The Catholic Diocese of Yakima says it has started the new year with good news: It passed a recent audit of its sexual abuse policy. Local Catholic officials learned this week that the Yakima diocese, which encompasses seven Central Washington counties and includes 41 parishes, was found to be in full compliance with the United States Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
This is the third time since 2004 it has been found to be in full compliance. The latest audit covered slightly more than 18 months, from November 2005 through last June.
The Rev. Robert Siler, chief of staff for Bishop Carlos Sevilla, said he is pleased with the results of the audit.
"It's important to be accountable," he said.
Audits were instituted at Catholic dioceses throughout the country after allegations of sexual abuse by priests became a national scandal in 2002.
All three audits performed in Yakima have been done by a representative of the Gavin Group Inc., an independent auditing agency from Boston, which reviews the child safety policies and procedures of almost all of the 194 Catholic dioceses in the United States.
The agency is headed by William Gavin, former assistant director of the FBI.
Nearly all dioceses -- including the Diocese of Yakima -- had on-site audits this past year.
A formal report of these audits will be released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in the spring.
The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was adopted by the bishops' group in 2002, then revised in 2005.
Former FBI agent Kathleen Kelly from the Gavin Group was in Yakima in November measuring what the diocese has done to prevent sexual abuse of minors and how it will handle future allegations of abuse.
She reviewed records submitted by the diocese, looked into procedures in place to safeguard children and interviewed diocesan officials. Those included four parish priests who volunteered to be part of the process: the Revs. Juan Flores of Cowiche, John Murtagh of Moxee, Tom Kuykendall of Wenatchee and David Jimenez of Selah.
But not everyone in the diocese is convinced the audit was an independent assessment.
Robert Fontana from the Yakima chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic group advocating reforms in the church, believes the process is flawed because it is based on self-reporting.
"Audits are not foolproof," he said. "The diocese hands information over, so it's just another version of the honor system."
Fontana argued that the Gavin group can't be considered an investigative body because all the material its agents see is provided by the diocese, and the agents don't subpoena records.
But Siler said that Kelly examined all complaints about alleged sexual abuse and reviewed the diocese's response to the complaints.
The audit also looked at policies and procedures with special emphasis on "safe environment" educational programs, Siler said.
He explained that most parishes in the diocese began offering safe environmental training to children, kindergarten through 12th grade, two years ago. The ongoing training is given in Catholic schools and at catechism classes with parental approval.
"The training covers looking out for inappropriate behavior or grooming, setting boundaries and trusting adults," Siler said.
The program provides age-appropriate information to about 8,500 children, Siler said, estimating that 90 percent have already been trained, with the remainder to be trained by April.
Similarly, 1,500 adults working or volunteering in the diocese have received training in safe, appropriate behavior toward children, he said.
The audit also reviewed how background checks are conducted on diocesan employees and volunteers who work with children.
"Virtually all employees have had a background check," Siler noted.
The process includes vetting criminal histories through a state program of fingerprint checks for teachers, FBI checks for men training to be priests and background investigations for priests, deacons, other employees and volunteers, conducted by a private company in Oregon.
Since the diocese began this program more than five years ago, more than 3,000 criminal background checks have been conducted, Siler said.
"The Diocese of Yakima is committed to providing a safe environment for all persons served in our parishes, schools and ministries," Sevilla said in a news release.
Future audits will be conducted annually, but on-site audits will occur only once every three years. During the other two years, dioceses will send written documentation of their policy compliance to investigating authorities.
Fontana would like to see the auditing process changed. Even if a diocese fails the audit, he said, there is no mechanism for disciplining officials.
"There's no way to hold a bishop accountable. Even good people need someone to hold them accountable," he said.
Fontana added, "The biggest issue isn't that there were pedophile priests out there. The biggest issue was that bishops knew it and still kept moving them around. There's still nothing in the charter that addresses that."
Siler, however, believes that the diocese is exhibiting accountability with its policies of dealing with and preventing sexual abuse.
"We're doing a good job, and we could do better. And we will," Siler said.
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