Bishop Bosco looks ahead to Dallas bishops meeting on sexual misconduct
GREENSBURG – Bishop Anthony G. Bosco of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg believes that any credible accusation of sexual misconduct that is brought against a priest, regardless of when it occurred, is grounds for dismissal from the ministry. Whether or not the hundreds of other bishops from across the country share Bosco’s “zero tolerance” philosophy will be revealed this week in Dallas at the U.S. Conference of Bishops meeting when the bishops consider a draft charter containing a series of steps aimed at the protection of children and young people.
The charter will be voted on during the three-day meeting scheduled for Thursday through Saturday.
In anticipation of the meeting, Bosco held a press conference Monday to outline what everyone can expect to come at the conclusion of the vote. He said the final goal in Dallas won’t be to get a law for the church in the United States. Rather, what is sent to Rome will be the consensus of bishops of the U.S. and not law.
Before any recommendation can become law, “it will go to Rome and Rome will look at it,” he said. Bosco explained that “Rome means various Vatican officials and representatives of Roman congregations.”
After the officials review the recommendations, Bosco surmised that they will touch it up and it will then go to the desk of Pope John Paul II for a signature. Bosco compared the role of the pope and bishops in instituting law to those of the federal and state government.
“The federal government is the pope and the state government is the bishop,” he said.
The draft charter says that even a single act of abuse of a minor will bring about a request for laicization, even without the consent of the cleric. Laicization is the church process by which a man is removed from the priesthood. Bosco said defrocking, which is commonly used to describe the process of laicization, is something a woman does before she goes to bed.
Deposing a man from the priesthood will also be sought for priests who have been diagnosed as pedophiles or who have committed multiple acts of sexual abuse. The draft charter also calls for establishing an “Office for Child and Youth Protection” at the bishops’ national headquarters. The office will assist individual dioceses in the implementation of safe environment program and will make an annual public report on the progress made in implementing the standards of the charter.
Other items in the draft charter include that dioceses will report any accusation of sexual abuse of a minor to the proper authorities and will cooperate in their investigation.
Bosco said there will be a committee meeting on Wednesday, during which time bishops can accept, not accept or debate individual amendments. “By the end of meeting our aim is to have final document,” he said.
An issue that is likely to be debated is the retention of priests who have committed acts of sexual misconduct and have successfully undergone therapy. Bosco pointed out that there is a difference between a psychiatric and medical diagnosis in that “you cannot X-ray a psyche.” He said that pedophilia is a word of art and it should have a defined meaning.
“Morality is judged by God. I see it as a serious disorder,” he said.
“I don’t know if this can be cured,” Bosco said of pedophilia. He said if a priest is tried in court and found guilty, he would likely think that justice has been done.
Bosco said that pedophilia is not a problem that is confined to members of the priesthood. He said in secular society, pedophiles go to jail and then they get out and are back in society.
“Even if I remove a priest and if he serves time and gets out, he’s not my responsibility anymore,” he said.
He asked what society is doing for others who are accused of sexual abuse of children, such as rock stars who molest young girls. He said he wasn’t trying to profess innocence of priests, just pointing out that others who are accused of similar crimes are treated differently.
“We clean our own backyard,” he said.
Bosco said there is a misconception that the pope just recently declared pedophilia a crime. He said pedophilia has been in ecclesiastical crime for a long time and was listed as such in the 1918 code.
He said that sometimes people that commit acts of pedophilia can’t help their behavior and may not be “morally responsible” but they have to be held accountable.
Since 1987, there have been two cases of a priest sexually abusing a minor in the Diocese of Greensburg. Both priests are no longer active in the ministry.