Meeting of U.S. Bishops in Baltimore Closes with No Action after Sexual Abuse Crisis

Washington Post
November 14, 2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

In the first meeting of U.S. bishops since a national sexual abuse crisis hit the Catholic Church in June, no name came up more than that of an ex-cardinal shut away in a remote Kansas friary: Theodore Mc­Carrick.

In debate and comments over the three-day conference in Baltimore, the now-resigned former Washington archbishop became a proxy for excessive clericalism, corruption and for those who see homosexuality as the core sin for which the church is being punished.

And then in the final hours on Wednesday, the bishops representing 196 American archdiocese and dioceses took a vote on a measure to simply “encourage” the Vatican to share documents related to its investigation of McCarrick.

It was shot down, 137 to 83.

And thus closed the gathering of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opened dramatically with the Vatican’s insistence that the body delay a vote on reform measures until a major Vatican synod in the winter and wound down with an almost complete lack of the kind of contrition and decisive action parishioners have been demanding since summer.

Terry McKiernan, co-director of the research site and advocacy group BishopAccountability.org, said Wednesday evening that he hopes the “deference to the Vatican and the paralysis seen at this meeting raise the stakes for the U.S. bishops in the months ahead.”

“It’s even more urgent that they demonstrate some resolve and act,” rather than just wait docilely for the synod, he said.