Cupich: Bishops must cede some rights for the sake of accountability

From La Stampa:

Individual Catholic bishops across the United States must renounce some of the supreme authority they have over their dioceses to allow for the creation of a new national body to investigate misconduct allegations, Chicago Cardinal Cupich said.

When the U.S. bishops meet in November to consider the continuing clergy sexual abuse crisis, Cupich said the prelates “have to be very clear about an accountability procedure for accusations about bishops.”

“Bishops have to, as a group, say, ’We cede our rights as bishops to have somebody else come in and investigate us,’ “ the cardinal told NCR. “Every bishop has to be willing to say, ’I will allow myself to be investigated by an independent group if there is an accusation against me.’ “

In an exclusive Oct. 13 interview, Cupich spoke about what the U.S. bishops should do during their annual meeting — to be held in Baltimore Nov. 12-14 — to address concerns raised after the revelations about now ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians.

The Chicago cardinal, who is taking part in the Oct. 3-28 Synod of Bishops as a papal appointee, also spoke about his own experience working with abuse survivors, the mentality bishops need to adopt in allowing themselves to be held accountable, and the scapegoating of priests with homosexual orientation.

He also addressed for the first time the resignation of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who ended a five-decade career Oct. 12 in the wake of a Pennsylvania grand jury report’s findings about his handling of abusive priests in the early 1990s.

“I was not surprised that he decided that it was important for him to step aside for the good of the church, because he’s always put the good of the church ahead of everything else … even to the point of saying, ’I made mistakes,’ “ said Cupich, referring to Wuerl’s several apologies for some of his decisions as bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988-2006.

“That’s the man I know,” Cupich said of Wuerl. “He’s an honest man who has always tried to do his best in love for the church, even to the point where he’s big enough to admit that he made those mistakes.”

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