Philadelphia ? Leaders of Roman Catholic religious orders on Saturday decided that sexually abusive priests should be kept away from children but not expelled, a less restrictive plan than the zero-tolerance policy bishops adopted earlier this summer.

Victim advocates immediately criticized the plan, saying it gives orders too much freedom in disciplining guilty priests. They also noted the policy was not mandatory, since the conference does not have the authority to make the plan binding.

The Conference of Major Superiors of Men, an association of heads of groups such as Bendictines and Jesuits, also acknowledged their members had sometimes failed to sufficiently discipline errant clergy in the past.

“We are deeply sorry for that and publicly apologize for whenever and however we have failed victims or families,” they said in the document, which won overwhelming approval by the leaders. “These religious priests or brothers who have molested children or adolescents have broken the bonds of trust invested in them. We feel this hurt deeply.”

The vote came at the conclusion of the organization’s annual meeting, where spiritual leaders discussed how the abuse policy American bishops approved two months ago in Dallas could be adapted for their religious communities. About 15,000 of the 46,000 U.S. priests belong to the orders.

Conference leaders, drawing on the findings of experts on sex offenders, said they believed some abusers could recover and serve the church in administrative jobs far from young people.

In their document Saturday, the religious orders pledged the men would undergo treatment and remain under close watch. They also added language, suggested during the floor debate, that anyone who violated restrictions set by their orders could be dismissed.

The plan also creates review boards to monitor how their communities handle offenders.

Some victim advocates have demanded that all errant clergy be ousted from the priesthood.

“This is not a new chapter for religious orders in this crisis. This is the same story we’ve heard before,” said Mark Serrano, a national board member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. He said the conference should have agreed to let prosecutors scour the orders’ personnel files to see if some offenders had escaped punishment.

Like the bishops, religious communities will bar abusers from any positions that require face-to-face contact with parishioners.

But the bishops decided to remove offenders from all church work and, in some cases, from the priesthood entirely.

The orders believe that approach is too harsh. Priests take vows of poverty when they join religious communities, and the communities say they function as families. They felt strongly that their approach should be guided by the Catholic belief in redemption for sinners.

“Just as a family does not abandon a member convicted of serious crimes, we cannot turn our backs on our brother,” the statement read.

The Rev. Canice Connors, the conference president, said in his opening address earlier in the week that he thought the bishops were “paralyzed in remorse” when they developed their policy and he accused them of scapegoating errant clergy. He has spent two decades overseeing treatment for abusive priests and believes some can be rehabilitated.