New York, USA - The nation's Roman Catholic bishops and religious orders received 714 clergy sex-abuse claims in 2006, the second consecutive year that the number of allegations has dropped, according to a new report on the church's child-protection efforts.
Costs related to abuse cases also decreased — by about 15% over the last year — mainly because of a decline in what dioceses paid to settle molestation cases.
Dioceses and religious orders paid nearly $399 million in 2006 for settlements with victims, attorney fees and support for accusers and offenders. For 2005, that figure was $467 million, considered the highest for a single year.
The findings, set for release today, are part of an annual review that the bishops first commissioned in 2002 as they implemented changes to better safeguard children at the height of the clergy sex-abuse crisis.
The declining number of claims — there were 1,092 in 2004 and 783 the next year — could be taken as evidence that the church is gradually gaining control over the crisis, especially since the vast majority of allegations date back decades.
"The bishops have done a lot and have spent a lot of money in a lot of different areas, but it's not all done, as you can tell by the number of victims still coming forward," said Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection.
Catholic leaders say abuse-related costs have exceeded $1.5 billion since 1950. More than 13,000 molestation claims have been filed against clergy since then.
An accompanying audit, by the Gavin Group, checks whether the dioceses are implementing the changes spelled out in the bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
As in previous years, most people who made allegations in 2006 said they had been molested decades ago. Most of the claims concerned cases from 1960 to 1984.
Forty-three percent of the claims involved priests who had not been accused of abuse before, and most of those accused are either dead, missing, or have already been removed from church work, making the allegations difficult to prove.
In dioceses alone, bishops said 11% of the 2006 claims could not be proven or were considered to be false. Only 17 of the people who came forward with complaints last year were under age 18.
The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests considers the audits and the survey ineffective because dioceses control what information researchers see.
Defenders say the annual reviews play an important role in child protection.
"Vigilance is needed to overcome the natural regressive tendency to become complacent," the auditors wrote in their report.