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	Vt. Catholic Sex Abuse Policy Still Incomplete By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald March 31, 2006 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20060331/NEWS/603310395/1004 Vermont's Catholic Church is one of 11.5 percent of the nation's dioceses that have yet to fully comply with all provisions of a toughened sex abuse policy, an independent report said Thursday. Bishop Salvatore Matano said the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington is one article away from compliance with the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" adopted by U.S. bishops four years ago at the height of a priest misconduct scandal. The diocese still is working on "safe environment training," having completed programs in all 17 of its Catholic schools and hoping to finish in the state's 130 parishes by June 30. The church also is reviewing its background checks on all its employees, said Kevin Scully, diocesan director of Safe Environment Programs. The diocese has conducted more than 1,300 individual criminal checks of staff and volunteers, including clergy, teachers, coaches and chaperones. "We want to make sure that we have checked every employee who might have any regular contact with children," Scully said in a statement. "So we are committed to finding all present employees that might have slipped through the cracks, and also screening all new employees." Nationally, the Catholic Church received 783 new claims of sex abuse by clergy in 2005, with most of the allegations involving cases that are decades old, according to the report, an annual audit ordered by U.S. bishops. The new claims bring the total number of accusations against Catholic clergy to more than 12,000 since 1950, said the Gavin Group, a private auditing firm hired by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops. Prior to the latest audit, priest misconduct was said to have cost dioceses more than $1 billion since 1950. But new figures show that number continues to climb: The total cost of abuse in 2005 alone was nearly $467 million, including settlements, therapy for victims, support for offenders and attorneys' fees. U.S. bishops adopted the abuse prevention policy in 2002. It requires dioceses to hire victim assistance coordinators, form review boards to help evaluate abuse claims, conduct background checks on staff and volunteers and teach children to protect themselves from predators. The Vermont diocese currently faces more than a dozen civil lawsuits in Chittenden Superior Court charging five former Vermont priests with child sexual abuse. The diocese has spent almost $400,000 in the past two years to settle at least four previous lawsuits out of court. Church leaders stress they aren't paying settlements with regular collection money or the diocesan Bishop's Fund but instead from a separate, specific account designed for unforeseen circumstances. Also Thursday, the New Hampshire attorney general released an independent audit his office conducted of sex abuse prevention in that state's diocese. It found the Catholic Church there failed to make sure that criminal background checks have been completed on all employees and volunteers who work with children. The New Hampshire audit was part of a 2002 agreement the diocese struck with prosecutors to avoid criminal prosecution over failure to stop abusers. Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.
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