By Rachel Zoll
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The head of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops pleaded for unity within the church Monday as prelates prepared to adopt a sex abuse policy that they promised will get offending clergy out of public ministry.

Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, opened a gathering of the American hierarchy with a speech focusing on the church's future after a year of scandal. Fellow prelates stressed that the new policy - a reworked version of a plan they first approved in June - still bars guilty priests from all church work, including saying Mass publicly.

STORY ARCHIVE

Click here for all Enquirer reports on accusations or actions against local priests.

"We will eradicate this plague, this horror, from our midst," said Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, Ill., who helped draft the plan.

At the bishops' meeting last June, Bishop Gregory repeatedly apologized for the church's mishandling of molestation claims. Victim advocates noted the new focus Monday and accused bishops of abandoning their commitment to reform.

Bishop Gregory denied there was any change. But he also said the crisis that erupted in January with the case of a pedophile in the Boston Archdiocese has "fractured" relations among prelates, priests and rank-and-file Catholics. He acknowledged clergy feel "unfairly judged" by the misdeeds of a few.

"We cannot and must never allow the particular positions that we have taken on such a serious issue, or even the mistakes that we have made in understanding and addressing it, to destroy our communion with one another in the Lord," Bishop Gregory said.

Critics inside and outside of the church have tried to capitalize on the scandals to undermine Catholic teaching, Bishop Gregory said. He urged bishops to challenge them.

Thousands of Catholics angry about how bishops have dealt with errant priests have joined reform movements. Some want the church to ordain women and allow priests to marry.

"One cannot fail to hear in the distance - and sometimes very nearby - the call of the false prophet," Bishop Gregory said.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors' Network of Those Abused by Priests, called Bishop Gregory's speech, "a real slap in the face to Catholic lay people."

"It's saying, `Stop the discussion, stop the dissension. We have good priests and we're moving on,' " Mr. Clohessy said. "Their agenda here is to say `We're done. We have nice words on paper. We're moving forward.' "

Victim advocates said they have files containing the names of 2,100 priests accused of child sex abuse, and planned to release an Internet database identifying at least 600 of the clerics today.

The bishops originally passed a disciplinary plan five months ago in Dallas. The policy before the group now is a revision negotiated with the Vatican that protects priests' rights and underscores that bishops, not lay people, have the authority to oversee clergy.

Whatever plan is adopted this week will stand for at least two years if it wins Vatican approval to become church law in the United States. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said officials in Rome have promised they will authorize the policy if bishops approve it basically as is.

The new plan calls for church tribunals to hear the cases of clerics who maintain their innocence in the face of abuse allegations. It also establishes a preliminary investigation when a claim is first made. Bishops would conduct that privately to protect the reputation of the accused.

The original policy gave bishops authority to oust guilty priests more swiftly. At least 325 of the nation's 46,000 priests have either resigned or been suspended over allegations of abuse this year. Most of the claims involve cases from years and even decades ago.

The revisions also reinstate the church's statute of limitations on bringing complaints. The alleged victim must come forward by age 28, but bishops still can ask the Vatican for a waiver in special cases.

Lay review boards formed to monitor abuse cases in dioceses would be advisory only, under the new plan.