Diocese of
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The Diocese of Colorado Springs (“the Diocese”), which was established in 1984, encompasses 10 counties in east-central Colorado. It consists of 42 parishes and missions and four elementary schools, and it serves a population of about 125,000 registered Catholics with 28 deacons and 242 diocesan priests. The Most Reverend Michael J. Sheridan, who was installed as bishop in 2003, leads the Diocese. A compliance audit of the Diocese was conducted during the period of October 6-10, 2003.

The information presented below represents conditions as they were found to exist during the week of the audit. Information regarding necessary corrective actions taken by the Diocese subsequent to the audit will be found in the last paragraph.

Findings

To Promote Healing and Reconciliation
The Diocese has had a policy for dealing with the sexual abuse of minors since 1991; it provides for an outreach program designed to provide immediate pastoral care to victims/survivors and their families. This policy has been revised five times. The bishop has met with victims/survivors of sexual abuse. The Diocese has a victim assistance coordinator, Barbara Mahoney, a registered nurse with a specialty in clinical psychiatric nursing and a master’s degree in counseling. The sexual misconduct board was established in 2003, consisting of five respected members of the community, including a mental health professional, a retired federal investigator, and a priest. The procedures for making a complaint of abuse are readily available in printed form. The Diocese has entered into no confidentiality agreements since June 2002.

To Guarantee Effective Response to Allegations of Abuse of a Minor
The Diocese has had limited contact with local civil authorities regarding sexual abuse allegations, because no allegations have been reported to the Diocese since June 2002. Diocesan policy, however, provides for immediate reporting of allegations to the appropriate authorities and full cooperation with these authorities. The Diocese has a procedure for advising victims/survivors of their right to report allegations of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy to civil authorities. The Diocese has established a clear and well-publicized code of conduct for priests and deacons. The Diocese has a communications policy reflecting the bishop’s pledge to be open and transparent on issues regarding the sexual abuse of children.

To Ensure Accountability of Procedures
The Diocese has participated in the research study regarding the “nature and scope” of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

To Protect the Faithful in the Future
The Diocese has developed a series of safe environment seminars for presentation to adults having regular contact with children; however, the training of volunteers is delegated to the local parishes or schools. The children of the Diocese receive safe environment training through the public/parochial school systems. Additional training requirements are being reviewed. A Recommendation was written to ensure that all volunteers who have contact with children receive training as soon as possible. As mentioned above, the Diocese has publicized standards of conduct for priests and deacons, as well as diocesan employees, volunteers, and any other church personnel in positions of trust who have regular contact with children and young people. The Diocese has a policy in place to complete background investigations on all members of the clergy, but only about 12 percent had been completed at the time of the audit. A Recommendation was written to have the Diocese complete the background evaluations as soon as possible. The Diocese has not transferred any priests or deacons who have had credible allegations of sexual abuse lodged against them to any other diocese for ministerial assignment or residence since June 2002. However, a priest whose faculties had been removed prior to June 2002 was determined to be living outside of the diocese; an Instruction was issued requiring the immediate notification of the appropriate bishop of the priest’s current residency. The previous bishop and the major superiors of orders having a presence in the Diocese had coordinated their respective roles regarding issues of allegations of sexual abuse made against a clerical member of a religious institute. The Diocese has not had an opportunity to cooperate with other churches, religious bodies, and institutions of learning in conducting research in the area of sexual abuse of minors. The Diocese has established screening and evaluative techniques in the selection of candidates for ordination and formation programs for priests.

Compliance with the Provisions of the Charter

At the conclusion of this audit, the Diocese of Colorado Springs was issued one Instruction and two Recommendations.

INSTRUCTION—The bishop of Colorado Springs will immediate notify the bishop of the diocese where an offending priest is now residing of the priest’s location and background.

RECOMMENDATION 1—That the Diocese ensure that all volunteers who have regular contact with children receive the safe environment training as soon as possible, and that the Diocese maintain appropriate records of the receipt of training.

RECOMMENDATION 2—That the Diocese complete the background evaluations of all relevant personnel as soon as possible and maintain accurate records of the evaluations.

As of December 1, 2003, the Instruction and Recommendation 2 had been addressed. With regard to Recommendation 1, the Diocese has established a schedule for the implementation of safe environment training, to be completed by February 2004. Scheduled training for volunteers remains to be completed. The Diocese of Colorado Springs is compliant with the provisions of Charter, as measured by the process described in Chapter 2 in Section I.


The compliance audit measured activity that has occurred since the adoption of the Charter in June 2002 with the exception of certain mandated actions found in Articles 5 and 14. Actions taken by the diocese/eparchy prior to June 2002 to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests and deacons are not included in this summary report.




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Office of Child and Youth Protection
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194
(202) 541-5413 | FAX: (202) 541-5410
Email: ocyp@usccb.org