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	Former FBI Agent Helping Catholic Church Protect Kids By Kayla Gahagan Rapid City Journal March 17, 2008 http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/03/17/news/top/doc47dda9a558fdb923284555.txt Through her work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Walt Disney Co. and the Catholic church, Kathleen McChesney said she has seen the best and worst in people. All it takes is a little bit of grace to cultivate more of the good, she told a packed room at the annual Catholic Social Services Palm Sunday Brunch at the Ramkota Hotel. The brunch, themed "Amazing Grace," was one of two annual fundraisers for the CSS, which provides social services to the community. McChesney spent 24 years with the FBI, where she retired as Executive Director for Law Enforcement Services - the third highest position in the organization - before retiring to serve as the Executive Director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2002 to 2005. After that, she worked for Walt Disney Company, identifying threats and vulnerabilities to the company and currently works for Kinsale Management Consulting. Her move to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was in response to the sex abuse scandals that overwhelmed the church. "I knew the Catholic church was in a crisis and that had come from within," she said, but it was still difficult to leave the FBI, a place where she had worked up the ladder to oversee 5,000 employees and help wage the war against terrorism. "I didn't know whether I wanted to leave," she said. McChesney said while making the decision, she thought about the importance of the church in society - how it has nurtured and led people through crisis. She listened as friends and colleagues, who had grown up in the church, talked about leaving. She thought about the church crumbling and what it might mean for kids. "I thought about future generations without church in their lives," she said. Then she made her decision to join the child protection office. Her efforts are still seen today, said Rapid City Bishop Blase Cupich, adding that McChesney was one of the driving forces behind changes in the way abuse and reports of abuse are now handled in the church. "She came in and was fearless in naming where the problems were and identified the road ahead," he said. McChesney helped craft an annual audit that measures compliancy with a charter to protect children, including background checks of all church personnel, education for children about safe environment, education for parents and personnel, protocol for reporting and aggressively seeking reporting of abuse. This year, 95 percent of the nation's 195 diocese were in compliance with the audit, Cupich said. McChesney said she was sorry to anyone in the audience who might have been touched by abuse in the church. She pointed out that Rapid City has a leading expert in child protection in town, Cupich, who served on the OCYP with her. "You are very lucky to have him as a shepherd," she said, "and I'm very lucky to have him as a friend." McChesney said that while serving on a special victim's task force for the FBI, she saw "the worst of what people can do to each other," including sexual abuse, drug over doses, homicide, robberies, abuse of the handicap. And she realized one thing. "I talked to a lot of criminals and our jails are filled with people who were abused as children," she said. "It's critical that we as Christians help those who can't protect themselves." She said she applauds programs such as CSS and church parenting programs that encourage adoption, becoming foster parents and provide education about parenting. "Foster parents are incredible heroes," she said. "Your generosity, faith, and spirit means so much." She asked the members in the audience to know safety, have courage to come forward and report abuse or suspicions of it, provide support for young people and be grateful for their faith. "I hope that you find ways to use faith and love to serve others," she said. Cupich said McChesney is a great example of using your God-given talents to give. "Here is a bright, well-educated woman who is anchored in what she does through her faith," he said. "Someone so highly professional and well known nationally and internationally, to say she looks at the work she does through the lens of faith is inspirational." Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com
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