Though Delayed Nationally, Code of Conduct for Bishops and Plans for Independent Reporting of Allegations against Bishops in Place in Archdiocese

For Immediate Release
Monday, November 12, 2018

Archbishop William E. Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore, issued the following statement after the announcement by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that the Vatican requested there be no vote by the Bishops on the proposed measures of episcopal accountability at the Bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore.

“Even as we anxiously await the Holy Father’s February meeting with the world’s bishops to discuss new protocols for bishops’ accountability, the bishops of the Archdiocese of Baltimore have and will continue to be held to the highest standards of personal, professional and moral conduct, the very same standards to which we hold all who are charged with ministering to and shepherding the faithful of our Church.

“To that end, I renew today my recent call for the expansion of the purview of the Independent Review Board to include oversight of the investigation of allegations against bishops and I reiterate the unwavering commitment of this Archdiocese to absolute zero tolerance for any minister of the Church who is found to have sexually abused a minor or sexually harassed any individual.”

www.archbalt.org/accountability 

Archdiocese of Baltimore