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	S.a. Man to Lead National Review Board By Abe Levy The Express-News April 2, 2011 http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/S-A-man-to-lead-National-Review-Board-1319182.php A retired San Antonian is set to lead the national committee that advises U.S. bishops on the Catholic Church's response to the pedophile priest scandal. In June, Al Notzon will become chairman of the National Review Board, created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops nearly a decade ago when accusations of priests sexually abusing minors began to spread. Notzon is known locally for his 35 years with the Alamo Area Council of Governments, a network of local government agencies. He retired as its executive director. He is no stranger to this type of work, having served on the local review board for the Archdiocese of San Antonio since 2003. He is the board's current chairman. And at AACOG, he helped put the spotlight on interagency reporting of child abuse. Atop Notzon's to-do list at the National Review Board will be sifting through a major study — expected for release as early as May — that takes a wide look at the abuse issue across institutions and society. The study by New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice is at the request of U.S. bishops, who previously asked the college to help them measure the scope of the problem. "The church did a good job of trying to get a handle on it," Notzon said. "That's why we hired John Jay to give us that data, and once the study comes out, it'll help us see what are the issues for further review. "Is it the formation of priests? Are there certain things that are the cause? The researchers will be telling us this." Victims groups will be watching, too. They have been calling for greater accountability and transparency and do not believe the National Review Board has lived up to its own standards outlined in the 2002 "Dallas charter," the policy on responding to sex abuse in the U.S. church. Activists also have criticized the church itself on this front, and a past chairman of the National Review Board, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, agreed with them. He resigned in protest in 2003, saying some U.S. bishops were resisting accountability. Notzon insisted that reporting and accountability have improved since then as relationships among church officials, law enforcement and prosecutors have developed. Still, he said it is important not to become complacent. "You'll always have people in institutions who want to duck. Institutions by nature, whether schools or churches or government organizations, try to put their best light on a situation and be defensive about it," he said. "That's what works against what you want. I think you set up processes and procedures to make it harder for that to happen. The issue is to keep telling people why transparency is the best approach." Contact: alevy@express-news.net
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