This article has been imported from our web archive. As a result, it may contain formatting errors, broken links or images, or other inconsistencies from the original publication.
Shunning the bad shepherd
By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza
July 11, 2014
Fr. Raymond de Souza
How should malfeasant bishops be held accountable on matters of sexual abuse? Pope Francis, in his meeting with victims of clerical sexual abuse this week, committed the Church to punishing bishops who have been negligent in removing from ministry abusive priests.
How that is to be done remains to be seen, though there have been a few high-profile resignations of bishops over mishandling sexual abuse cases — Archbishop Alphonsus Penney of St. John’s, Nfld., in 1991, or Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston in 2002.
The case of Archbishop Rembert Weakland reminds us that there are measures short of canonical ones that could be applied.
Fr. Raymond de Souza