Canon Lawyer Michael Mazza offers one more compelling argument why the US bishops have not resolved the sex-abuse scandal. In a piece for First Things, he notes the crisis in morale among Catholic priests, evident in the fact that 82% of priests in a recent survey said they were afraid of being falsely accuses of sexual abuse.

Why that fear? Because priests know that if they are accused, their bishops will not defend them— in fact, will not even give them due-process protections. If they are “credibly accused” (whatever that means) they may be removed from ministry and the accusation made public. Even if they are cleared— eventually— suspicions will linger.

Mazza writes: “When it comes to priestly morale in twenty-first-century America, the most obvious issue is the atmosphere of almost complete lawlessness that ensues when a priest is accused.”

The fundamental problem is that when the scandal broke, the bishops— instead of blaming themselves for failing to remove known predators from ministry, or blaming the “experts” who told them those predators could be healed— looked for the quick solution. The Dallas Charter makes every priest a potential suspect: with or without evidence of wrongdoing, and definitely without the means to protect himself.