Catholics report sex-abuse claims drop for 2nd year

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NEW YORK (AP) -- 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 accusations has dropped, according to a new report on the church's child-protection reforms.

Costs related to abuse cases also decreased -- by about 15 percent during the past 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, lawyer fees and support for accusers and offenders. For 2005, that figure was $467 million -- considered the highest ever 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 reforms 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 accusations date back decades.

But more work is needed to address the problem, a key church official said.

"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.

As in previous years, most people who made accusations in 2006 said they had been molested decades ago. The majority of the claims concerned cases from 1960 to 1984.

Forty-three percent of the claims involved priests who had not been accused of abuse previously, and most of those accused are either dead, missing or already have been removed from church work or the priesthood, making the new accusations difficult to prove. In dioceses alone, bishops said 11 percent of the 2006 claims could not be proven or were considered to be false.

Only 17 of those who came forward with complaints last year were younger than 18.

The survey of nearly all 195 U.S. dioceses and non-geographic regions called eparchies was conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

An accompanying audit by Gavin Group Inc., a consulting firm led by a former FBI official, checks whether the nation's dioceses are implementing the reforms spelled out in the bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests considers the audits and the survey ineffective because dioceses control what information researchers see. Gavin Group President William Gavin noted in the 2006 report that no personnel files were reviewed, and "the auditors had to rely on the truthfulness and integrity of those furnishing the information."