Two victim advocacy groups accused Roman Catholic bishops Monday of abandoning
their pledge to root out sexually abusive clergy by reducing the number of U.S.
dioceses that will receive full, onsite audits of their child protection
programs next year.
But a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the changes
were meant only to make the process more efficient, and were not a sign church
leaders are backing away from reforms.
Voice of the Faithful, a lay Catholic group, and the Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests, said the revisions will undermine whatever trust the bishops
have restored in their leadership since the abuse crisis began in early 2002.
In each of the last two years, the bishops hired an outside auditor who sent
teams largely made up of former FBI agents into all 195 U.S. dioceses. Their job
was to determine whether the church had put in place the safeguards required
under the anti-abuse policy that the bishops approved at their June 2002 meeting
in Dallas.
Last month, the bishops authorized a new approach to the audits at their
national meeting in Washington. They decided that dioceses found fully compliant
twice will not be required to have onsite visits next year. Instead, they can
fill out questionnaires that will be sent to the auditors for review. Some
bishops had complained that the audits were expensive and time-consuming.
In the first round of audits, 90 percent of U.S. dioceses were deemed fully
compliant. If the same number get identical marks in the second round, which is
just being completed, then only a small minority of dioceses will be visited,
the Survivors Network said.
"We're basically back to square one, where we have no choice but to trust in
many of the same men whose repeated deceit and misconduct led to the molestation
of thousands of innocent Catholic youngsters," the advocacy group said in a
statement.
William Ryan, a spokesman for the bishops' conference, said the bishops were
following standard practice for organizations that undergo audits.
"This is in no way a lessening of the bishops' commitment," Ryan said. "The
bishops were determined to get it right and they are equally determined to keep
it right."
The Survivors' Network and Voice of the Faithful have asked the National Review
Board, the lay watchdog panel the bishops created, to intervene. Nicholas
Cafardi, the board chairman and dean of Duquesne University Law School in
Pittsburgh, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth
Protection, which oversees the audits, said the audit changes have been
misunderstood.
A former top FBI official, McChesney said that if auditors find inconsistencies
in the questionnaires they will send teams into those dioceses for an onsite
review.
Dioceses found out-of-compliance with part of the policy will have a shorter
onsite visit to review their deficiencies. Additionally, some dioceses not
required to have full onsite audits have requested them anyway, she said.
Despite the changes, McChesney said the audits will still be effective as long
as the bishops continue to authorize them. The bishops are reviewing their
discipline policy and are expected to decide in June whether to approve
nationwide audits beyond next year.