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	Audit Finds Diocese Is Protecting Kids Report Measures National Standards of Abuse Prevention By Jean Peerenboom jpeerenb@greenbaypressgazette.com Press-Gazette [Green Bay WI] March 31, 2006 http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20060331/GPG0101/603310602/1207/GPGnews The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay recorded a third consecutive year of compliance with national standards for keeping children safe in 2005, at the same time that the national church revealed that it received 783 more complaints of sex abuse by clergy. Green Bay's on-site audit was requested by Bishop David Zubik, who is in Rome this week, and a diocesan spokesman said the voluntary step was evidence of local efforts to keep children safe. "He didn't have to do that," said Tony Kuick, director of communications. "We could have just done the paperwork." The two independent auditors were former FBI agents from The Gavin Group, an independent, non-church organization based in Winthrop, Mass., Kuick said. The group has been auditing dioceses across the country for the past three years. The auditors were in Green Bay Nov. 7-10 and evaluated documents to verify diocesan efforts to communicate with survivors, process allegations, conduct background checks and educate adults and children about how to prevent abuse and what to do if abuse is suspected, Kuick said. In addition, they interviewed Zubik and 10 diocesan employees, both lay and ordained, and talked with a member of the Independent Review Board, an eight-member panel that assesses allegations of sexual abuse by priests and other church personnel. Since the previous audit in 2004, there have been five allegations of sexual misconduct made and investigated by the diocese, Kuick said. There were no convictions in those cases. In a statement released Thursday, Zubik said, "It is extremely important to me that we continue to fully participate in and pass the audits. The audits give us valuable feedback on how well we are meeting the expectations set forth in the U.S. Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Ultimately, this is a measure of how well we are serving survivors of abuse and how well we are creating safe environments for children and young people today. There is no item of higher priority for our church." He said he will continue to listen to victims and survivors "and we will continue to educate children and adults, screen people who are in positions of trust and respond as needs arise." Since April 2003, the diocese said it has conducted nearly 15,000 background checks on staff and volunteers at its 169 parishes, 60 schools and the diocesan pastoral center, and provided nearly 350 prevention training sessions for staff and volunteers through the Protecting Our Children program. The auditors' executive summary will be posted on the diocesan Web site at www.gb dioc.org under the icon marked Protecting Our Children. The latest national figures were released as part of the third audit the bishops have conducted to restore trust in their leadership after abuse allegations soared in 2002. Church leaders, however, drew criticism for changing how this latest review was conducted. In the first two annual audits, all 195 dioceses received an on-site visit. During the most recent review, 104 dioceses were allowed to fill out a questionnaire instead while auditors visited the others. The national audit showed that before the new audit, the abuse problem was known to have cost dioceses more than $1 billion since 1950. But new figures released by the church greatly expanded the figure. The bishops said the total cost of abuse in 2005 alone was nearly $467 million, including settlements, therapy for victims, support for offenders and attorneys' fees, among other things. The new audit also found a slight decline in compliance with all of the provisions of the toughened sex abuse policy that the bishops adopted four years ago, although many of the new claims involved alleged incidents from decades ago. The latest audit found 88.5 percent of dioceses were fully compliant compared with more than 95 percent last year. The audit said several dioceses don't have full safe environment training where children learn to keep themselves safe from abusers and four have not fully complied with the call for background checks on employees.
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