Child protection auditors due

By William Cone
Pittsburgh Catholic
June 28, 2017

http://www.pittsburghcatholic.org/News/Child_protection_auditors_due%7C-35197370?profile=1097

Auditors from StoneBridge Business Partners of Rochester, New York, plan to visit the Diocese of Pittsburgh soon to interview people and do spot inspections in parishes to examine compliance with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The diocese participates in a paper audit every year, and every third year a group from StoneBridge spends a week auditing safe environment policies and procedures, said Phyllis Haney, director of the diocesan Office for the Protection of Children and Young People. The last on-site audit was in October 2014.

“They will be talking with everyone involved with safe environments and going out to audit about 10 parishes/schools for compliance,” she said.

“We have to provide data based on each article of the charter,” Haney said. “When the auditors come here, we provide them with the documentation that backs up the data.”

The diocese has always been found to be in compliance with the charter, which Haney said can be credited to the vigilance of Bishop David Zubik. He totally supports the audit process, she said, and believes that everyone serving in the church must do everything possible to prevent and stop abuse against minors.

“This includes training in child abuse, training in how to report child abuse and making sure that those who minister in the name of the church do not have any record of abusing children,” Haney said. “This is done through requiring clearances. No one is exempt from these requirements, including Bishop Zubik, who has completed all of the clearances and trainings himself.”

The most recent national report on diocesan compliance with the charter shows that church leaders have taken positive steps to help many survivors of clergy sexual abuse find healing, but there is still work to be done.

Introductory remarks in the 14th annual report, released in May, urge church leaders not to assume that “sexual abuse of minors by the clergy is a thing of the past and a distant memory. Any allegation involving a current minor should remind the bishops that they must rededicate themselves each day to maintaining a level of vigilance,” wrote Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, which oversees the audits, and a former dean of the liberal arts college at Duquesne University.

The report — based on audits conducted between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016 — shows that 1,232 survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy came forward with 1,318 clerical abuse allegations in 132 Catholic dioceses and eparchies. The allegations represent reports of abuse that occurred from the 1940s to the present.

Haney said that safe environment training helps church workers spot child abuse and know how to report it. It is vital to making it harder for perpetrators to commit their crimes.

“All of us must have a part in protecting children,” she said. “In addition to protecting children in the future, it is extremely important that we as a church promote healing and reconciliation with victim/survivors of abuse in the past.

“We also must guarantee an effective response to allegations of sexual abuse of children. This means reporting allegations of sexual abuse of children to the proper civil authorities, and having clear standards of behavior and appropriate boundaries for all clergy, employees and volunteers in our diocese.”

To contact Haney in the Office for the Protection of Children and Young People, call 412-456-5633. A toll-free telephone line to the diocesan assistance coordinator for use by anyone who feels they may be a victim of abuse by a priest or any other church personnel is available by calling 1-888-808-1235.