Keating quits as head of church's sex-abuse panel

Officially as the head of a panel keeping tabs on the Roman Catholic prelates' sex abuse reforms in the US, a defiant Frank Keating took another swipe at some bishops, defending his comments that compared church leaders to the mafia.

"My remarks, which some bishops found offensive, were deadly accurate. I make no apology," the former Oklahoma governor wrote Monday in his resignation letter to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US hierarchy.

"To resist grand jury subpoenas, to suppress the names of offending clerics, to deny, to obfuscate, to explain away; that is the model of a criminal organization, not my church."

However, Keating added that "most of America's bishops are fully supportive" of the reform campaign and "have stood up for virtue." He also praised Gregory personally.

"You are a model of the Good Shepherd," he said.

For the past year, Keating has led the National Review Board, an all-lay panel charged with keeping track of bishops' efforts to rid the priesthood of sexual molesters.

The outspoken Keating had a rocky relationship with some bishops that worsened last week, when he commented in a Los Angeles Times interview on unnamed church officials: "To act like La Cosa Nostra and hide and suppress, I think, is very unhealthy. Eventually it will all come out."

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony called Keating's comments "the last straw." The cardinal said he would ask other bishops to consider calling for Keating to step down during the full hierarchy's meeting that opens today in St. Louis.

Gregory to Keating's letter with a polite note of thanks, saying that the "intense environment" of the scandals "gives rise to strong emotions under the close observations of the media" and "there were bound to be moments of difficulty."

Keating's -- he said his resignation is effective this week -- is bound to put pressure on both the bishops and the review board to keep the lay group's operations independent. Board members vowed to stay vigilant.

Ten the 12 continuing members of Keating's board held a conference call Monday to discuss the situation. Keating, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, did not participate and declined an interview request. His departure had been expected for days.