JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
News Tribune
March 3, 2019
By Joe Gamm
Admittedly, he’s been impatient — waiting on the Vatican for actions dealing with clergy sexual abuse — said Bishop W. Shawn McKnight, of the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City.
And because of the size of Pope Francis’ summit on child sex abuse, gathering the church’s world leaders in Rome over four days last week, McKnight feared the simple bureaucracy surrounding such a large, short event would prevent much from being accomplished.
But the results surprised McKnight.
“I’m hopeful because I see a green light coming from the Vatican for what we were trying to do as (U.S.) bishops back in November,” he said. “We were asked to cease and desist until this summit were to take place. The indication I’m getting is that we are moving full speed ahead.”
That’s a reversal from the feeling U.S. bishops had late in 2018.
Last November in Baltimore, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops held its annual meeting — to promote the greater good the church can do for humankind, according to the conference website — with a priority of adopting a strategy to deal with the growing clergy sexual abuse scandal. However, as the event began, the Vatican asked the conference to delay a vote until after last week’s worldwide meeting of the presidents of bishops.
U.S. bishops were disappointed by the delay, they said. They’ve been dealing with the crisis for decades.
On his own, McKnight had already voluntarily included the local diocese in a statewide investigation of clergy abuse and implemented a protocol for dealing with clergy abuse in his diocese. Within that protocol, any allegation of sexual abuse made against a bishop would be referred to an independent investigator who would make an initial determination of whether there is any truth to it. If so, the bishop would request a leave of absence from the pope until a preliminary investigation could be completed and a report submitted to the Review Board of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. That board would then make a recommendation to the apostolic nuncio (the pope’s representative in the United States).
Knowing the church has not done a good job of policing itself, McKnight and other bishops hoped to rely on the laity to provide external investigative services into accusations of abuse. They worried after being asked to not implement a U.S. strategy in November that the Vatican was blocking their plans.
The conclusion of the Rome meeting has given U.S. bishops confidence, McKnight said.
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