Will the Church Get Tough?

By MICHAEL DUFFY

America's 285 Roman Catholic bishops are nearing agreement on a new, one-strike-and-you're-out policy for priests who commit child sexual abuse. The agreement, still being polished by a handful of bishops and Cardinals around the country, is expected to be ready for debate and a vote when the rest of the church's top leadership meets in Dallas next week. "No one knows exactly what they will do," said a source. "But they will approve some form of zero-tolerance policy." After years in which some dioceses quietly reassigned troubled clerics or settled disputes out of court, the approach is designed to encourage local bishops to take swift action. The new policy will affirm the power of all bishops to remove priests from public ministry and bar them from church offices--or defrock them altogether. The bishops are also mulling the creation of lay review boards to assess allegations of abuse and give bishops advice about matching punishments to crimes.

--By Michael Duffy