KIM LAWTON: Eighteen months ago, the bishops adopted a mandatory charter, or policy, designed to identify and prevent sexual abuse by priests and other Church workers. They called it a "zero-tolerance" policy. The new audit says nearly 90 percent of U.S. dioceses have now fully implemented the plan.
Bishop WILTON GREGORY (President, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): The audit results represent solid progress on the journey toward fulfilling the vision set out in the charter. I believe that these findings show that we bishops are keeping our word.LAWTON: According to the audit, 157 of the 195 U.S. dioceses have adopted all of the provisions of the wide-ranging policy. Thirty-four still have reforms to make. Four dioceses were not audited for legal or logistical reasons. Among those not yet in full compliance are the archdioceses of New York, Anchorage, and Omaha.
Victims' groups were skeptical of the findings.
DAVID CLOHESSY (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests): The process we think was very flawed, with a very small and select group of victims interviewed, and a majority of the interviews with Church officials -- many of the same men who for decades have covered up these horrible crimes.
WILLIAM GAVIN (The Gavin Group, Inc.): We had free rein -- free rein to go where we needed to go and to look to find answers to our questions. The depth and the scope of the process was not compromised.
LAWTON: On February 27, the bishops are scheduled to release another report -- a comprehensive study by the John Jay College of Justice. The report will try to tally the number of priests accused of abuse over the last 50 years, the number of victims -- and a price tag of how much the crisis has cost the Church. Catholic officials acknowledge those numbers will be very painful.
