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	Church Rejects Group's Criticism of Diocese Audits By Mark Guydish The Times Leader January 13, 2008 http://www.timesleader.com/news/20080113_13SNAP_mg_ART0.html The Diocese of Scranton can brag all it wants about training, background checks, and annual compliance with rules set by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to prevent child sex abuse, but it is "essentially a sham," according to the head of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests," or SNAP. It's a charge a spokeswoman for the Conference of Catholic Bishops rejects. The Jan. 3 edition of The Catholic Light, the diocesan newspaper, noted that an independent audit had shown that the diocese is in full compliance with the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" enacted by the Conference of bishops in 2002 after the priest sex scandal broke in Boston and spread rapidly. The diocese said that nearly 8,000 adults and more than 54,000 children have undergone training on how to spot and prevent child abuse, and that background checks have been done on all diocesan employees and volunteers. But SNAP quickly issued a press release dubbing the audit conducted nationwide on each diocese every year by The Gavin Group Inc. as "a glorified self-survey" and said "it is neither independent nor a real audit." Contacted by phone, SNAP national director David Clohessy said the first problem is that the auditors rely on information provided by each diocese, asking if a diocese has done things like set up a review board of mostly lay people, advertised contact information for people who want to report suspected abuse confidentially, and conducted training and background checks. Conference of Catholic Bishops spokeswoman Sister Mary Ann Walsh noted that the self-reporting process "is no different than what the IRS does." But Clohessy insisted there is a big difference. "You don't get to decide what you can and can't show the IRS," he said. The IRS also has legal power to subpoena records and dig beyond what you claim on your forms, and can punish those who aren't in compliance or who deliberately lied on their returns. By comparison, Clohessy said, the church's auditing process "is essentially like the bishops have devised the rules of the game, decided who plays, hired the umpires and then said 'Oh, look, we're winning.' " Clohessy pointed to Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, head of the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., who refused to participate with the latest audit. According to online reports in the Lincoln Journal Star, Bruskewitz issued a statement pointing out that the National Review Board set up by the Conference to oversee the audits has no authority over bishops. Bruskewitz is quoted as saying that "the Diocese of Lincoln has nothing to be corrected for," and that, unlike many other dioceses, it has experienced no significant priest sex scandals. Bruskewitz is considered among the most conservative of U.S. Catholic bishops, particularly since an announcement more than a decade ago that membership in any one of 12 organizations, including Planned Parenthood, was grounds for excommunication from the church. Clohessy noted that Bruskewitz has suffered no consequences for his defiance of the Charter for the Protection of Children, which he contends is proof that the entire process is toothless. It's a charge Walsh conceded is true, at least when it comes to canonical, or church, law. "Canonically, every bishop is the head of their diocese," she said, and only the Pope can remove a bishop from his post. But, "Bruskewitz is an anomaly," she added. "There is little doubt that every bishop wants to be compliant. There is pressure from your fellow bishops if you are noncompliant. "I don't know any organization that does as well as we have, with 99.5 percent compliance," she said. Clohessy said there are several things the Bishops Conference can do to make such numbers have meaning. For starters, they can back rather than fight efforts to change the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, allowing those who experienced it but didn't come forward until they were adults to pursue legal charges. Walsh countered that "The bishops want healing. The bishops don't want to drag this out forever," and argued that extending the statutes can "keep the wounds open." Clohessy said the bishops could also change the auditing system by making sure the public has a chance to meet with the auditors independent of church officials to share any concerns or allegations. Walsh noted the auditing process is constantly under review and being changed. "No one is sitting back and saying our work is done. We ask how can it be fine-tuned," she said. "We are now moving to do audits at the parish level." Calling the church hierarchy a "rigid, ancient, secretive all-male monarchy," Clohessy said the truest sign of reform would come when bishops are publicly reprimanded and even punished for their part in the sex scandal. "They don't at all address the root cause of the crisis, the bishops who repeatedly shun victims and stonewall the process and deceive parishioners." But Walsh noted that such accusations are largely unproven. "Just because a pressure group says something doesn't mean it's true," she said, adding that many bishops are blamed for failures by therapists and treatment centers as the truth about child sex abuse became clear over the decades. In earlier years, she said, professionals believed it could be treated and the person returned to society. "People have come to realize that doesn't work. It took a while to come to that realization." The bottom line, Walsh said, is that if SNAP wants to find fault with the system, it will, "no matter what anyone does. "The fact is millions of people have gone through training, well over 6 million have gone through background checks, and we've also provided safe environment programs for over a million children," Walsh said. "I'd say we are the leaders in the nation in dealing with this terrible problem."
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