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	Church: Background Checks Nearly Finished By J.M. Hirsch Portsmouth Herald April 21, 2006 http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/04212006/news/98816.htm Concord - Three weeks after prosecutors faulted efforts by the state's Roman Catholic diocese to protect children from sexual abuse, church officials say criminal background checks on anyone who works with children are nearly complete. As of April 5, criminal and sex-offender registry checks had been performed on all 237 active priests and deacons in the Diocese of Manchester, the church said in a news release Thursday. All members of the clergy also had received sex-abuse prevention training. Sex-offender registry checks also had been done on the diocese's 1,466 employees and 6,861 volunteers who regularly work with children. Criminal background checks had been done on 95 percent of workers and three-quarters of volunteers, church officials said. Nearly all workers and 83 percent of volunteers had received the training. The church also announced it had created a new position within the diocese to oversee compliance with sex-abuse prevention policies. On March 30, the attorney general's office released an audit of the diocese's efforts to protect children. Prosecutors called the results disappointing and were particularly critical of a lack of background checks on many workers, and even some clergy. The audit also had faulted the church for not having people responsible for ensuring the policies were enforced. According to the audit, no church "site" (which includes camps and schools) had completed all necessary checks. In one parish, only 16 percent of the people had been checked against the sexual-offender registry. The church said the report contained errors and its conclusions were not reliable. The audit is a key part of a 2002 settlement between the state and the diocese that ended a criminal investigation of whether church officials knew priests were molesting children, but failed to protect them for decades. As part of the agreement, prosecutors agreed not to seek criminal indictments against the church. In exchange, the diocese agreed to enact strict new child-protection policies, admit its actions had harmed children, and open itself to five years of audits. The state's investigation was prompted by the abuse scandal that erupted in Boston in early 2002 and quickly spread to the rest of the nation, including New Hampshire, where John McCormack - a former top aide to Boston Cardinal Bernard Law - is bishop. During the next few years, the New Hampshire diocese paid millions of dollars in settlements as hundreds of people accused clergymen of sexual abuse. Most of the allegations are from the 1960s and 1970s, long before McCormack's tenure. Since the agreement, McCormack - who also was the subject of criticism from his time in Boston - has admitted making mistakes, and has instituted tough new policies in New Hampshire, where he was named bishop in 1998.
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