Bishops say LV Diocese meets standards for preventing abuse

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

The Las Vegas Diocese received a national commendation for its full compliance with proactive measures to prevent child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

The commendation came just hours after a court appearance in the civil case against one of the diocese's priests Tuesday.

The U.S. Conference of Bishops issued the commendation after measuring compliance from June 2002, when the national organization adopted its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The audit measured how well the diocese met the charter's requirements to "provide outreach to victims, respond to allegations of sexual abuse of minors, prevent future acts from occurring, and hold themselves accountable to the members of the church in their efforts to protect the young."

Former parish priest Mark Thomas Roberts, who pleaded guilty in January 2003 to charges of molesting five young men, was not included in the audit, diocese spokeswoman Rachel Wilkie of Rogich Communications Group said.

That the diocese would not include Roberts in the audit and still claim it was in full compliance with these measures was another way of avoiding the situation, said Debbie Tullgren, the mother of one of Robert's victims.

"They are complying only on paper," Tullgren said.

Albert Massi, the attorney in the ongoing civil suit, filed in March on behalf of the five men in the criminal case and four other alleged victims, asked District Judge Douglas Mosley to unseal an amended pre-sentencing report on Roberts from the Parole and Probation office.

The civil complaint alleges Roberts "sexually abused, assaulted and exploited" the boys, and that the diocese, former Las Vegas Catholic Bishop Daniel Walsh and his successor, Bishop Joseph Pepe, were negligent because they knew or should have known about the abuse and stopped it.

Massi said discovery in the case cannot move forward until he has the amended report, which includes psychological evaluations of Roberts.

Mosley denied Massi's motion Tuesday morning and referred Massi back to the discovery officer in civil court.

Massi had not yet read the report when reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, but was very skeptical of the diocese's full compliance.

As to the preventative measures being taken, Massi said they should have been implemented "50 years ago."

Tullgren said she is supportive of the changes the diocese has made, such as hiring a professional counselor, Joanne Halt, to serve as a victim assistance coordinator. She also supports the establishment of Protecting God's Children, an educational program on abuse that is mandatory for all of the diocese's employees and any volunteer who works with children.

But there is still a shield of secrecy and defensiveness around the church, Tullgren said.

"Once again, who is reaching out to the victims, who is trying to say we are here for you?" Tullgren said. "Mark Roberts admitted his guilt, but no one (from the diocese) has stepped forward and said he was wrong."

Tullgren also said she was rudely asked "What are you doing here?" when she tried to attend one of the educational programs. Tullgren, a registered member of the church, said she was extremely upset and left before the class started.

"What are you hiding?" Tullgren said. " Why can't I be there? (The church administrator) did not question anybody else, he only accused me of not being registered. I think they should open it up to the public and allow anyone interested in what they were actually teaching to come."

Wilkie said all of the victims in the Roberts case have been offered free counseling and Tullgren was invited to attend another class. Tullgren said she was too upset by the first incident go again.

The audit also reported the diocese has entered no confidentiality agreements and has not transferred any priests accused of abuse into other ministerial positions since June 2002. The audit did find the diocese had transferred one priest in Las Vegas back to the diocese he came from to answer to alleged abuse charges, Wilkie said.

The transferred priest never served in any function in Las Vegas, Wilkie said. No one in the diocese was available to answer questions about the report, Wilkie said, and the audit did not give any details on the priest, including his name, age, original residence or the allegations against him.

An account of all past incidents of abuse by priests will be released in February, Wilkie said. That report will also keep all identities anonymous.

Less then 45 percent of dioceses across the nation were found to be in full compliance with the recommended measures.

Out of the 191 individual audits, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued instructions to 57 of the dioceses to develop better codes of conduct, safe environment programs and institute routine background checks of its employees. About 65 percent of the parishes audited received recommendations to improve compliance in these same areas.

The conference specifically commended the Las Vegas Diocese for instituting a field trip questionnaire for all personnel accompanying youths on field trips, the long-standing requirement for background investigations on anyone working with children, and placing a coordinator for the Protecting God's Children program in every parish.

The Reno Diocese, which Las Vegas was a part of until 1995, was instructed to improve its outreach program by creating and disseminating how a parishioner may report abuse by a priest. This instruction was implemented by Dec. 1, according the audit report.

The Northern Nevada diocese was also commended in the audit for excellent communication efforts in its newsletters on issues of sexual abuse, the report states.