VATICAN, Oct 16, 02 (CWNews.com) — Despite the strenuous
lobbying efforts of American bishops, the Vatican has reached a final decision
not to approve the sex-abuse policy adopted by the US bishop at their June
meeting in Dallas.
The Vatican response to the American bishops’ policy–
which has been heavily anticipated and hotly debated– will be announced on
Friday morning, at a press conference hosted by Bishop Wilton Gregory, the
president of the US bishops’ conference.
Although the Vatican response will praise the American
bishops for their commitment to end the sex-abuse scandal, that response will
not include the “recognitio” that is necessary to make the “Dallas policy”
authoritative. [Via
Domenico Bettineli, Jr]
The problem with the Dallas policy was how in the world do you legislate
prudence? You can’t, so you must make some extremely restrictive guidelines that
doesn’t require any common sense application tailored to a situation. Because of
the imprudence of some Bishops, all Bishops were going to forced into some
cookie-cutter method of justice. St. John Neumann please pray
for our Bishops that they will be guided in coming up with a truly prudent
policy.
