Our efforts are working

If you judged only by what you read in newspapers and see on television, you would believe that sexual abuse is an ongoing crisis in the Catholic Church.
But for every disturbing story of a priest who has abused a child, for every frustrating story that suggests that some Church leaders still do not understand the problem and the steps to be taken to resolve it, there are hundreds of unheralded stories that make clear this good news: Things have changed in the Catholic Church.
Ministers and leaders in our Church are working effectively to prevent harm to children and vulnerable adults.
The recent report of the “Causes and Context” study of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church by John Jay College of Criminal Justice stated clearly that the sexual abuse crisis, by the decline in numbers of minors abused, showed significant indications of resolution by the mid-1980s.
Just in the last year, according to the report released in May by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), of the 345 reported offenders during 2010, only seven were reported to have committed their offense in 2010.
Two-thirds of the allegations cited in the CARA study referenced that painful period between 1960 and 1984. Of the 345 accused clergy, almost 60 per cent were already dead or laicized.
It is a fact that almost all the reports that are the subject of current news stories have to do with allegations that occurred many years ago.
Clearly, the efforts of dioceses in our country to create and maintain safe environments for children at parishes and schools are working. The decrease in sexual abuse of minors by those who minister in the Church that began in the mid-1980s continues to hold at the low levels reached in the mid-1990s.
The efforts are having an impact because for every past abuser, there are thousands of clergy, employees and volunteers working very hard in the present to be vigilant so that abuse is less likely to occur and more likely to be detected.
Dioceses in the U.S. support their efforts with funds for personnel, events and materials. According to the CARA report, more than $20 million was devoted to child abuse awareness and prevention efforts last year.
In the Diocese of Tucson, our parishes and schools have been busy responding to the annual audit of our Safe Environment Program. The data collected speak to us of the thousands of persons who voluntarily commit to our system of background checks, education and supervision – all designed to protect children, youth and vulnerable adults.
The audit process gives us all the opportunity to identify not only the things that we are doing well, but also the things that we might do better.
In the several departments and offices of the Pastoral Center concerned with the Safe Environment Program, we continue to consult with the parishes and schools to help them develop even better systems, uniquely fitted to each location and to keep accurate and accessible records of their efforts.
It is now more than nine years since the bishops met in Dallas to draft the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and almost 25 years since the bishops began to come to terms with what had gone wrong. In those years, we have all learned a great deal.
Reflecting on the facts of our Church’s efforts to change and our commitment to the safety of children encourages us. We are changing. We are making a difference.
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If you or anyone you know has experienced abuse by a priest, deacon, sister, brother, employee or volunteer for the Roman Catholic Church or for the Diocese of Tucson – no matter when or where the abuse happened – we urge you to report the abuse immediately to law enforcement. Also, we encourage you to call the Victim Assistance Program of the Diocese of Tucson at 1-800-234-0344 in Arizona and the Office of Child, Adolescent and Adult Protection of the Diocese of Tucson at 520-792-3410. More information is available at www.diocesetucson.org/ocaap.html.