More than 20 years after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops established its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth is evolving in the way it safeguards children and vulnerable adults. The office responds to allegations of sexual abuse by clergy, staff and volunteers in the archdiocese, offers assistance to victim-survivors, trains staff and volunteers on how to create and maintain safe environments and teaches children about setting boundaries and how to seek help and advocate for themselves. It also works with parishes and schools and other archdiocesan offices to make sure they understand and follow the policies and procedures, and shares what the archdiocese has learned about safeguarding with other agencies. “There are lots of Catholics who are not familiar with the charter,” said Leah Heffernan, who was appointed senior director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth and Compliance on Dec. 3, 2024. “Laypeople and priests and employees. Our office works with all the other offices and we also work with all the parishes and schools, pastors and principals, to connect OPCY faces with names.” The charter was created as the church dealt with a scandal sparked by the Boston Globe’s reporting about the Archdiocese of Boston reassigning priests who had abused children there. Dioceses around the country were faced with allegations being made public, many dating back decades. The charter, with its requirement that priests with even one substantiated allegation against them be removed from ministry and that dioceses provide support to victim-survivors, marked a significant change in the way such allegations were handled. Since then, the church has worked to improve its safeguarding practices around the world, including a 2019 Vatican summit on protecting minors and the issuance later that year of Pope Francis’ motu propio, “Vox estis lux mundi,” changing the universal law of the church in order to strengthen its response to allegations of abuse of minors and vulnerable people. While Heffernan is new to her position, she worked for 18 years as the director of the Office of Child Abuse Investigation and Review, before leading the Office of Child and Youth Protection in the Diocese of Joliet. Auxiliary Bishop Robert Casey, the archdiocese’s vicar general, said Heffernan’s hiring marked a moment of renewal for the Office of Protection of Children and Youth. “It’s broader than Leah,” Bishop Casey said. “It’s our experience over the years and looking at how the office operates and making sure that we have the office structured in such a way that it can do its best work. We are blessed with a very skilled director of child abuse investigations and review, director of assistance ministry and director of safe environment.” The Office of Child Abuse Investigation and Review, which is under the umbrella of OPCY, is now led by Nelly Bonilla. Bonilla receives all allegations of abuse of minors by archdiocesan personnel, and turns those reports over to civil authorities. Once the civil authorities have completed their investigation, or said they will not investigate because of the amount of time that has passed or other factors, Bonilla brings the allegations to the Independent Review Board, a majority lay board that advises the archbishop, to determine whether the allegations can be substantiated. Bonilla also is in charge of the prayer and penance program for priests who have at least one substantiated allegation against them who do not want to be laicized. Those priests cannot wear clerical dress or present themselves as priests publicly nor do any public ministry whatsoever, she said, and they must keep her apprised of their movements. When Bonilla meets with victim-survivors to receive their allegations, she is joined by Mayra Flores, who leads the Office of Assistance Ministry. “We feel every victim-survivor has the right to report their story to us,” Bonilla said. “We are here to listen with empathy and connect them with any resources they might want.” “My office is the oldest victims’ assistance office in the United States,” Flores said, noting that it was started by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1992, the same year the archdiocese started the Independent Review Board to investigate allegations. “We are solely dedicated to providing outreach to victim-survivors of clerical sexual abuse. … I look for ways for the victim-survivors to feel heard, to feel seen, to be present to them in their healing journey.” The ministry helps facilitate counseling or other services, including connecting victim-survivors with support groups and spiritual direction if that’s what they want. The office also offers victim-survivors an opportunity to meet with the archbishop, she said. The three cardinal-archbishops who have led the archdiocese since the creation of the office have all committed to that. “The cardinals — Cardinal Bernardin, Cardinal [Francis] George and now Cardinal Cupich — have all remained faithful to that, that they are present to the victim-survivors when they meet with them, and they listen to them,” Flores said. The Office of Assistance Ministry also coordinates the annual Mass of Hope and Healing for victim-survivors and the Pinwheels for Prevention prayer service held each spring at the Healing Garden, adjacent to Holy Family Church, 1080 W. Roosevelt Road, with children from archdiocesan Catholic Schools. The Healing Garden itself was created by a committee of victim-survivors, diocesan priests and OPCY staff. It’s significant, Flores said, that the archdiocese created a living garden rather than a stone or metal statue or monument to show that victim-survivors are remembered. “The healing garden is a living testament to the church’s commitment to ongoing healing for the victims,” she said. Sarah Nemecek leads the Safe Environment Office, which coordinates safe environment and mandated reporter training for adults and sexual abuse prevention training for children in Catholic schools and religious education programs. “The safe environment team is the screening and prevention side of child protection,” Nemecek said, noting that any adults who work with children must have background checks. “They’ve also been trained in child abuse prevention, recognizing the signs and mandated reporting and ways to create safe environments. “Similar to our training requirement for adults, all children are required to complete an annual safe-environment training. It’s how to recognize safe adults if they are being harmed in any way, how to protect themselves and advocate for themselves, based on grade or age level for minors.” As part of its work, the team also works to make sure parish and schools are in compliance with the policies. Nemecek said her team is ready to work with parish and school partners proactively. “If they call us, it doesn’t have to be the worst-case scenario that someone has reported something,” Nemecek said. “It could be, ‘We’re taking a bunch of teenagers on a field trip, and what are the best practices for doing that safely?’” Heffernan said her job is supporting the offices encompassed by OPCY, making sure they have the resources they need, and connecting with other agencies and organizations. “It was appealing to have the opportunity to return to the archdiocese and join OPCY in this role to support and contribute to its work, as well as to connect with pastors, principals, other archdiocesan offices and leadership on behalf of OPCY to support and partner with them in the archdiocese’s efforts to protect our children and other vulnerable populations,” Heffernan said.
Cardinal celebrates Mass recognizing 20th anniversary of charter In his homily on the feast of Christ the King, Cardinal Cupich said the church must be like the good thief in the Gospel of Luke who listens to Jesus on the cross, repents and asks forgiveness and has the courage to ask Jesus to remember him.
Decades-old clerical abuse documents made public The documents concerning 30 archdiocesan priests who have been accused of abusing minors at various times during the last half century were made public on Jan. 21 by Jeffrey Anderson, a lawyer representing several of the abuse survivors. All of the documents relate to cases that date back many years, in some cases, decades. Ninety-five percent of the misconduct occurred prior to 1988. Today no priest with even one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor serves in ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Archdiocese’s abuse-prevention efforts date back to 1990s One thing that has become clear since the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy made headlines again this summer is that many people don’t know the steps the church is already taking to prevent abuse, and to investigate allegations when they arise.