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	Abuse Crisis to Follow Levada to Rome Post 700-Case Backlog at Watchdog Office By Don Lattin San Francisco Chronicle [San Francisco CA] May 30, 2005 Archbishop William Levada's move to Rome this summer will offer the former San Francisco prelate little respite from the clergy sex abuse crisis in the American Catholic Church. Levada's new job as Pope Benedict XVI's chief doctrinal watchdog includes leading the Vatican's investigation of hundreds of ordained clergymen suspended from public ministry amid allegations they had sexually abused children. Anne Burke, the former head of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board set up to study the abuse crisis, said Levada's new office is overwhelmed with a backlog of some 700 cases. "Rome has not been set up for these kind of (church) trials," said Burke, a state appeals court judge in Illinois. Burke said U.S. bishops are largely responsible for the backlog because they have not provided adequate information to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which decides whether to permanently suspend, defrock or otherwise discipline accused clerics. "It's not that the abuse didn't happen, but they (Vatican officials) need to prove it in a trial," Burke said. "You can be cynical and say that some bishops don't really want these priests to be laicized (defrocked)." It's virtually impossible for outsiders to know who those priests are. In fact, there is no way of telling how many cases are awaiting action in Rome or how many are slated for a full canonical trial, said Monsignor Ronny Jenkins, a canon law expert at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; he is a consultant to the U.S. bishops. Many U.S. bishops -- including Levada -- have declined to release the names of priests they have suspended in the face of credible accusations of child abuse. Vatican officials are even more tightlipped. "The courts of the Holy See have a long tradition of confidentiality with internal matters," Jenkins said. "Look at the Michael Jackson trial. That is last thing the church wants to happen in these cases." Jenkins said the Vatican delays do not relieve bishops of their duty to suspend accused priests from public ministry. Levada, who became the highest ranking American in church history when the pope chose him to take over the doctrinal post the pope had held for more than two decades, declined to be interviewed for this article. But the backlog of priest suspensions is widely known. Early this year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' reported that 256 diocesan priests and deacons "remain temporarily removed from ministry pending investigations of allegations." "We are trying to help the American bishops with their cases, many of which they inherited," said the Rev. J. Augustine di Noia, the undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who acknowledged the backlog last month in Rome. The overload of cases at the Vatican follows the U.S. bishops' June 2002 adoption of "zero tolerance" rules suspending priests with one or more credible allegations of sexually abusing a minor -- even a single decades-old accusation. The new rules -- which are up for review at a bishops' meeting next month in Chicago -- also require church leaders to report most cases to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Maurice Healy, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said five local priests "have asked the Holy See for a canonical trial or have been referred to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith." But he declined to name the priests or give any details of the status of those cases, saying only that they are "receiving an orderly review." The bishops are in a bind, acknowledged the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a former Vatican diplomat and co-author of a 1985 memo warning the U.S. bishops of the coming sex abuse crisis. Accused priests' reputations can be ruined by false accusations. "Bishops may be caught between a rock and a hard place, but they created the rock and the hard place when they tried to cover all this up," Doyle said. "The chickens are coming home to roost." Levada's refusal last year to release the findings of the San Francisco archdiocese's abuse investigations led James Jenkins, the founding chairman of the archdiocese's Independent Review Board, to resign. Jenkins said last week that referring cases to Rome has been a way of relieving the pressure locally. "Rome was the biggest black hole they could find," Jenkins said. Levada has brushed aside criticism from Jenkins and leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national victim support group that accuses him of "protecting priests instead of children, and evading justice." At a news conference May 13, the day the pope announced his appointment to Rome, Levada called the group's accusations incorrect and false. "This organization, SNAP, has a policy of accusing bishops and me of malfeasance," Levada said. At the same time, the archbishop said he thought one reason he was tapped for the Vatican job was his experience in dealing with the abuse crisis. Levada has dealt with a number of accused priests during his two decades as the archbishop of Portland and archbishop of San Francisco. He also served on a commission of U.S. bishops and Vatican officials charged with translating the bishops' zero tolerance policy into actual church law. "It could be that one reason the Holy Father chose an American for this post is our knowledge of this terrible issue of sexual abuse, and to make sure it handled in a proper manner," Levada said. Other critics of Levada say the archbishop's experience overseeing pedophile priests is no role model for a church shepherd. Barring an early summer settlement, Levada leaves behind dozens of pending abuse claims and possible court trials of church leaders accused of covering up the sex crimes of pedophile priests. "He is leaving behind a lot of business that could have been dealt with more effectively and more pastorally," Doyle said. Doyle said some priests in the Bay Area and across the country have also suffered by the long delays in hearing their appeals. "A lot of these men are very frustrated," Doyle said. "They are notified that an accusation has been made, then they are put on ice and wait and wait and wait. It is not speedy justice."
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