BALTIMORE - Under intense public pressure, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops approved new steps this week to deal more strongly with the clergy sex-abuse crisis. But activists and others say the moves leave the bishops in charge of policing themselves and potentially keep law enforcement at arm’s length. They also did not specify a procedure for informing police of abuse allegations that come in over a newly proposed hotline. “Even the bishops themselves recognize they have lost their credibility in monitoring this dreadful crisis,” said Thomas Groome, a professor at Boston College’s School of Theology. Even some bishops sense that many Catholics are distancing themselves from the church because of the furor.

Source: thestar June 13, 2019 21:15 UTC