No one claimed success and no one said the end was in sight when Roman Catholic Church officials last week announced the latest painfully high tallies for the costs in suffering and dollars of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Overall, at least 5,148 priests and deacons face more than 11,757 allegations of sexually abusing children under 18. The costs in settlements, care and counseling for victims and abusers, attorney's fees and child-protection programs surpass $750 million.
These numbers are drawn from three sources: a survey of abusers, victims and costs released Friday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; the newest diocese-by-diocese audit of compliance with church policies released Friday by the National Review Board; and a comprehensive study released last year.
The 2004 Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which includes both the bishops' and review board findings, begins with a "humbling" preface by Spokane Bishop William Skylstad acknowledging the "sinful betrayal of trust" the 3-year-old scandal represents.
The report shows progress: Seven dioceses of 194 audited Roman Catholic Dioceses and eparchies of Eastern Rite churches were not in full compliance with requirements for preventing and reporting abuse and caring for victims, down from 19 last year when the first audit was conducted. The Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., refused both years to participate.
But the report also showed the human and financial costs by adding numbers from a study of the scandal from 1950 to 2002, released last year by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, to a survey done in 2004 by the Center for Applied Research for the Apostolate.
"We know this crisis is not over," said Kathleen McChesney, head of the Office of Child and Youth Protection, which supervised the independent audit and survey.
She acknowledged that the numbers are low. Only the 2004 survey includes religious order priests (one in three U.S. Catholic clergy), and 29% of the religious orders did not participate. No survey of abusers, victims or costs was conducted for 2003, when there were nearly $100 million in settlements - $85 million in Boston alone. A total of $1 billion so far "would not surprise me," she said.
There is no consequence for bishops who lag in compliance, refuse to participate in studies, or show a history of failure to remove abusive priests.
Critics say the reports don't address shortcomings in the bishops' policy or the lack of any measurement for the effectiveness of prevention programs. Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests wants bishops to publicly name priests removed from ministry, to be disciplined by the church if they protected abusers, and to conduct on-site independent audits every year.