Vatican Disciplines Two Priests

The Vatican has disciplined two Michigan priests accused of sexually abusing children, defrocking one and upholding the other's suspension.

Pope John Paul II issued a decree dismissing the Rev. Joseph Sito, 68, of Warren, who has been on leave since 1993 because of "substantive allegations," the Archdiocese of Detroit said Sunday.

In 1999, Sito was charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly convincing a 17-year-old boy to expose himself, court records show. In a deal with the prosecutor's office, Sito pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of assault, and the sex offense was dismissed.

He paid a fine and did not go to jail.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rejected an appeal by the Rev. James Wysocki, 63, of Marine City, who was suspended by Cardinal Adam Maida. The panel said Wysocki should stand trial under canon law before a panel of three lawyer-priests.

Maida placed Wysocki on leave in February 2003 after an archdiocesan review board found evidence that Wysocki had sexually abused minors during the early years of his ministry. Prosecutors did not seek charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

Maida asked Wysocki to resign, but the priest declined and instead appealed to the Vatican.

The Vatican rulings were announced a week after U.S. Catholic bishops released the results of an audit which concluded that 90 percent of the 195 archdioceses and dioceses in the nation are in full compliance with guidelines adopted last year to prevent sex abuse by priests.

According to the audit, the archdioceses of New York and the dioceses of Anchorage, Alaska, and Omaha, Neb., are among those found not to be in full compliance.

The bishops adopted the reforms in June 2002, at the height of the scandal, which began two years ago this week with revelations about a single predatory priest in the Archdiocese of Boston. The files showed church officials let the priest serve even after repeated allegations of abuse.

After the scandal first hit the headlines in Boston, allegations cropped up all over the country as well as internationally. In the U.S., over 1,000 people have come forward with abuse allegations against dioceses. The charges have led to large financial claims against the church, the resignation of top officials and the prosecution of priests.

To pay the largest settlement allowed to date, the Boston diocese is selling its official residence to help raise $85 million it has agreed to pay victims.

An even larger possible settlement looms in California, where about 800 people in various parts of the state have filed molestation lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church.

The flood of litigation is the result of a California law that took effect Jan. 1, 2003, lifting for one year the statute of limitations for molestation lawsuits.

Critics charge that the audit done for the bishops was fundamentally flawed. According to victims' advocates, bishops had too much control of how the audit was conducted, so it should be viewed skeptically.

The bishops recommended whom the auditors should interview. And according to the report, auditors were unable to view personnel files that would verify whether bishops were complying with the policy's ban on transferring offenders from one diocese to another.

"Essentially, bishops have defined the rules of the game, decided who plays, paid the umpires and are now declaring themselves the winners," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The audit was meant to help enforce the reforms and will be conducted annually. However, there is no mechanism to sanction those who don't comply. Under church law, each diocese is autonomous and bishops answer to the Vatican, not each other.

A second and potentially more important study, also commissioned by the bishops, is to be released Feb. 27. It will attempt to tally every church abuse case in the country since 1950.