Two-year process to revise bishops’ protection charter nears completion

NEW ORLEANS  — The chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People said a two-year project to revise the charter that guides the U.S. church in protecting minors from sexual abuse is nearly ready to be presented to the full body of bishops. 

Lafayette Bishop Timothy Doherty, the committee chairman, told the 13th annual Child and Youth Protection Catholic Leadership Conference in New Orleans that the proposed revisions of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” will be discussed and voted on at the bishops’ June 13-14 spring general assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

“We’ve done a lot of nice work over the last two years,” Bishop Doherty said. “The great thing people should know is that this has been a collaboration among a lot of bishops’ committees and the National Review Board, who are professional people — judges, lawyers, therapists, trauma experts. There’s a lot of healthy conversation there, and our church can be very proud of the people who are working toward the protection of children.” 

The annual conference June 3-6 attracted more than 150 people from across the U.S. working in areas of safe environment, victims’ assistance and pastoral care.