BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- United Methodist Church bishops declared May 3 that clergy who abuse children will not be shielded or protected by church authorities.
The 150-member Council of Bishops vowed at its semi-annual meeting in Bloomington, Minn., to "prevent and eradicate sexual abuse and misconduct" from all levels of church life, according to the United Methodist News Service (UMNS).
The Council simply clarified its earlier policies in light of the high-profile sexual abuse cases among Catholic clergy, said Bishop Sharon Rader, council secretary and leader of the church's Wisconsin Area.
"We had this issue on our agenda before all the media attention to the Catholic clergy story," Rader said.
In 1992, United Methodism's international legislative assembly asked all of the church's regional units - called annual conferences - to develop by 2000 policies and procedures for addressing sexual misconduct by clergy and lay employees.
The policies currently in place range from provisions for church trials to steps for stripping accused clergy of their ministry privileges. No abuse will be tolerated at any level, Rader said.
The United Methodist Church has nearly 36,000 congregations and 40,000 clergy in the United States, according to UMNS.
