The morning session of the bishops' November 2002 assembly ended with the introduction of the newly appointed National Review Board and the director of the new child-protection office, former F.B.I. official Kathleen L. McChesney.

The big news of the day, though, was the afternoon presentation of the revised norms for dealing with sexual abuse allegations. Those norms had been crafted and approved in June 2002 in Dallas, but were not fully accepted by the Vatican. A mixed commission of U.S. and Vatican representatives met for two days in October to iron out the differences. The report today was of a highly cooperative, friendly and productive meeting that introduced better protections for

Today's presentation was a technical discussion about the nuances of the canon legal code. The revised norms dominated an intersession news conference held by Bishops Joseph A. Galante, Thomas G. Doran and William E. Lori. In a room lined with TV cameras and filled with reporters, these bishops fielded questions for about an hour on the changes in the norms introduced by the mixed commission.

When the bishops reconvened in assembly at 2 p.m., those same bishops, now headed by Cardinal Francis George, a member of the mixed commission, fielded questions from their brother bishops.

The resounding theme of all the answers, both to media and fellow bishops, is that the revised norms make explicit what was implicit in Dallas. Contrary to some media reports, insist the bishops, there is no substantial change or watering down; only greater refinement and clarification. The bishops on the ad hoc committee emphasized that the norms are not to be confused with the charter that the bishops adopted in June 2002. The charter reflects the bishops' pledge to take strong and immediate action to be sure that no abuser, past or present, remains in ministry. The norms are Church law tools for implementing the same. As Bishop Lori told reporters, "The norms represent the minimum commitment; the charter represents our full commitment." The norms required Vatican approval; the Charter is a pledge by the U.S. bishops that does not require such approval.

One question that seemed unanswered was the question of accountability for bishops themselves. Bishop Galante told a reporter after the mid-day news conference as much. Yet there was a presentation on bishops' accountability from a task force formed at Dallas. The conclusions of the task force seemed basically a reiteration of current Church laws and policies. Said Bishop Robert H. Brom in his presentation, "We commit ourselves to assist each other within our respective jurisdictions in implementing the charter."

John Bookser Feister is editor of AmericanCatholic.org and an assistant editor of St. Anthony Messenger magazine whose 1994 article on clergy sexual abuse was awarded best general-interest magazine article that year by the Catholic Press Association. He holds master's degrees in humanities and theology from Xavier University.