BOSTON (MA)
Milford Daily News
By Denise Lavoie/ Associated Press
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - Updated: 02:12 AM EST
BOSTON (AP) -- An independent audit of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston shows it is in compliance on 16 out of 17 provisions of a national charter for protecting children, the archdiocese announced Tuesday.
The archdiocese said that a 2005 audit shows it is complying with requirements to do thorough criminal background checks on all priests and other church personnel, to guarantee effective reporting and responses to allegations of sexual abuse, and to promote healing for survivors and others hurt by clergy sexual abuse.
But the audit conducted by the Boston-based Gavin Group found the archdiocese has not complied with a requirement to complete "safe environment" training, a curriculum which teaches children and adults to recognize and report signs of sexual abuse. The archdiocese said that it has completed the training for adults and for approximately 119,000 children, but it has not yet given training to approximately 90,000 children in religious education classes and parochial schools.
The Gavin Group was hired by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to audit dioceses across the county on compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the policy adopted by the bishops in 2002. A summary of the national audit is expected to be released later this month by the bishops’ conference.