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	State Audit Gives Diocese High Marks By Daniel Barrick Keene Sentinel January 27, 2009 http://sentinelsource.com/articles/2009/01/27/news/state/free/id_341024.txt MANCHESTER — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester has made "significant and dramatic improvements" in its efforts to prevent and report cases of sexual assault against children, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said Monday. Ayotte's assessment came with the release of the last of four audits required in a 2002 settlement between the state and the diocese over allegations of clergy sex abuse. The diocese agreed to the settlement — and the annual audits — to avoid charges of covering up for priests accused of abusing children for decades. While the relationship between church officials and the attorney general's office was strained in the years immediately after the settlement, Ayotte said she and other state officials were confident that the diocese was now serious about improving its child protection policies. "We believe the diocese has created a program designed to protect children into the future," Ayotte said. "And they have a structure in place to review and fix deficits." Among the advances Ayotte noted Monday was the adoption of an improved database to track which diocesan employees and volunteers had been trained in safe conduct policies and a willingness by church leaders to regularly revise those policies. Ayotte said church leaders agreed to put into writing their policy of immediately removing employees from contact with children if they have been accused of abuse until an investigation had resolved the accusation. And the audit report noted that the diocese had improved its criminal background checks on employees and volunteers. Still, the audit, conducted by independent firm KPMG, found some shortcomings in the church's efforts. Specifically, auditors noted a gap in communication between the diocese's compliance coordinator, who oversees child protection policies, and the diocesan office that collects abuse allegations. Also, KPMG noted that not all church volunteers agree to submit to screening and training in the diocese's child safety policies. In particular, the report said that some volunteers who also work with the Boy Scouts feel they should be exempt from the church's requirements since they undergo similar screening in their scouting roles. The report also said that some church employees seemed not to know that they were required to report accusations of child abuse to local law enforcement, as well as diocesan officials. Church leaders have 18 days to provide Ayotte with a written plan for fixing those lapses. If state officials find that response sufficient, the state's oversight will end, Ayotte said, though the state can ask a court to extend that oversight if it feels the church's response is lacking. In a written statement, Bishop John McCormack vowed to continue the policies implemented under the attorney general's watch. The final audit marked a big change in how state and church officials began complying with the settlement. The first audit was delayed for more than a year by the diocese's protests over the scope, number and cost of the audits. In the first two audits, released in 2006 and 2007, the state faulted the diocese for significant gaps in its child protection policies. State officials also criticized diocesan leaders for not cooperating fully with investigators. The four audits cost $445,000, with the diocese and the state splitting the cost. The 2002 agreement was the state's response to revelations that diocesan officials had covered up for abusive priests, sometimes shuffling them to other parishes where they continued to abuse children. The agreement did not prevent the state from bringing criminal charges against individual priests. But law enforcement officials agreed not to prosecute diocesan leaders in exchange for an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and an agreement to improve the church's child protection policies. Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker, who led the original investigation into the clergy abuse scandal, said there were 16 new allegations of sexual assault by diocese employees and volunteers in 2008. Ten of those allegations involved priests, most of whom were either now dead or had previously been removed from ministry, Delker said.
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