February 19, 2005

Audit: Area churches following national standards on abuse

ILLINOIS
Daily Southtown

Saturday, February 19, 2005

By Allison Hantschel
Staff writer

Both the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Joliet are complying with national standards intended to prevent sexual abuse by priests, according to an audit released Friday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said Friday that over the last year they received 1,092 new allegations of sexual abuse against at least 756 Catholic priests and deacons.

Half of the accused priests over the past year had been previously accused of abuse, said Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection.

The audit, which measured whether dioceses were complying with 2002 procedures adopted in the wake of a nationwide sex scandal, said the Chicago church had "satisfactorily completed" such required tasks as training priests and deacons in sexual abuse prevention.

Posted by kshaw at February 19, 2005 05:55 AM