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	Abuse Audits Find Most Dioceses in Compliance, but Weaknesses Remain By Nancy Frazier O'Brien The Pilot April 12, 2011 http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=13221 WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Most U.S. dioceses are in compliance with the U.S. bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," but annual audits are uncovering problem areas and reports of boundary violations short of abuse, such as inappropriate hugging. An audit report released April 11 and covering the period from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010, showed that "management letters" had been issued to 55 of the 188 dioceses or eparchies participating in the annual compliance assessments by the Gavin Group. Those letters "offered guidance for performance improvement or highlighted potential problem areas," said William A. Gavin, president of the Gavin Group, in a letter to Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Diane Knight, who chairs the National Review Board. The issues cited, "though not at a level to categorize the diocese/eparchy as noncompliant in a particular area, were identified as possibly doing so if not sufficiently addressed," said an introduction to the audit summary, which was released in conjunction with a report by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate on abuse-related statistics and costs in 2010. Two dioceses and five Eastern-rite eparchies declined to participate in the audits. Those seven were the only church jurisdictions judged not in compliance with the charter. During the 2010 audit period, 653 people who alleged that they had been abused in the past came forward for the first time and another 30 people who were currently minors made such allegations. Of the 30 cases involving current minors, "eight were considered credible by law enforcement, seven were determined to be false, 12 were determined to be boundary violations and three are still under investigation," the report said. The new allegations during the audit period involved 574 priests and eight deacons, according to the report. Of these, 253 were deceased, 67 had already been laicized and 172 had already been removed from ministry. More than half -- 275 -- had been named in previous audits. The report also evaluated how successful dioceses and eparchies have been in providing safe environment training and evaluating the backgrounds of clergy, employees and volunteers who work with children. It found that more than 99 percent of clergy members and 98 percent of employees and volunteers had undergone safe environment training. Background evaluations were conducted for more than 99 percent of priests and deacons, 99.8 percent of educators, 99.5 percent of employees and 99.2 percent of volunteers, the report said. "Boundary violations continue to be reported, and though initially this may be seen as a negative, it is also an indicator of the increased knowledge that comes from the tremendous amount of safe environment training conducted in the dioceses," the report said. "With this increase in information comes an increase in reporting of inappropriate behavior." It cited as examples of such inappropriate behavior "kissing girls on the top of the head, inappropriate hugging, and an adult patting a minor on the knee." In each case, "civil authorities were called and an investigation was conducted," but no sexual misconduct was found. The report said that despite problems with record-keeping and staff turnover, 96.8 percent of children in Catholic schools and parish religious education programs received safe environment training. About 1.4 percent of children eligible for the training were opted out of the programs by their parents.
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