2004 AUDIT ON ‘CHARTER’

FINDS DIOCESE ‘COMPLIANT’

            A 2004 audit of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s implementation of the U.S. bishops’ 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” has found the Diocese to be “compliant with all articles” of the charter.

Two auditors from the Gavin Group of Winthrop, Mass., an independent firm retained by the U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection, conducted the on-site review Nov. 29-Dec.2, covering the period since Oct. 6-10, 2003.

            It was the second of two annual audits on the sex abuse prevention policies of the Diocese. The first, for the 16 months between June 2002, when the bishops signed the charter, and October 2003, also found the Diocese to be compliant with the document’s 17 articles.

            In an executive summary given to the Diocese, the report on the latest audit noted the service of a victim assistance coordinator, Amityville Dominican Sister Ellen Patricia Finn, an associate director of Catholic Charities, “who has many years of pastoral and social work experience.”

            It also pointed out the work of an eight-member Review Board, consisting of two civil attorneys, a priest who is a canon lawyer, a social worker, a psychotherapist, a theology professor, a woman Religious and a retired police chief.

            The audit said the Diocese complies with the charter’s principal mandates, to promote healing and reconciliation, to guarantee an effective response to allegations of abuse of a minor and to protect the faithful in the future.

            “The Diocese has implemented a ‘safe environment’ education program,” the report said, using the “Child Lures” program for children and the “VIRTUS: Protecting God’s Children” program for adults.

            The report stated that the Diocese conducts background evaluations for all diocesan and parish personnel who have regular contact with minors, using appropriate law enforcement resources where permissible.

            The Diocese “has a mechanism in place to respond promptly” to any allegation where there is reason to believe that sexual abuse of a minor occurred, the report stated.

            It also said that the Diocese “has not entered into any confidentiality agreements” during the audit period, has established “effective liaison with civil authorities,” and advises victims/survivors of the right to report allegations of abuse by a member of the clergy to civil authorities.

            The report also observed that the Diocese has established “clear and well-publicized standards of ministerial behavior” for priests and deacons.

            The USCCB Office of Child and Youth Protection is expected to announce its 2004 annual report on the implementation of the charter by all (arch)dioceses and eparchies in the country in mid-February.

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2/9/05