By Susan Gallagher

The Diocese of Helena has again been found in compliance with U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops procedures intended to help prevent sexual abuse of children and young people, according to an annual audit.

The Gavin Group Inc. in Winthrop, Mass., conducted the 2009 audit nationwide for the USCCB, to gauge compliance with procedures in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The USCCB adopted the charter in 2002, amid the Church abuse scandal in the United States. The charter was revised in 2005.

Church measures against abuse include “Protecting God’s Children” training, which is approaching its seventh year in the Diocese of Helena. Officially, 2,442 adults in the diocese have received the instruction, but the number who have taken the training actually may be much higher, said Judy Ober, diocesan Safe Environment manager.

She said that the 2,442 figure reflects people whose registrations were entered in a database, and that people who received the training relatively early are not reflected in those records.

With just one exception a number of years ago, audits repeatedly have found the diocese in compliance with requirements, Ober said.

“Protecting God’s Children” has as its core a three-hour session, led by one of 25 trained facilitators, that must be attended by all priests, deacons and employees. Church volunteers who work with children also must receive the training, which takes place at the diocesan, parish and school levels. Ongoing training, provided online, follows the three-hour session. Additionally, background checks are conducted.

Instruction for children and teenagers is provided in diocesan schools and in religious education classes, Ober said. Topics include touching by adults; recognizing risky adult behavior; telling a trusted person about concerns an adult causes; “grooming” in which an ill-intentioned adult works to gain a child’s trust; and Internet safety.

Ober said adults in “Protecting God’s Children” are asked to write evaluations of the training and “many times I will see a note: ‘I didn’t want to come, but now I think every adult responsible for protecting young children should attend.’”

A report released in February by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, based at Georgetown University, found that U.S. bishops last year received fewer allegations of sexual abuse by clergy and deacons than in any year since 2004, the year CARA’s data collection started. Most of the accusations filed in 2009 involved alleged acts from many years ago, according to the report.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and related resources for parish use have been compiled by the USCCB. Information is on the USCCB website at www.usccb.org/ocyp.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 4, April 16, 2010.