Gulf Pine Catholic

14 Gulf Pine Catholic • June 21, 2024 Abuse allegations down, but safe environment ‘fatigue’ a risk, warns annual bishops’ report BY GINA CHRISTIAN OSV News ( OSV News ) -- The U.S. Catholic bishops’ latest annual report on child and youth protection shows abuse allegations are down, while safe environment protocols have taken root in the church -- but guard- ing against complacency about abuse prevention is critical, as is providing ongoing support for survi- vors. On May 28, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released the “2023 Annual Report -- Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” The 2023 report is the twenty-first since the char- ter was established by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2002 as a number of clerical abuse scandals emerged. Commonly called the Dallas Charter , the document lays out a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, and includes guidelines for reconcil- iation, healing, accountability and prevention of abuse. Data for the report came from audits conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners, a Rochester, New York-based consulting firm that provides forensic and compliance services to a range of organizations. In addition, the report includes a 2023 survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate on allegations and costs related to the abuse of minors. For the July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023, period, CARA’s report found a more than 51% drop in his- torical allegations from those reported in the same period last year, from 2,704 in 2022 to 1,308 in 2023. The decrease was partly due to the resolution of allegations received as a result of lawsuits, said the report. Another milestone was the full participation of all 196 dioceses and eparchies in the Charter audit, a 100% response rate that was unprecedented. Of those, 28 were visited on-site by StoneBridge, with another 17 audited remotely by the firm and 131 other dioceses and eparchies submitting data for the report. At the same time, “the number of new allegations from minors remained similar to the prior year, at 17,” wrote Suzanne Healy, chairwoman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Review Board, a lay-led group that advises the bishops on preventing sexual abuse of minors, in a Feb. 21 letter to USCCB president Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio that was included in the report. Healy -- a licensed marriage and family therapist who served as the victim assistance coordinator for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles from 2007 to 2016 -- also cautioned against “charter fatigue or compla- cency” in addressing sexual abuse in the church. “Even as we move forward with progress, we must acknowledge that without ongoing diligence and commitment, there is the possibility that failures can happen and we must be ready to act if they do. ... We must remain vigilant,” wrote Healy. “One new allegation is one too many.” She wrote that 70% of the nation’s dioceses and eparchies “conduct their own parish audits on the implementation of safe environment programs and policies,” with the data showing “a correlation between parish audits and charter compliance.” Yet Healey warned, “Without monitoring imple- mentation at the parish level, the risk of abuse increases.” She noted the National Review Board supported the use of high reliability organization principles -- used to maximize safety in complex organizations where error stands to inflict great harm -- to examine the 17 new claims for “any holes or practices that need to be shored up to prevent future abuse.” One such deficit was highlighted by a recent dis- covery in the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that several safe environment clearance documents were missing from the file of a parish staffer who had previous criminal charges flagged in an FBI fingerprint check. The gap came to light when the employee was arrested May 8 for unrelated alleged sexual assaults against a minor, which were said to have occurred off site from the two parishes at which he had worked. The pastor who oversaw both parishes had attested that he had personally reviewed the clear- ances and had found them in order. Bishop Larry J. Kulick of Greensburg took swift action, removing the pastor, placing the parish staff involved on leave and ordering an immediate audit of all safe environ- ment clearances throughout the diocese. StoneBridge wrote in its assessment that “chan- cery offices (that) maintain regular face-to-face contact with parishes have better results in imple- menting training and background check procedures than those (that) do not,” and recommended that diocesan officials periodically visit parishes and schools to review safe environment documentation. Four dioceses and eparchies audited by StoneBridge were found to be noncompliant with various articles of the charter, but subsequently took steps after the audit to address the issues and attain compliance: St. Mary Queen of Peace Syro- Malankara Catholic Eparchy in USA and Canada, the Chaldean Diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle USA and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee initially failed to meet review board requirements. St. Mary Queen of Peace along with the Ukrainian Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago also lacked safe environ- ment training for minors during the 2023 audit peri- od. StoneBridge also found several issues at more than 25% of the dioceses and eparchies audited: -- A struggle to maintain functioning review boards, which serve as consultative bodies for their bishops, due to lack of meetings, members, bylaw compliance, policy reviews and understanding of member roles. -- A lack of language in child protection policies regarding either child sexual abuse content or “indi- viduals who habitually lack the use of reason.” -- Ineffective monitoring by dioceses and eparchies to ensure compliance with their existing safe environment programs, with a lack of updated documentation and visitation to parishes and schools. -- Outdated or missing letters of promulgation from bishops on their safe environment programs. Among the problems StoneBridge identified in less than 25% of the dioceses and eparchies: -- Some clergy, employees and volunteers were not trained or background checked, but nonetheless had contact with minors. -- Offers by the bishop or his representative to meet with victims and their families were not speci- fied in the policies or were not made on a timely basis. SEE USCCB CYP REPORT, PAGE 23 This is the cover of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection’s 2023 annual report on the “Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the ‘Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People’” released May 28. OSV News photo/ courtesy USCCB