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February 18, 2005
Report raises new allegations of priest abuse
February 18, 2005 [Associated Press]
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Roman Catholic bishops say over the last year they've received nearly 1,100 new allegations of sexual abuse by priest and deacons.
The head of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection says half of the 756 accused priests had been named in previous abuse allegations.
Kathleen McChesney says most of the one-thousand-92 cases are decades old. She says 72 percent of the priests were either dead, defrocked or removed from public ministry before the newest allegations were made.
The bishops are releasing a new national audit of U-S dioceses. Teams of auditors visited churches across the country to evaluate compliance with the church's child protection policy.
Auditors found that the vast majority of dioceses have taken the required steps to protect children.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the audits were "minimal and misleading." The victims' group says bishops had too much control over who participated in the review.
Posted by Nancy at February 18, 2005 11:35 PM