The American Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church convened a meeting in Dallas today to figure out what to do with priests who have been accused of sexual abuse. The sex abuse crisis gripping the church has so far brought down hundreds of priests and several bishops.
Many of the bishops at the meeting are pushing for a “zero tolerance” policy, in which an abusive priest is immediately removed from his post. But there are sticky questions about what to do with a priest who has abused in the past, and what to do when a priest is accused of abuse but hasn’t yet been found guilty.
This hour, can the bishops rescue the American Catholic church from what some are calling the greatest crisis it has ever seen? We go inside the politics of the Dallas meeting to see what step the bishops will take next.
Guests:
James Carroll, former priest, and author of “Constantine’s Sword”
R. Scott Appleby, Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame
Monica Brady Myerov, reporter WBUR covering the church crisis
Phil Saviano, runs the Boston Chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
