“I’m here because of my faith,” said McKeon, a parishioner of St. Mary-Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Mount Vernon, N.Y. “I want the Catholic Church to be what it should be, not what it is.”

Leaders from BishopAccountability.org organized a morning press conference, where they and victim-survivors of abuse denounced the Vatican’s request for the U.S. bishops not to vote on two proposals they were to discuss at the assembly regarding their response to the clergy sex abuse scandals. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president, informed the bishops as they opened their fall general assembly Nov. 12 that the Vatican wanted the bishops to delay any vote until after a February meeting with the pope and presidents of the bishops’ conferences around the world that will focus on addressing clergy abuse. I think they also have a right to be hopeful.”

The bishops are meeting through Wednesday in Baltimore and had been expected to consider several steps to combat abuse, including a new code of conduct for themselves and the creation of a special commission, including lay experts, to review complaints against the bishops. Immediately after DiNardo made the surprise announcement on Monday, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, one of the Pope's closest allies in the United States, said the bishops should still discuss the proposals, even if they are not approved this week. US Catholic bishops announce new policies to police bishops

Catholic bishops in the United States have been heavily criticized for failing to hold themselves accountable for the sexual abuse of children, especially after a grand jury report in Pennsylvania released this summer found widespread evidence of abuse by priests and coverups by bishops. As news of the Vatican’s intervention spread, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports, “critics of the delay said it sends the message that the Holy See does not grasp the depth of the crisis.” And Madden notes that activists and abuse survivors have been taking to social media to declare that “justice delayed is justice denied.”

When DiNardo began the bishops’ meeting on Monday, he devoted a large chunk of his opening address to speak directly to abuse survivors. At a midday news conference that focused heavily on the months-long delay, DiNardo said that even though the U.S. bishops cannot immediately hold a vote, they would still work to clarify the actions they want to take, “so that Rome will see that.”

“We are not, ourselves, happy about this,” he said.
Pope Francis asks the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, now meeting in Baltimore, to delay voting on proposals to address the sexual abuse crisis until he leads a global summit in February.