Bishop Issues Statement on Bishops' Conference Meeting

Statement from Bishop McManus regarding USCCB Conference meeting:
 
The announcement at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore that we had to table a vote regarding several action items that would contribute to holding bishops accountable came as a surprise to all of us. I left for Baltimore ready to discuss the plan and to support the proposal that more must be done to demonstrate our commitment to handling properly allegations of abuse of minors. I am disappointed that we cannot move forward this week.

In hindsight, however, I am not surprised by the request from the Congregation for Bishops. We are not just an American Church. We belong to the universal Church. I think the Holy Father may have been concerned that we would propose a paradigm that might work in the United States but not in other parts of world.  For example, in some countries members of the Catholic Church are being persecuted so a third-party reporter could prove pastorally problematic.

Out of fraternal respect for the Congregation for Bishops, we will not take a final vote this week. However, it is the intention of the U.S. bishops to discuss these items as a way of assisting Cardinal DiNardo in his capacity as our Conference president when he represents us at the international summit in Rome which Pope Francis has called for in February 2019.

I implore the clergy and our lay faithful to not be discouraged and think that Pope Francis is trying to slow down the momentum of holding bishops accountable. As part of the universal Church we do not make decisions in isolation. We were the first bishops’ conference to have zero tolerance. Often what we do as a conference of bishops becomes a model for the rest of the world. I hope and pray that our continued efforts will be successful at making this happen.
 
November 13, 2018