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Press Contacts: David Clohessy (SNAP) – (314)
566-9790
Suzanne
Morse (VOTF) – (617) 680-2131
Voice of the Faithful and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Ask For Credible Church Audits
Lay Catholics and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors Urge National Lay Panel
to Address Backsliding Concerns
Newton, MA and St. Louis, MO – December 13, 2004 - Two national
groups concerned about the clergy sex abuse crisis are urging a national
Catholic panel to re-institute credible, independent “audits” that
look at how bishops now handle child molestation cases. In November,
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted to employ “self-audits” for
the implementation of child safety protection policies among Catholic
dioceses, replacing on-site visits by retired FBI agents with self-surveys
in perhaps as many as 90% of America’s 194 dioceses.
Both Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) and the Survivors Network of those
Abused by Priests (SNAP) want to see that decision reversed and have
asked both the president of the USCCB and the National Review Board (NRB)
to re-examine the decision. On December 12, both groups formally asked
the NRB to intervene. The NRB is a committee of prominent Catholic lay
men and women who have been appointed by bishops to monitor the abuse
crisis.
“We request that you forthrightly ask the bishops to rescind this
action,” said James E. Post, president and Kristine Ward, vice
president of Voice of the Faithful, in a letter to NRB Chairman Nick
Cafardi. “Trust is on the line. If the bishops do not work to restore
it, the Church will remain in jeopardy in the United States. You are
in the front lines of holding them accountable. It is a solemn obligation.”
The move is “a nearly total reversal of what bishops pledged in
Dallas in June of 2002, of what took place in 2003 and 2004, and of the
bare minimum steps of what Catholics and victims deserve and have come
to expect” according to SNAP’s letter, signed by SNAP president
Barbara Blaine and national director David Clohessy.
The new procedure “essentially ends what already minimal oversight
remained” by replacing on-site visits with “self-reporting” on
how bishops are handling molestation cases, SNAP claims.
In 2005 and beyond, according to the bishops’ new plan, on-site
audits will only take place in dioceses that failed audits in 2004. Roughly
90% of the dioceses passed in 2003.
“Anyway you ‘spin’ it, that is a stark backtracking
from an important pledge,” SNAP says. “The end result: we’ll
all just have to take bishops at their word that they are living up to
the Charter. No outside person or body will be able to ascertain whether
this is in fact true. We’re basically back to square one, where
we have no choice but to trust in many of the same men whose repeated
deceit and misconduct led to the molestation of thousands of innocent
Catholic youngsters.”
The group recently wrote Spokane Bishop William Skylstad (US Conference
of Catholic Bishops president), and Chicago Cardinal Francis George (USCCB
vice president) to “prod your brother bishops to reconsider this
ill-fated and self-destructive back-pedaling.”
Neither cleric has responded yet.
Voice of the Faithful has also recently written Bishop Skylstad, asking
for his reconsideration of the self-auditing program. Saying that “relying
on self-audits will do little to ensure the safety of children and young
people in Catholic parishes, nor will it advance the need Catholics have
to see Bishops accountable for their actions in the past and future,” Voice
of the Faithful president James E. Post explained, “Our members
believe self-audits serve neither the concerns of Catholic parents nor
helps rebuild the Church. We remain willing to help the Bishops devise
an auditing process that will strengthen trust in the Church, and hope
to work with you on such an endeavor in the future.” A full text
of that letter is available at Voice of the Faithful’s website.
Two SNAP members meet with the National Review Board Sunday morning
but received no indication of whether the Board would consider their
request.
Below are links to of both organizations’ letter
to the NRB. They were hand-delivered on Sunday.
Survivors Network of Those
Abused by Priests’ Letter to
National Review Board Chair Nicholas Cafardi
Voice of the Faithful’s
letter to National Review Board Chair Nicholas Cafardi
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