BishopAccountability.org
	Chapter 3 – Audit Findings. Eight Young Lives National Survivor Advocates Coaliton April 14, 2011 http://nationalsurvivoradvocatescoalition.wordpress.com/editorials/ The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) calls your attention to the following statistics in the Audit Report on compliance with the US Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. NSAC has added the italics, underlining and the bold print. “During the 2010 audit period, thirty allegations were made by current minors. Of these, eight were considered credible by law enforcement, seven were determined to be false, twelve were determined to be boundary violations, and three are still under investigation.” Reporting rape and sodomy is a daunting and courageous act by an adult. Consider what is required of a child to report this heinous and life altering behavior. In 2010 eight reports, the audit says, were determined to be credible, three are still under investigation. That’s at minimum eight young lives – and three more in the balance — that have been seared by sexual abuse. Not statistics. Eight young lives. Think about the minors in your life. Which eight plus three are expendable in your judgment to sexual abuse? Which child in your family, in the grocery checkout line ahead of you, in the car beside you in traffic, in the pew in front of you in church, is expendable to sexual abuse? If it’s okay with you that at minimum eight current minors have been exploited and are reported in the 2010 audit after nearly 10 years of words and congratulations on the Bishops’ part then please, do nothing. If it’s not, at minimum, please write a letter today to the editor of your local newspaper and your local Catholic paper. Speak up. Speak out. Speak forcefully. This is about the protection of children. Kristine Ward, Chair, NSAC
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