Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis Report Shows Decline in Abuse Allegations

By Greg Garrison
AL.com
May 9, 2013

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2013/05/catholic_sex_abuse_crisis_repo.html

[the report]

The U.S. Catholic Church's annual audit of compliance with its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People found a drop in the number of sexual abuse allegations, victims and offenders reported in 2012, according to a statement released today from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which gathered data for the report, found “the fewest allegations and victims reported since the data collection for the annual reports began in 2004.”

Most allegations reported last year were from the 1970s and 1980s, with many of the alleged offenders already deceased or removed from ministry.

There were no new allegations of clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Birmingham, spokesman Frank Savage told AL.com/The Birmingham News.

StoneBridge Business Partners, which conducts the audits, said law enforcement found six credible cases among 34 allegations of abuse of minors in 2012. The credibility of 15 of the allegations was still under investigation. Law enforcement found 12 allegations to be unfounded or unproven.

In the report, bishops said they recognize the importance of addressing the issue of sexual abuse by clergy.

"Since 2002, the Church in the United States has experienced a crisis without precedent in our times," they wrote.

"The sexual abuse of children and young people by some deacons, priests, and bishops, and the ways in which these crimes and sins were addressed, have caused enormous pain, anger, and confusion. As bishops, we have acknowledged our mistakes and our roles in that suffering, and we apologize and take responsibility again for too often failing victims and the Catholic people in the past. From the depths of our hearts, we bishops express great sorrow and profound regret for what the Catholic people have endured."

The report can be found online. The compliance report was compiled by StoneBridge, which conducted on-site audits of 71 dioceses and reviewed documentation submitted by 118 others.

The StoneBridge audit, in addition to finding most dioceses Charter compliant, reported that “over 99 percent of clerics and over 96 percent of employees and volunteers were trained” in safe environment programs. “In addition, over 4.6 million children received safe environment training. Background evaluations were conducted on over 99 percent of clerics; 98 percent of educators; 96 percent of employees; and 96 percent of volunteers.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in a preface to the report, commended clergy, employees and volunteers trained in safe environment.

“At the same time we also renew our steadfast resolution never to lessen our common commitment to protect children and young people entrusted to our pastoral care,” he said. “We seek with equal determination to promote healing and reconciliation for those harmed in the past, and to assure that our audits continue to be credible and maintain accountability in our shared promise to protect and our pledge to heal.”

In data gathering from dioceses, CARA noted there were 397 allegations, most of them from decades past, against 313 priests or deacons, by 390 individuals. About 84 percent of the victims were male. Half were between 10 and 14 when the abuse began. An estimated 17 percent were between 15 and17, and 19 percent were under age 10.

The report includes a “2012 Survey of Allegations and Costs.”

Dioceses that responded to the survey reported costs related to allegations at $112,966,427 in 2012. Expenses covered settlements, attorney fees, therapy for victims and support for offenders. The total amount expended for dioceses and religious orders was $148,338,437. Dioceses and religious orders also spent $26,583,087 for child protection programs.

ggarrison@al.com