On the Appointment of Ms. Kathleen Mcchesney as Executive Director of the Office
For Child and Youth Protection
Statement of Monsignor William P. Fay
General Secretary, USCCB
This past June the Bishops overwhelmingly voted to adopt the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. With this Charter, they decided to establish an Office for Child and Youth Protection "to assist in the consistent application of principles" adopted by the Charter and "to provide a vehicle of accountability and assistance" to dioceses and eparchies (Article 8). The assistance and accountability that the office will provide are further spelled out as:
– assisting individual dioceses and eparchies in the implementation of "safe environment" programs;
– assisting provinces and regions in the development of appropriate mechanisms to audit adherence to the policies that have been adopted by the bishops;
– and producing an annual public report on the compliance of the dioceses and eparchies in implementing the standards in the Charter.
The establishment of the Child Protection Office is an important step in assuring that the goals of the Charter will be fulfilled. Almost equal in importance has been the choice of the right person to be its director. To assist me as general secretary of the Bishops Conference in finding the right person, the National Review Board appointed a search committee to identify qualified candidates and to review the applications of those who seemed best fitted for the job. I am happy to say that the search committee had a lot of work to do. They reviewed the qualifications of more than 40 people who had expressed interest in this work, and personally interviewed a large number of very extraordinary candidates as finalists for this very challenging position.
I want to thank all the members of the search committee for their invaluable service: Dean Nicholas Cafardi, Ms. Pamela Hayes, Dr. Paul McHugh, and especially Mr. Robert Bennett who chaired the search committee and put an enormous amount of time into the process.
Now that the search process has been completed, it is my pleasure to announce to you today that with the unanimous recommendation of the search committee I am appointing Ms. Kathleen McChesney as Executive Director of the Conference's Office for Child and Youth Protection.
Ms. McChesney is currently the Executive Assistant Director, Law Enforcement Services Division, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which makes her the number three official at the FBI.
Ms. McChesney holds a doctorate in public administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco. She has over 30 years' experience in law enforcement and joined the FBI in 1978. Her assignments as a Special Agent included work in San Francisco, Washington, Los Angeles and Detroit. In September 1996 she became head of the FBI's Portland, Oregon field office. In January 1999, she was named Special Agent in Charge in the Chicago field office. In June 2001 she was appointed Assistant Director of the Training Division, Quantico, Virginia.
Ms. McChesney has represented the FBI with members of Congress, public officials, national and international law enforcement, government and public organizations and the media.
But beyond this distinguished resume, there is another quality which I find both impressive and inspiring in our new director. Naturally I asked Kathleen why she would leave such an important and prestigious position for this job which is both new to her and to the bishops' conference. She answered immediately, saying that from her perspective she had been asking herself why she wouldn't come to her Church's assistance when it needed the kind of help that she – and we – know she can provide.
Kathleen McChesney brings extraordinary background and dedication to this vital position. I have no doubt that she will be extremely effective in helping to assure that in each and every diocese children are protected and that the Church in our country will be the safest of environments for them.