A Catholic bishops organization has called for a Vatican-led investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called for the probe Thursday, two days after a grand jury in Pennsylvania disclosed the findings of the largest-ever investigation of sex abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church. The grand jury report said 301 priests in Pennsylvania had sexually abused more than 1,000 children over the past 70 years.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of McCarrick late last month following allegations that he had sexually abused children and had engaged in sexual misconduct with adult seminarians over a period of decades.

The president of the Washington-based bishops organization, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, said in a statement that the church was confronted with a “spiritual crisis” and a need for “practical changes to avoid repeating the sins and failures of the past.” DiNardo added that there was a need for “stronger protections against predators in the church and anyone who would conceal them.”

New reporting method

The group said it would develop a new method for those abused by clergy to report allegations without interference from bishops who oversee the priests targeted with claims. The new mechanism would involve more non-clergy church members who have expertise in law enforcement or psychology, the group said.

A prominent Catholic group, formed to promote parishioners’ voices after the nation’s earliest revelations of clerical abuses, is concerned about how the new reporting process would work. Voice of the Faithful spokesman Nick Ingala said it would be imperative that the process be protected from any clerical influence. “I don’t know how they are going to work that out,” he said.

Sex abuse in the church first erupted onto the global stage in 2002, when The Boston Globe reported priests had sexually assaulted children for decades while church leaders covered up their crimes.

Since 2002, similar allegations have emerged in Europe, Chile and Australia, undermining the moral authority of the church, which has 1.2 billion members worldwide.

The church has not commented on the call for a church-led probe of McCarrick or the Pennsylvania grand jury report.
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