BishopAccountability.org
	More Work to Do to Protect Children Boston Herald March 23, 2006 http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=131737 A glass-half-full kind of person will take comfort in the news that the Archdiocese of Boston has complied with 16 of 17 child-protection standards set by U.S. bishops in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis. Sadly, recent history with the archdiocese has made many of us glass-half-empty kind of people. We can't help but worry when the church continues to lag on a critical component of those standards - the training of young Catholics to understand what constitutes proper and improper touching and what to do if abuse occurs. We won't go as far as attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who reflexively suggested that failure to comply on this one component of the standards is "further evidence that the archdiocese doesn't care." Not exactly. The archdiocese was given the choice to self-audit for compliance, but wisely chose to bring in a consultant instead. And in releasing the results publicly, Cardinal-designate Sean O'Malley acknowledged the deficiency and pronounced that "anything short of full compliance is unacceptable." But O'Malley must now put words into action. Two-thirds of the 300 parishes in the archdiocese have yet to provide this "safe environment" training to about 90,000 children. The archdiocese has outlined a remediation plan to bring all schools and parishes into compliance by the end of 2006. Next year's audit should tell us whether the effort is successful. If the laypeople who volunteer to teach religious education aren't comfortable providing this training, then the church must bring in outsiders who are. A distaste for discussing such "delicate" matters helped lead to the crisis in the first place. It mustn't happen again.
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