As they resume celebrating the sacraments, tending to the administrative duties of the church and shepherding the flock, they are under the glare of many eyes.

They face parishioners, many with eyebrows firmly raised in skepticism, waiting to see how the new policy plays out in the day-to-day life of the church.

They return to priests, regarded by the church as their sons in Christ, glancing nervously over their shoulders afraid of being removed from their ministry because of unfounded allegations.

And they face the cold, suspicious stares of victims of past sexual abuse whose trust they lost because some among them harbored child abusers, moving them from parish to parish over decades.

'Talk is cheap'

It's no wonder people are watching.

In 1992, after seven years of study, the U.S. Bishops Conference passed voluntary guidelines. Yet, this year's crisis of abuse and cover-up dwarfed scandals of the past.

More than 200 priests have been suspended, two committed suicide, four bishops stepped down and hundreds of victims have spoken out. More than 300 have filed lawsuits.

With this history, the bishops have much to prove.

Their president, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., acknowledged it.

"Listening is easy, talk is cheap, action is priceless," he said. "This is our challenge."

For some people, the challenge is personal.

"If I go back to Atlanta and Archbishop [John] Donoghue calls me Monday morning and says, 'I really want to meet with you,' then I'll know something's different," said Ellie Harold.

Harold, who attended workshops for victims in Dallas during the bishops' meeting, is one of several women who have come forward to claim they were abused by the Rev. Clarence Biggers at St. Joseph Catholic School in Marietta during the 1960s.

Biggers, 80, lives at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers.

Others are looking at a larger landscape.

"The arrogance of power and the exclusion of laity from decision-making" are the underlying causes of the current situation, said Eugene Bianchi, professor emeritus of religion at Emory University and co-author of the book "Passionate Uncertainty: Inside the American Jesuits."

"It seems to me if the Catholic church had a more open culture, it would probably have a healthier one," Bianchi said.

Policy draws complaint

Criticism of the bishops' action came swiftly from several sides.

Some victims complained that bishops did not mandate "defrocking" -- the return to laity status -- of every abusive priest.

Some conservatives accused them of refusing to address eroding standards and an influx of gays into the priesthood.

And some liberals clamored that the problem of sexual abuse by priests cannot be understood outside the issue of celibacy.

The prelates also must try to maintain peace between factions in the parishes while pleasing the one man who matters most.

Pope John Paul II sometimes seems troubled, often puzzled by the American church.

Before U.S. cardinals' historic summons to the Vatican this year because of the sex abuse crisis, their last trip as a body to the Holy See was in 1989 to address discord between the U.S. church and the Vatican.

Despite the danger of displeasure, Notre Dame scholar Scott Appleby urged the bishops at their opening session Thursday to take care of the needs of the church in this country and "let Rome be Rome."

"It will be, in any case," he said, to the titters of the bishops.

The bishops seemed to give some heed to what he said. They mandated the reporting of abuse allegations to civil authorities, despite signals that the Vatican was uncomfortable with the provision. They also committed themselves to implement their new policies immediately, even though they do not become church law unless approved by the Vatican.

But even that commitment is only the first step, another scholar cautioned.

The document "can only be a down payment on what you -- and what all of us -- must do for years to come," Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, editor of Commonweal magazine, said in an address to the conference.

The bishops have damaged the entire mission of the church -- its moral authority in the culture, its credibility with those it evangelizes and its social ministry to the poor, she said.

They have many bridges to build.

Appleby concurred.

The bishops would be making "an enormous mistake" to stop with adopting a policy on sexual abuse, he said.

The principles of openness, accountability and a commitment to involving laity that they have pledged to follow in dealing with sexual abuse "must be extended to all aspects of the life and service of the Catholic Church in the United States," he said.

"Otherwise, the next scandal will come quickly on the heels of this one."