Hundreds of lawsuits remain pending against the archdiocese over clergy sex abuse.

BOSTON (AP) – The Boston archdiocese released final rules protecting children from clergy sexual abuse on Friday, capping a yearlong effort to prevent the kind of misconduct by priests that has embroiled the archdiocese in scandal.

“I wish to personally commit myself to the full implementation and the carrying out of these policies for the protection of the children of our diocese, and to foster the integrity of the diocese in handling and addressing such grave matters,” said Bishop Richard G. Lennon, the interim head of the archdiocese.

Lennon said the sexual abuse crisis has “very painfully affected all in the Archdiocese of Boston and beyond.”

“Our commitment is firm, and I invite all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Boston and people of goodwill to join us in this concerted effort so that children are protected over and above all other concerns,” he said.

The policy, which goes into effect July 1, was the result of a year of consultation between the archdiocese and sexual abuse experts, abuse victims, law enforcement and canonical experts.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted a nationwide policy for clergy abuse in November, and the Vatican approved it in December. That policy required all U.S. dioceses to establish their own protocols, and submit it to the bishops within three months of March 1.

The rules released Friday combine recommendations from an archdiocesan commission, the bishops’ policies and cannon law into a single set of procedures. Many of the policies were implemented earlier, such as mandatory reporting of allegations to law enforcement.

Ann Hagan Webb, the New England Regional Coordinator of the Survivor’s Network for those Abused by Priests, who helped draft the archdiocesan commission’s recommendations, said she remains concerned that the review board won’t have enough power.

“A lay board that has no teeth is so much lip service. I’d like to know that it had teeth, and I’d like to question (Lennon) about that,” she said.

Hundreds of lawsuits remain pending against the archdiocese over alleged clergy sex abuse. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney on Friday issued an order extending a moratorium on court action in many of the cases until June 28.

The new rules set up the structure for responding to and investigating claims of abuse, as well as for communicating with laity, the public, and the media, replacing a 1993 policy, said the Rev. Robert Oliver, who coordinated the policy-setting.

“I think that certainly the archdiocese is taking a very, very serious step forward here,” Oliver said. “A lot of people worked very hard on this, and we’ve gotten assurances from the experts that we’ve consulted that this is pretty good.”

As part of the new rules, a nine-member review board will advise the archbishop on cases. The panel will include a pastor, a sexual abuse expert, a psychiatrist, and an abuse victim or family member.

The policy also spells out and formalizes reporting procedures, and the rights of victims and priests.

Although the rules closely resemble those adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, some parts are more stringent. For example, the review board will automatically examine each accusation; the bishop’s rules do not require that every allegation be heard by review boards, Oliver said.

The state Attorney General’s Office, which has been working closely with the archdiocese to create child protections, was sent a draft of the policies for comment. Assistant Attorney General Alice E. Moore said in a letter Friday to the archdiocese that the new rules indicate “some progress,” but were “deficient in many important respects.”

Moore criticized the policies an “exceedingly complex structure” unlikely to achieve the archdiocese’s goals of preventing abuse, and expressed concern that the policies’ strict interpretation of canon law stood in the way of investigating and responding to allegations.

“The process, from the moment an allegation of sexual abuse is made to the final disposition on discipline, is fraught with barriers for victims seeking justice,” she wrote.

A spokesman for the archdiocese did not immediately return calls seeking comment on Moore’s assessment.

The scandal broke in early 2002 with revelations that the church shuttled the Rev. John Geoghan from parish to parish despite warnings about his behavior.

Geoghan was convicted in January 2002 of indecent assault and battery for grabbing the buttocks of a 10-year-old boy in 1991 in the first of three criminal cases against him.

In civil lawsuits, more than 130 people have claimed Geoghan sexually abused them as children during his three decades as a priest at Boston-area parishes.

The scandal mushroomed after a judge order the release of archdiocese files involving dozens of priests, showing repeated examples of the archdiocese shipping priests to different parishes when allegations arose.

—

On the Web:

http://www.rcab.org/Administration/Policy/pocLetter.html

AP-ES-05-30-03 1710EDT