WASHINGTON (DC)
Zenit
WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 18, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic Church last year received 1,092 new allegations of sexual abuse against 756 priests and deacons, many involving decades-old cases.
The Office of Child and Youth Protection released today the second audit of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, implemented in the wake of the sex-abuse crisis that surfaced in 2002 and rocked the Church in the United States, especially the Boston Archdiocese.
The report, conducted by the independent Gavin Group, measured how well dioceses are integrating the charter's standards into their diocesan administration.
Bishop William Skylstad, president of the bishops' conference, said that the prelates are committed to being "publicly accountable for fulfilling the actions outlined in the charter to help heal those wounded as young people by sexual abuse by clergy and to prevent such abuse in the future."
"There is undoubtedly progress still to be made, and we can still understand this problem more fully as well as we find more and even better means to confront it," he said.