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	Pastoral Letter | Archdiocese Takes Great Measures to Protect Our Children By Robert J. Carlson St. Louis Review April 9, 2010 http://stlouisreview.com/article/2010-04-07/pastoral-letter To the Clergy, Religious and Laity of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, I pray you all had a blessed Easter and that this holy season is filled with hope and joy. Today, I am writing you this Pastoral Letter to remind you of what we are doing on an ongoing basis in the Archdiocese of St. Louis to protect our children from sexual abuse. I realize that the issue of sexual abuse has been in the news for the past several weeks, including stories about sexual abuse allegations in Europe and in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. I am sure that all of this has been very upsetting to victims of abuse, their families and their friends. It also is upsetting and confusing to many Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. While there were some things done in the past to protect children from sexual abuse, today we have more effective policies and programs in place to protect children from abuse by clergy, teachers, youth ministers, volunteers, coaches, etc. These policies include criminal background checks for those working with young people and safety training for children and those who work with children, all designed to minimize the possibility of any child being abused. The archdiocese has established a Safe Environment Program Office and an Office of Child and Youth Protection to oversee these activities. Our efforts to prevent the abuse of children are audited on a yearly basis by an independent, outside firm, The Gavin Group, to ensure that we are doing everything possible to protect our children. Clergy coming into the archdiocese need a testimonial letter from their superior that his record is clear and he has never been accused of sexual abuse. In addition, these policies are regularly reviewed by an independent Review Board whose members include laypeople and clergy, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, teachers, lawyers and police officers. Many of these Review Board members are parents and grandparents themselves. The Review Board is there to receive complaints of sexual abuse and interview both those claiming to be abused and those accused. If the complaint appears to be credible, the accused is removed from ministry during an investigation, and victims and their families are encouraged to notify civil authorities. One of the members of the Review Board is the Director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He is a counselor who is required by law to report credible cases of abuse if the victim is currently a minor. If the victim is currently an adult, the archdiocese respects his or her right to privacy and keeps the allegation and the victim's identity confidential. While it is true that the vast majority of our clergy serve faithfully, even one case of sexual abuse of a child is one too many. Hopefully with background checks, regular Review Board meetings and an audit process, we will be worthy of your trust. I am grateful for the focus of the media on this issue, and I appreciate the fact that Pope Benedict XVI seems to have acted consistently and decisively in addressing this issue.
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