IOWA
Catholic Globe
By Joanne Fox
joannef@scdiocese.org
For three and a half years, members of several U.S. bishops’ committees have been trying to pinpoint what Catholics in the pew are thinking and why they accept or reject church teachings.
To this end, they have conducted multiple surveys and interviews of various groups of Catholics: fervent believers, Latinos, singles, parents, priests and church leaders. Although responses have varied, Bishop Walker Nickless was astonished to learn the faithful are still not satisfied that priestly misconduct among children has been addressed adequately.
“That really surprised me,” he said. “I thought we were doing a good job in our Safe Environment practices, but apparently, that is not the case.”
Bishop Nickless is one of only 26 U.S. bishops who have authorized auditors from StoneBridge Business Partners – the business firm the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has chosen to perform safe environment audits – to visit Sioux City diocesan parishes and schools and insure compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Dallas Charter). The auditors were in the Diocese of Sioux City Oct. 28-30.
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