Washington ? The head of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops pleaded for unity within the church Monday as he and his fellow prelates prepared to adopt a sex abuse policy that they promised will get offending clergy out of public ministry.

Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, opened a gathering of the American hierarchy with a speech focusing on the church’s future following a year of scandal. Fellow prelates stressed that the new policy – a reworked version of a plan they first approved in June – still bars guilty priests from all church work, including saying Mass publicly.

At the bishops’ meeting last June, Gregory set the tone with an address about the abuse crisis in which he repeatedly apologized for the church’s mishandling of molestation claims. Victim advocates noted the new focus Monday and accused bishops of abandoning their commitment to reform.

Gregory denied there was any change. But he also said the crisis that erupted in January with the case of a pedophile in the Boston Archdiocese has “fractured” relations among prelates, priests and rank-and-file Catholics. He acknowledged clergy feel “unfairly judged” by the misdeeds of a few.

Critics inside and outside of the church have tried to capitalize on the scandals to undermine Catholic teaching, Gregory said. He urged bishops to challenge them.

Thousands of Catholics angry about how bishops have dealt with errant priests have joined reform movements. While many support Catholic teaching, some want the church to ordain women and allow priests to marry.

“One cannot fail to hear in the distance – and sometimes very nearby – the call of the false prophet,” Gregory said.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, called Gregory’s speech, “a real slap in the face to Catholic laypeople.”

“It’s saying stop the discussion, stop the dissension. We have good priests and we’re moving on,” Clohessy said. “Their agenda here is to say ‘We’re done. We have nice words on paper. We’re moving forward.”‘

Victim advocates said they have files containing the names of 2,100 priests accused of child sex abuse, and planned to release an Internet database identifying at least 600 of the clerics today.

The bishops originally passed a disciplinary plan when they met five months ago in Dallas. The policy before the group now is a revision negotiated with the Vatican that protects priests’ rights and underscores that bishops, not laypeople, have the authority to oversee clergy.

Whatever plan is adopted this week will stand for at least two years if it wins Vatican approval to become church law in the United States. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who worked with the Vatican on the revisions, said officials in Rome have promised they will authorize the policy if bishops approve it basically as is.