Hawaii diocese A Hawaii Catholic diocese official says the local church's policy for dealing with priests who sexually abuse children is stronger than the U.S. Catholic bishops' proposed policy, which stops short of "zero tolerance."
claims ‘zero tolerance’
Priests will be taken from
ministry if they commit sex abuseBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comHawaii Bishop Francis DiLorenzo will attend the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at a Dallas convention next week when it takes up the draft "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" released yesterday.
A committee of bishops drafted the proposal to reflect a unified response to the national scandal of sexual abuse by priests and coverup by their superiors. But the proposal immediately came under criticism because, while it calls for the ouster for most priests who sexually abuse children, it makes it possible for certain offenders to remain active in their ministry.
The local church is less forgiving, according to Hawaii diocese spokesman Patrick Downes.
"The bishop's policy is pretty much zero tolerance," he said. "If an accusation of sex abuse against a minor is substantiated, that person will not be allowed to be a priest in this diocese. They no longer perform public ministry, although they still belong to the diocese.
"Whatever they do in Dallas, our diocese has followed pretty strict policies for a decade that seem to work."
DiLorenzo has removed four priests from public ministry in sexual misconduct cases, all of which allegedly occurred before he took office here in 1993, according to Downes.
And last month, DiLorenzo put the pastor of Maria Lanakila church in Lahaina on administrative leave after an accusation that the Rev. Joseph Bukoski molested a minor 20 years ago. A church statement said "there has been no final determination whether or not Father Bukoski abused a minor."
Bukoski has denied the allegation. He will attend a Seattle clinic for evaluation.
A Honolulu lawyer who last month filed the only current local lawsuit accusing a priest of sexual molestation scoffed at the proposal by an Ad Hoc Committee of the U.S. Conference of Bishops.
"What took them so long? This didn't result from self-examination, public outrage brought this about," said Michael Green, whose two clients named a priest for alleged misconduct in 1985 and 1986 at a Honolulu parish.
The man accused by Green's clients was one of the four priests that DiLorenzo removed from public ministry. The action was based on a separate accusation made after the priest left Hawaii and was serving as a military chaplain. Green's clients did not report their case to the diocese, Downes said.
But Green said, "I guarantee they will stonewall us on the record keeping" as the case proceeds in court. "In the Catholic Church, there's no zero tolerance."
Under the draft charter unveiled by the Ad Hoc committee, bishops would support ousting a priest without his consent for any new case of sexual abuse and for any priest previously diagnosed as a pedophile or who has committed multiple acts of sexual abuse.
But the proposed policy provides that a man who molested once in the past could continue in the ministry, under certain conditions, which would include review by a diocesan board made up mostly of lay people.
Ouster from the priesthood, or laicization, can only be done by the Vatican, and if resisted by the priest, the process can take years of appeals.
What DiLorenzo has done in Hawaii is remove four priests from public ministry, but they continue with the authority to perform the sacraments.
Honolulu has such a board in place already, said Downes. Three priests and five other people, including lawyers, psychologists and a family counselor, are on the Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct created about 10 years ago in response to earlier nationwide publicity about priest pedophiles. Members of the committee interview accusers and accused and make recommendations to the bishop.