Auditors commissioned by the U.S. bishops will examine this week how well the Diocese of Sacramento has complied with the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” approved in 2002.

The review, conducted by the Gavin Group of Boston, which did the 2003 audits nationwide, is a follow-up to the first audit in July 2003. That audit found the diocese was in overall compliance with the charter and had provided commendable service to victims/survivors of sexual abuse but also needed to make some minor improvements.

The auditors were scheduled to begin the evaluation Dec. 13 and complete it within five days. They will examine how well the diocese has complied with the mandates of the charter since the first audit. The U.S. bishops adopted the charter in Dallas in June 2002 as a response to the sexual abuse scandal facing the church.

The audit requires detailed reports on specific measures the diocese has taken to promote healing and reconciliation with victims/survivors of sexual abuse: reaching out to victims, providing them with services such as counseling and support groups, responding immediately to allegations of abuse, and reporting charges to public authorities.

It also examines the diocese’s Independent Review Board, which reviews all accusations of sexual misconduct with minors made against clergy and other church personnel, and the diocese’s record in dealing swiftly with accused priests and deacons.

In addition, the auditors will look at how the diocese has taken action to restore the good name of those with unfounded accusations and what it has done to remove offenders from ministry. The audit will also review the diocese’s efforts to be transparent and open with the community in regard to charges of abuse.

Also to come under scrutiny will be the diocese’s actions aimed at preventing abuse in the future, such as ongoing “safe environment” programs to provide education and training for children, youth, parents, ministers, educators and others about ways to make and maintain a safe environment for children.

The auditors will also look into the formation of seminarians and how the diocese conducts background checks on employees and volunteers.

The auditors will ask for detailed reports and documentation in all of these areas. They will also interview Bishop William K. Weigand and Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia; Father Thomas Bland, priests’ personnel director; Nancy Milton, pastoral care and safe environment coordinator; several pastors; members of the review board and several other diocesan staff members involved in carrying out the charter’s mandates. They may also talk to victims of abuse and accused priests or deacons.

The audit instrument is “considerably more detailed than that used previously and reflects the experience of the first audit,” said Father David L. Deibel, vicar for canonical affairs and the official responsible for implementing the mandates of the charter in the diocese.

“The auditors learned something from the first audit and so did we,” he said. “Now we will get a better read and a more accurate assessment in where we are and what progress we have made in protecting children and youth from abuse.”

The detail required in the audit “is not unexpected and we welcome it,” Father Deibel added. “In getting ready for this audit over the past several months we find out what we have done well or not well and how we will measure up to the expected standards.”

A new question this year in the audit is the number of allegations received by the diocese since its 2003 audit. The answers from dioceses and eparchies nationwide will establish a statistical base line needed to measure the success of prevention policies by showing whether future accusations will rise or fall, according to officials of the U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection.

The 2003 audit did not ask about allegations. However, a church-approved national study on the sex abuse crisis conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York gathered data on sex abuse allegations during the period from 1950 to 2002.

Other 2004 audit changes include:

ï Provisions that allow individuals or groups with information that a diocese or eparchy may not be in compliance with policies to forward such information directly to the Gavin Group.

ï Giving dioceses and eparchies the audit results within two weeks of the completion of their individual audit rather than waiting for all audits to be completed, as was done in 2003.

Regarding possible noncompliance data, a fact sheet about the audits from the U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection said that people with information that “indicates that a particular article, or articles, of the charter are not being complied with” in a diocese can mail the data to: Gavin Group, P.O. Box 520162, Winthrop, MA 02152.

In its 2003 review, auditors commended the Diocese of Sacramento for “exceptional service to victims/survivors of sexual abuse.”

The audit team instructed the diocese to formulate a policy to prevent priests from other dioceses from performing duties in the diocese without approval of the bishop. The team also recommended that the diocese establish a policy of acknowledging and responding to every complaint and that these communications be maintained for easy retrieval.

Both the instruction and recommendation were addressed following the 2003 audit and as a result of these changes the diocese was found in “full compliance” with the charter in January 2004.

The U.S. bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection announced earlier this year that a final report and details on each diocese’s audit will be completed by February 2005 and released publicly at that time.

Some of the information for this report was taken from Catholic News Service.

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