because that meant they were taking it seriously," he added. The report was based on a review of "From Pain to Hope," a 1992 document released by the Canadian bishops following sexual abuse charges against priests and other religious in different parts of the country during the 1980s. Though never officially adopted by the Canadian bishops, the document was widely used as a guide for bishops to implement strict new procedures in their own dioceses. But, as the task force report observes, the guidelines were not adopted everywhere, and some problems still exist. "Despite the fact that the majority of dioceses have adopted mechanisms based on this report, the task force was unable to trace an exhaustive portrait for all dioceses. Certain (ones) chose not to provide information, as they are not under any obligation to do so," the report said. Among the findings were: -- Victims of sexual abuse by clergy interviewed by the committee were still critical of how the church handled their cases. "Their comments were generally critical of the management and orientation of the institutional church in cases of sexual abuse by clergy, as well as with the way the Catholic bishops of Canada had implemented the recommendations in 'From Pain to Hope,'" said the task force report. -- Victim support committees, recommended by "From Pain to Hope," were scarce in Canadian dioceses. -- Victims felt the church leaders did not understand how deeply they had been wounded by the abuse experience. Victims' experiences colored their perception of the entire church. "This means the whole institutional church is perceived as being insensitive," the report said. -- Long drawn-out court cases, though often driven by lawyers and insurance companies, feed the impression that the church is interested only in protecting itself. -- Victims were especially critical of any attempt to return a convicted offender to active ministry. -- There was a communication gap at various levels regarding sexual abuse. "This lack of communication taints the credibility of the bishop and supports the perception that the church has something to hide," the report said. To improve the situation, the task force offered a number of recommendations, including: -- Better dissemination of information on how a diocese deals with sexual abuse allegations. The use of Web sites, diocesan publications and other forms of communication were recommended for making this information available to a wide audience. -- Providing more information regarding particular cases could be useful, though the task force cautioned against releasing information that could harm individuals going through legal processes. "This is quite different in proven cases of abuse or where convictions have been handed down: These cases involve the public interest, and the names of those convicted must be made public," the report said. -- Publishing statistics on the global situation regarding sexual abuse in the church environment. -- Making uniform diocesan procedures by having each bishop issue a decree in which he publicly and formally adopts a protocol approved by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The protocol would be based on the guidelines in "From Pain to Hope," along with some extra guidelines introduced by the task force. -- Each bishop who agrees to adopt the protocol would commit to providing an annual report on his diocese's progress to his regional bishops' conference. The conferences would present summary reports on their regions to the bishops at their annual meeting. This report would be made public. -- Banning from public ministry any priest or pastoral staffer found guilty of sexual assault.
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