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	N.H. State Sex Abuse Audit Critical of Diocese Catholic Online [New Hampshire] April 4, 2006 http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=19307 MANCHESTER, N.H. – After receiving a critical state-sponsored audit of the Manchester Diocese's policies and programs to protect children from sexual abuse, a diocesan spokesman disagreed with parts of the report but acknowledged that "we have further work to do." The audit – the first conducted for the state following a 2002 agreement between the diocese and the New Hampshire attorney general – found deficiencies in the diocese's background screening of personnel and volunteers who work with children and in its child protection training program. The state audit appeared March 30, the same day that the U.S. bishops issued a national report on the audits of U.S. dioceses to assess their compliance with the bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." In the national report the Manchester Diocese was faulted for not having completed the sexual abuse awareness training of children and young people in Catholic schools and religious education programs. The diocese said that at the time of the charter audit the majority of children in its religious education programs and Catholic schools had not yet undergone training. The state's audit was conducted last year by the independent auditing firm KPMG. It was the result of an agreement in December 2002 under which, in return for the state not pursuing criminal charges against top diocesan officials, Manchester Bishop John B. McCormack agreed to have the diocese undergo annual audits for the next five years through which the state attorney general could assess the church's sexual abuse prevention policies throughout the state. The Manchester Diocese covers all of New Hampshire. No audits were conducted in 2003 or 2004, however, because the diocese and the state could not agree on the scope and cost of the audits or who would pay for them. The case went to court and in March 2005 the diocese was ordered to split the audit costs with the state. The state and the diocese now disagree about whether the audits should end in 2007 or be conducted for four more years. In releasing the audit report Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte commended the church for having trained more than 9,000 employees and volunteers since 2001 but said that "in some respects the level of compliance is disappointing." "The fundamental problem appears to be a failure to take responsibility at the top of the diocese," she said. She said the diocese could not say how many people have not yet received training because it does not know the total number of people it has working with children. In a separate news conference Father Edward J. Arsenault, Bishop McCormack's delegate for ministerial conduct, acknowledged the diocese still has work to do but said the audit report was flawed by "factual inaccuracies and misleading statements." He said, for example, that the report says he and Bishop McCormack seem to feel that they only have advisory authority over the implementation of the diocese's sexual abuse policies. "That is neither true nor is it our belief," he said. He said he told one of the auditors in an interview that as delegate for ministerial conduct he was responsible for enforcing the policies. He said the audit also misrepresented the diocese's verification and reporting procedures and betrayed misunderstandings of other diocesan structures and procedures. "Although we do not concur with some of the facts and findings in the KPMG report released today, we remain fully committed to the cornerstones of the agreement" with the attorney general, Father Arsenault said. "Our priority is to protect children and we have made significant progress over the last three years in creating and maintaining a safe environment for everyone in the church."
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