Nebraska bishop is only US prelate refusing to participate in child molestation policy

National support group and Catholic lay group ask bishops to prod him this week

Five years ago this month, church hierarchy adopted first-ever national abuse plan

Spokane bishop is targeted because he heads US bishops conference

As America’s Catholic prelates meet this week in New Mexico, two national organizations are asking top church officials to prod one of their colleagues to honor their national sex abuse policy or rebuke him.

At a Chicago news conference and in a joint letter sent today to the president and vice president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), leaders of SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and CTA (Call To Action) called on them to either make Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz comply with national sex abuse policy or publicly censure him. Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane is the Conference president and Cardinal Francis George is the Conference vice president.

The policy, adopted five years ago last week, are formally known as the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, and informally called ‘the Dallas charter.’

Bruskewitz is the only one of 194 diocesan bishops who refuses to comply with that policy. Six months after adopting it, bishops publicly promised to “fraternally correct” peers who violate it.

At a similar event last week in Nebraska, the same two groups publicly called on all US bishops to speak out about Bruskewitz.

SNAP is a support group for clergy molestation victims with 8,000 members nationwide. CTA is a Catholic reform organization with a national membership of 25,000. Both organizations are based in Chicago.

Earlier this month, CTA members tried to present Bruskewitz with the petitions signed by 1,000 parishioners from across the US urging him to comply with the Dallas Charter. Bruskewitz threatened to have them arrested if they stepped foot on church property. http://www.journalstar.com

Bruskewitz claims that his diocese is in compliance but refuses to let auditors interview church staff to make that determination, as required by the policy and is done in other dioceses. “Bishop Bruskewitz asks Catholics to trust him, but that is what Cardinal Law expected parishioners to do in Boston and we know how that turned out,” says Linda Pieczynski, attorney and CTA/USA spokeswoman.

“Bishop Skylstad can’t sit silently by while one of his colleagues arrogantly and recklessly thumbs his nose at sex abuse victims, Catholics, and every single other Catholic bishop,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis. He’s SNAP’s long-time national director. “In the face of such blatant disobedience, the silence of virtually every bishop proves just how hollow the church’s allegedly binding national sex abuse policy really is.”

Though bishops ultimately answer to the Pope, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has the freedom to issue public statements on policy issues, and protecting children is one of the most worthy issues on which they could speak.

A copy of the SNAP/CTA letter to Skylstad and George, sent today by fax and e mail, are below.

Dear Bishop Skylstad and Cardinal George:

As leaders of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, you have the ability, one might say the moral duty, to speak out on issues concerning the common good. It is with this capacity that you have spoken out on serious matters such as immigration, elimination of the death penalty, and peace in Iraq. Today, we ask you to use this same capacity for moral rectitude to speak out for the protection of children.

This month marks the 5-year anniversary of the National Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Your national Catholic Conference of Bishops penned this document and with its publication, promised American Catholics that you would protect our Catholic children from clergy sexual abuse. Many bishops have complied with the charter and for that, we are grateful.

However, as you know, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the Lincoln Diocese is the only Catholic diocesan bishop has repeatedly refused to participate in the audits that would ensure his compliance with the National Charter. Earlier this month, Catholics in Lincoln, Nebraska attempted to deliver to Bishop Bruskewitz more than 1,000 petition letters signed by Catholics concerned about his failure to comply with the audits. In response, he threatened to arrest them.

Six months after the charter was adopted, you publicly promised to “fraternally correct” your fellow bishops who do not comply with your own policies on sexual abuse. You have not done so. We believe that wrongdoing that is ignored is wrongdoing that is encouraged.

Therefore, we come to you today seeking your support to ensure that the safety of the children in the Lincoln Diocese is secured and that justice is brought about for victims of clergy sexual abuse. We call on you, at your meeting this week in New Mexico, to either persuade Bishop Bruskewitz to comply with the sex abuse policy or to publicly censure him for his reckless obstinance.

For the sake of children, for the sake of clergy sexual abuse survivors, we urge your prompt response and look forward to your reply.

David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP national director 314 566 9790 cell
Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP outreach director 314 862 7688
Nicole Sotelo of Chicago, CTA USA Acting Co-Director 773 404 0004, ext 285
Linda Pieczynski of Chicago, CTA/USA Spokesperson 630.323.6924**