NEW JERSEY
New York Newsday
February 18, 2005, 4:52 PM EST
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- All five Roman Catholic dioceses and both Eastern Rite dioceses in New Jersey are taking appropriate steps to prevent sexual abuse of children, according to audits released Friday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The audits are part of the bishops' response to sex-abuse scandals that came to light in several churches in recent years. Most of the reported abuse cases happened decades ago.
At the height of the scandal in 2002, the bishops conference agreed to requirements for churches to prevent and deal with sexual abuse.
Only the dioceses found to not to be compliant in the latest audits of their policies will be subject to the audits again next year.
More than 96 percent of the dioceses and eparchies nationwide were reported to be complying with those policies.
Last year, New Jersey's Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic and the Syriac Diocese of Our Lady of Deliverance of Union City, were found to have been in violation of the policies. In the new report, both met the standards.