You asked for it, you got it...
A study, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, warns the church may be failing to uphold its own policies on child safety.
File this one under: Be careful what you ask for. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops paid outsiders to audit the church's efforts to improve child safety. Now the monitors have issued a report warning bishops that the church is failing to take its own self-prescribed medicine -- with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's latest clergy sex scandal again drawing an uncomfortable spotlight.
The report, issued this morning, found that 55 of the 188 participating dioceses needed to make improvements or risk violating the national policy implemented nearly a decade ago as the clergy sex abuse scandal enveloped the Catholic church.
Two of the most common concerns identified by the auditors: Allowing priests barred from ministry to lead public prayers and failing to meet with leaders of religious orders that have priests working in a diocese.
The bishops' policy, called the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," was adopted in 2002 as the scandal over predatory priests in the Archdiocese of Boston spread through the American church, the Associated Press wrote.
Bishops have spent tens of millions of dollars on background checks for clergy and volunteers, support for victims, safe environment training for adults and children, studies on the roots of clergy abuse and the annual compliance audits.
However, the value of the audits have come under new scrutiny since February, when a Philadelphia grand jury alleged that the local archdiocese kept about three dozen credibly accused clergy in public ministry , a violation of the national policy.
Since the audits began in 2003, the Philadelphia archdiocese has passed every review, including this latest one. Teresa Kettelkamp, the bishops' national child protection officer, said church leaders are looking into how that happened.
"We will figure this out and fix whatever needs to be fixed," Kettelkamp said.
Meanwhile, the spirited suburban Philadelphia Moms gaining an increasingly concerned following on their new website Catholics4Change.com sent Cardinal Justin Rigali a letter last week posing 10 questions they'd love to have answered. Among them:
Since the 2002 United Bishop's Conference Treaty for the Protection of Children, many Dioceses have developed additional customized charters of child protection. Why doesn't the Archdiocese of Philadelphia? Why do we lack "practical policy" for our children's activities and events?
To avoid conflicts of interest, will the Archdiocese fund a victim assistance program independent of the Archdiocese and its lawyers?
Will you publicly support legislation that suspends for two years the civil statute of limitations on sex abuse claims? Will you also support the abolishment of the statute of limitations for sex offenses against minors?
Do you take responsibility for the lapses in zero tolerance that occurred between the 2005 and 2011 reports?
What would Jesus do?