Voice of the Faithful Calls on U.S. Bishops to Exercise
‘Discretionary Power’ in Enforcing Zero Tolerance in Their Dioceses

Group Deplores Vatican’s Decision to Reimpose
10-year Statute of Limitations on Offending Priests

Newton, Mass. – November 1, 2002 – Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) expressed its deep concern regarding Cardinal Francis E. George’s news of the Vatican’ s decision to re-apply a 10-year statute of limitations on sexual abuse accusations against priests in an apparent retreat from aspects of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ “zero tolerance” stance proposed in the Dallas Charter. “The survivor community is suffering yet again at this news,” said Steve Krueger, Voice of the Faithful’s interim executive director. “This latest information is confusingly incomplete. It throws the process back to square one in some crucial respects, and it keeps survivors and concerned Catholics in a continued state of anxiety.”

In his statement, Cardinal George also alluded to additional emendations to the Dallas Charter, including a re-definition of sexual abuse and the insistence on Church tribunals before removing a priest from the priesthood. Krueger stated, “It’s frustrating and pastorally insensitive to have a statement come out piecemeal like this without even being able to read the policy revisions in full.”

Krueger continued, “This statement from Cardinal George underscores the moral imperative for the U.S. bishops to firmly and immediately affirm the ‘zero tolerance’ policy on their own, by exercising their ‘discretionary power’ under canon law to ensure that churches and church activities are safe for children.”

Church experts have likened the relationship of the Vatican to the bishops to that of the Supreme Court to the individual states. “U.S. bishops can still use discretionary authority – their rough equivalent of ‘states’ rights’ – to implement the intent of the Dallas Charter in their own dioceses, and we strongly call on them to do so,” said Krueger.

VOTF spokesperson Luise Dittrich expressed concern about another aspect of Cardinal George’s report: “I find it objectionable that the Vatican would define clergy sexual abuse in terms of adultery. This is another example of pastoral insensitivity, and it reveals this hierarchy’s profound ignorance of human sexuality. Here’s yet another instance where the Catholic hierarchy desperately needs lay input so they can understand the true dimensions and implications of the moral catastrophe they have enabled.”