NEW HAMPSHIRE
Catholic Online
4/4/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
MANCHESTER, N.H. – After receiving a critical state-sponsored audit of the Manchester Diocese's policies and programs to protect children from sexual abuse, a diocesan spokesman disagreed with parts of the report but acknowledged that "we have further work to do."
The audit – the first conducted for the state following a 2002 agreement between the diocese and the New Hampshire attorney general – found deficiencies in the diocese's background screening of personnel and volunteers who work with children and in its child protection training program.
The state audit appeared March 30, the same day that the U.S. bishops issued a national report on the audits of U.S. dioceses to assess their compliance with the bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People."
In the national report the Manchester Diocese was faulted for not having completed the sexual abuse awareness training of children and young people in Catholic schools and religious education programs. The diocese said that at the time of the charter audit the majority of children in its religious education programs and Catholic schools had not yet undergone training.