THE US: Pope John Paul has accepted the resignation of the third US bishop implicated in the ongoing sex abuse scandal since March, just as the Catholic bishops of the US head to Dallas where their special conference on the issue opens tomorrow.
The Bishop of Lexington, Kentucky, Dr Kendrick Williams (65), resigned yesterday following allegations by three men that in the early 1980s he abused them as children, one of them as a 12-year-old. He denies the charges.
Ordained a bishop in 1984, Bishop Williams was named the founding bishop of the newly established diocese of Lexington and was installed in 1988.
His resignation follows two others in recent months.
Clare-born Bishop Anthony O'Connell resigned in March from the diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, where he had been sent to take over from a bishop who had admitted abusing children. Bishop O'Connell admitted he abused a seminary student more than 25 years ago. Last month, the resignation of Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland was accepted by the Vatican, a day after he acknowledged paying a man $450,000 to settle a sexual misconduct allegation against him.
In April, Pope John Paul told US church leaders that sexual abuse of minors was both a crime and a sin.
Archbishop Thomas Kelly of Louisville said Bishop Williams would be missed and called his resignation "a personal loss for me as well".
"He has been a brother, counselor and friend to me for 20 years," the archbishop said. "May God bring peace to his pastor's heart as he looks to the future. May we always remember the blessings that have come to us through his ministry."
The resignation of Bishop Williams reinforces the sense of crisis that the beleaguered bishops will face as they gather. While usually their conferences may draw a couple of dozen journalists, some 700 have already registered in Dallas to cover this week's conference which will also be lobbied by victims rights organisations as well as the emerging lay movement "Voice of the Faithful".
That movement is seeing explosive growth not only in Boston and New England but in 40 states.
The group, which is campaigning for lay involvement in all Church decision-making, will specifically be demanding lay participation in the selection of the special commissions the bishops will establish in each diocese to review allegations of abuse against priests, its spokesman, Mr Michael Emerton, told The Irish Times.
The bishops will consider a draft declaration which has been widely criticised for failing to endorse a zero-tolerance policy for child abusing priests and those who cover up for them.
Reuters adds:
A second US bishop resigned last night after allegations of sexual misconduct. The Rev James McCarthy, an auxiliary bishop New York archdiocese, admitted to a number of affairs with women after the archdiocese received a letter about them on Saturday.