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April 24, 2002
Vatican: Summit with U.S. Church leaders to look at clergy sex abuse
U.S. cardinals and heads of Vatican congregations to meet April 23-24
By John Thavis
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A special summit between Vatican officials and U.S. Church leaders will examine the clergy sex abuse crisis and discuss ways of restoring trust among families, priests and U.S. Catholics, a Vatican statement said.
In a two-sentence announcement April 16, the Vatican said the "working session" April 23-24 would bring together U.S. cardinals and the heads of Vatican congregations that deal with clergy, doctrine and bishops.
The Vatican said the purpose of the meeting was to "examine problems that have been created in the Church in the United States following scandals connected with pedophilia and to indicate guiding principles with the aim of returning safety and serenity to the families and trust to the clergy and faithful."
The Vatican did not list all the participants, saying merely that U.S. cardinals and the heads of three major Vatican agencies would attend: Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos of the Congregation for Clergy, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re of the Congregation for Bishops.
The Vatican statement did not mention Pope John Paul II or the level of his participation in the summit. A Vatican source said the pope had wanted the meeting and could be expected to meet in an audience with the participants, perhaps at the end of the encounter.
The source said members of other Vatican agencies, including those dealing with seminaries and ordination, also were expected to attend at least part of the meeting.
In Washington, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said April 15 that he and the USCCB vice president, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., would attend the Vatican summit.
Sources in Rome said all active U.S. cardinals were expected to attend.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles welcomed the meeting.
"I expect these meetings and discussions to be open, frank and without limitations," he said. "A healthy dialogue with officials in the Vatican is essential to repairing the past damage and to create a more open and honest way of dealing with any type of misconduct within the Catholic Church for the future."
Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit said that "bringing together this level of Church leadership in Rome on this most serious issue is the right move at the right time. So much has been happening so fast in various dioceses around the United States and elsewhere that I welcome this opportunity to be able to reflect and react in this collegial setting."
In addition to Cardinals Mahony and Maida, the cardinals who currently head U.S. archdioceses are:
•Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia.
•Edward M. Egan of New York.
•Francis E. George of Chicago.
•William H. Keeler of Baltimore.
•Bernard F. Law of Boston.
•Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington.
It was not immediately clear April 15 if American cardinals holding Vatican offices also would be invited to the summit, although a spokesman for Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka, former archbishop of Detroit and current president of the commission that governs Vatican City State, said he would attend.
Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and former archbishop of Denver, could not be reached for comment.
A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington said Cardinal James A. Hickey, retired archbishop of Washington, was invited but would not attend because the trip would be too hard for him. The office of Cardinal William W. Baum, another former archbishop of Washington and a former Vatican official, had no immediate comment.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, professor at Fordham University, New York, said initially April 16 that he had not yet been told whether he was expected to attend the meeting. But later the same day, according to an aide, he learned that he was expected at the meeting and planned to attend.
Contributing to this story were Jerry Filteau and Patricia Zapor in Washington and Tracy Early in New York.
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