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	Diocese Audit over Child Protection to Be Released By Kathryn Marchocki The Union Leader [New Hampshire] March 29, 2006 http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Diocese+audit+over+child+protection+to+ be+released&articleId=460fb3cf-8089-4cc4-b799-ab2738a78a6d The state Attorney General's office tomorrow will release the results of its first annual audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester. The audit will reveal how effective the diocese's polices are in protecting children and whether it is complying with the terms of the 2002 agreement the diocese reached with the state to avoid criminal prosecution for its handling of child sexual abuse in the past. In striking the agreement, the diocese acknowledged it failed to protect children from sexually abusive priests. The alleged abuses date from the 1930s through the 1980s. The diocese agreed to submit to annual audits by the Attorney General's office through 2007 as one condition of the agreement. Audits were delayed as the state and diocese tangled over the scope of the audit and who should pay for it. Auditors with KPMG Inc. began work on the first audit last June after the court ruled the state can measure the effectiveness of the diocese's child protection policies. The diocese argued against this, saying it would result in unconstitutional state entanglement in church affairs. Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte said the audit report will be available to the public following a 12:30 p.m. press conference at the Attorney General's office in Concord tomorrow.
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