The Archdiocese of Los Angeles was found to be in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, it was announced this week.

In a Nov. 30 letter to Cardinal Roger Mahony, William A. Gavin, head of The Gavin Group Inc., stated: "Based on the analysis of the results of the 2007 Full Audit of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, you have been found to be in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

"The conclusions reached as to the compliance of your Archdiocese with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People are based on the completeness and accuracy of the information furnished by the Archdiocese to the Gavin Group Inc. during the course of this audit."

The Gavin Group, based in Winthrop, Mass., has conducted audits of U.S. dioceses to determine their compliance with the Charter, which was adopted in 2002 (and revised in 2005) by the U.S. bishops to protect children from sexual abuse and take appropriate action against clergy, religious and lay church employees and volunteers who sexually abused children.

Additionally, the Archdiocese issued a statement Dec. 3 announcing the implementation of the global settlement involving payment to plaintiffs stemming from sexual abuse. The statement read as follows:

"Today [Dec. 3] marks the payment of the Archdiocese's $250 million portion of the $660 million global settlement, along with the payments from insurance companies and contributing defendants. The Archdiocese and the other contributing defendants are funding at least $504 million today. The uninsured portions of their obligations are being paid from investment or other internal resources, sales of real estate and from borrowings.

"The Archdiocese will continue to reevaluate all of our ministries and services since we will not be able to offer them at the same levels as in the past. However, no parish properties or parish schools will be affected as a result of these settlements.

"While the financial settlement in itself is significant, it is not the beginning of the Church's efforts to help victims. We will continue our longstanding efforts to protect children, prevent sexual abuse and the potential for abuse through prevention training programs, screening procedures for all priests, employees and volunteers, and age-appropriate safe environment programs for children in our parishes and schools."

Also on Dec. 3, Michael Baker, former priest of the Archdiocese, pleaded guilty in L.A. Superior Court to sexually abusing two boys and was sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison. Cardinal Mahony issued the following statement:

"For many years, Michael Baker deceived parishioners, therapists, church leaders and most of all, his victims. By his actions, he caused terrible damage to innocent lives, and obscured the good deeds of many priests and others who minister to God's People. I hope that today's action, combined with his previous removal from the priesthood, brings into sharp focus for him the horrific damage he has caused, and that it also brings some sense of justice and solace to his victims and to the church community that he so grievously harmed."

The Archdiocese has posted within its website "Important Questions About the Clergy Sexual Abuse Scandal," a question-and-answer formatted summary report on 18 frequently asked questions relative to the scandal. To view the article, log on to http://www.archdiocese.la/protecting/index.php, and scroll down the page to "Other Recent News" on the right-hand side.

To view the series of Page 3 articles (74 to date) that The Tidings has published since November 2005, offering additional information, insight and perspective on preventing (and healing from) sexual abuse, log on to www.the-tidings.com and click on the link at the top of the home page. Additional articles on this subject will continue to appear in The Tidings.