UNITED STATES
The Arizona Daily Star
Two years ago, the nation's Catholic bishops finally acted on sexual abuse of children by priests. Among their moves was establishing the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a set of tough procedures, and ordering audits to make sure they are complied with in each diocese.
Now, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is backing off on the audits, employing a practice common in organizational turnarounds: Stopping annual on-site audits for those dioceses found to be in compliance two years in a row and allowing them to self-report, instead.
Whether this will ever be the proper course for the church in America remains to be seen. The first audits showed compliance by about 90 percent of the dioceses, including Tucson. But, with the second set of audits just now being readied for release, it certainly is not yet time to take a more lenient approach toward monitoring the parishes. And certainly not until the bishops follow up on the finding by their special lay committee, theAbuse Tracker Review Board, that there "must be consequences" for bishops who helped cover up the decades of clergy abuse.
Thus far, the bishops are mum on their own culpability or that of their predecessors.