WASHINGTON (AP) – The leader of a watchdog panel appointed by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops said Tuesday she expects all dioceses to answer an unprecedented survey on clergy sex abuse that top church officials warn will produce results that “add to our own sorrow.”

Anne Burke, an Illinois appellate judge who is acting chairwoman of the National Review Board, said about 80 percent of U.S. dioceses had responded by mid-September, a response rate she called remarkable for such a complex report.

The study will count the number of abuse cases since 1950 and calculate related costs for legal settlements with victims, therapy for victims and offenders and attorneys fees.

When the survey was announced, some bishops expressed concern that information might be used in civil lawsuits against the church and worried about confidentiality for priests included in the study. It was feared some bishops might not participate because of those concerns but Burke said she expects in the end all will participate.

Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warned that release of the report on Feb. 27, during the Lenten season, will be “unpleasant and painful.”

“It will certainly add to our own sorrow,” and will “add some pain to an already painful moment in the history of the church,” Gregory said.

Burke’s progress report was made during the bishops’ national meeting.

The 12-member panel is helping oversee several studies meant to find the extent of abuse in the church and the roots of the crisis that erupted in January 2002. A report on the causes of the scandal is scheduled to be released along with the statistical survey, which is being conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

The board also is working with the bishops’ newly created Office of Child and Youth Protection on audits of all 195 U.S. dioceses. Investigators are reviewing whether officials are complying with the church’s toughened discipline policy on guilty priests. The audit results are scheduled to be released Jan. 6.

William Burleigh, a member of the review board, told the bishops that the panel has worked to maintain its independence from the bishops as it oversaw the reviews.

“In adopting this posture, we hope we are not seen by you as hostile or untrustworthy. Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Burleigh, board chairman and former chief executive officer of E.W. Scripps Co. “As a board we are united by our love for the church and a burning desire to see her wounds healed.”

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests questioned whether the audits will be truly independent, since investigators are relying on information provided by dioceses.

“In essence, the bishops have drawn up the rules of the game, hired the umpires, and are now declaring they’re winning,” said Terrie Light, a SNAP leader from San Francisco. “Fundamentally, it’s still voluntary self-reporting, so we urge caution in interpreting any results.”

Earlier Tuesday, a committee of bishops proposed church leaders issue a statement opposing same-sex unions and urging state governments to only recognize marriages between a man and a woman.

The document reinforces church teaching that gay sex is a sin, at a time when homosexual couples have been gaining greater recognition in society, according to the committee of bishops who drafted the document.

The bishops will discuss the statement and vote on it later in their meeting, which ends Thursday.

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On the Net:

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/

AP-ES-11-11-03 1904EST