NEW YORK (NY)
SNAP
September 30, 2019
The Archdiocese of New York today released the results of an “independent” investigation into their policies and procedures. While this report is ostensibly an attempt at transparency, it really feels like another move by church officials to handle allegations of abuse in house.
It is good that Judge Jones feels confident in her assessment and we truly hope that she did receive full access to personnel files, including those within the “bishops archives.” However, just last year in Buffalo another church official in New York claimed to have released all his information, too, and it was only thanks to a brave whistleblower that we learned that this was not the case. We hope that this is not the case in New York City.
In terms of Judge Jones’ recommendations, it is distressing to learn that reports of “sexual abuse from non-consenting adults” – carefully sanitized language for the crime of rape – or allegations of abuse by church staff or volunteers are not already included in the Archdiocese’s reporting requirements. These are obvious crimes that should be reported, and it is disappointing that it took a legal review by a judge in 2019 to make this plain. To us, someone who is in “full compliance” with the charter would already have gone the extra mile to include these crimes underneath the “zero-tolerance” umbrella.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.