SAN DIEGO (CA)
San Diego Tribune
September 10, 2017
[Note: This is a five-part feature. It also includes: A decade after settling sex abuse cases, the Diocese of San Diego still copes with the fallout; Four priests who abused their flock: Grim stories from the San Diego diocese files; Largest sexual abuse settlements by Roman Catholic institutions in the U.S.; Timeline of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal.]
For this week’s Back Story, reporter Peter Rowe discusses his front page story about a painful anniversary. Thursday marked 10 years since the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego settled the sex abuse claims of victims of predatory priests.
Q. What’s changed over the past decade?
A. That depends on who you interview. Diocesan officials, including Bishop Robert McElroy, point to a range of new policies designed to reduce the chances of this happening again. These included a new curriculum for Catholic schools, meant to help students and their parents identify — and stop — suspicious behavior. There are new background checks for every employee, religious or lay. Even visiting missionaries and substitute teachers have to undergo this step.
McElroy says all allegations are now reported to the appropriate civil authorities. The Diocesan Review Board, which existed 10 years ago, has subtly changed. The panel has always reviewed allegations, but the chair says it now takes a more active role in determining the facts of a case. And McElroy added a new member to the panel, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
Q. You interviewed several victims of the abuse. What was the overriding feeling you got from talking to people who went through this incredible trauma?
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