Report
CYP 2018 Annual Report Findings and Recommendations
Child and Youth Protection 2018 Annual Report Findings and Recommendations, June 2019
Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People
Just as the 2018 audit cycle was ending, the Church in the United States was devastated yet again by reports of sexual abuse committed by trusted members of the clergy, including bishops. In June, news broke that Theodore McCarrick had been removed from ministry due to the apparent sexual abuse of a minor. The Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report was released in August, recounting horrific accounts of abuse. Soon after, allegations of sexual abuse and harassment of adults and seminarians also emerged, as did reports that bishops and other Church leaders knew of abuse but did not act. The deep wounds of countless abuse survivors have been re-opened because of this crisis, and today, the entire Church suffers with them.
For many years, the Annual Report issued warnings against a sense of complacency developing in some dioceses. The events of 2018 were the triggers that turned complacency into urgency for many bishops. They served as a springboard for improvements in not only policies and procedures, but also behaviors to support victim/survivors, and to better protect children, youth and adults from abuse.