Bishops' child protection charter has numerous mandates for dioceses

Published: 2003-12-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When the U.S. bishops adopted their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" in 2002, they said, "We pledge ourselves to act in a way that manifests our accountability to God, to his people and to one another in this grave matter" of clergy sexual abuse of minors. The charter established a National Review Board and an Office for Child and Youth Protection to assure that bishops comply with the policy decisions spelled out in the charter and the legally binding "Essential Norms" accompanying it. But most of the charter and norms were directed at dioceses themselves, with specific policies and procedures all dioceses were mandated to implement. This summer and fall the youth protection office sent independent auditors to every diocese and eparchy -- Eastern-rite diocese -- to assess their compliance with those mandates. A detailed national report on those compliance audits is to be published Jan. 6.

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