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HEADLINE: Bishops Seek Overhaul of Justice System

BYLINE: Hanna Rosin , Washington Post Staff Writer

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U.S. Catholic bishops yesterday called for massive reform of the nation's criminal justice system, hoping to move its emphasis from prison building and punishment to rehabilitation and drug treatment.

The statement, approved unanimously at the bishops' biannual convention, is intended as the bishops' major message for the beginning of the new millennium, equivalent to their influential 1980s pronouncement on peace.

The U.S. criminal justice system's emphasis on punishment "does not truly reflect Christian values and will not leave our communities safer," according to the statement by the National Conference of U.S. Bishops. Released after 10 years of study, the statement attempts a balanced approach that acknowledges personal "responsibility" while advocating more "rehabilitation." It includes moving testimony from victims and law enforcement officials as well as prisoners.

The statement rejects treating juvenile offenders as adults "fully formed in conscience," argues that former felons should be allowed to vote and says the bishops are "skeptical" about for-profit private prisons. But it also asks for tougher sentences for drunk drivers.

"We believe that both victims and offenders are children of God," the statement reads.

Ultimately, the bishops recognized their task would be nothing short of a "moral revolution," one that would require "changing the hearts and minds" of political leaders as well as average Catholics, who support the death penalty at the same rate as the rest of the population.

Elected officials "need to move out in front and not be followers of polls," said Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who authored the statement and plans to send it to California legislators and lobby them. "They need to point us in a new and better direction of respect for human dignity."

The 300 bishops also discussed, but did not vote on, two other controversial proposals. One would establish new guidelines governing mergers between Catholic and secular hospitals that allow what the church considers "intrinsically evil" procedures--abortions, sterilizations and euthanasia, said Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, who chairs the committee.

The Catholic Health Association and various physicians groups have expressed concern that the directive could threaten dozens of Catholic hospitals that depend on these mergers for financial viability.

In a separate matter, the bishops also circulated a draft plan for implementing a directive from the Vatican that requires Catholic theologians to receive official certification from their local bishops in order to teach Catholic history or theology. The draft says teachers should request the "mandatum" in writing and puts the burden of proof on any bishop who wants to revoke one. It also establishes an appeals process for such cases.

But Daniel Finn, a theologian at St. John's University in Minnesota who is consulting with the bishops, said he and his colleagues have "deep-seated misgivings" because the draft does not lay out procedures for removing a mandatum and allows individual bishops too much discretion.

LOAD-DATE: November 16, 2000