Syro-Malabar Eparchy of
St. Thomas of Chicago, Illinois
The Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St. Thomas of Chicago, Illinois (“the Eparchy”), which was established in 2001, comprises people of Indian descent, consists of 33 parishes, and serves a population of 65,000 registered Catholics with 22 eparchy priests. The Most Reverend Jacob Angadiath, installed as archbishop in 2001, leads the Eparchy. A compliance audit of the Eparchy was conducted during the period of September 8-10, 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 Eparchy subsequent to the audit will be found in the last paragraph.

Findings

To Promote Healing and Reconciliation
The Eparchy has a prevention policy on sexual abuse of minors that includes an outreach program designed to provide immediate pastoral care to victims/survivors and their families. No incidents of sexual abuse were reported to the Eparchy after June 2002. The Eparchy does have a victim assistance coordinator, Dr. Paul Cherian, a retired psychiatrist. A lay review board was established in 2003, consisting of one priest and eight respected members of the community, including one psychiatrist, three other physicians, and two businessmen. The procedures for making a complaint of abuse had been announced in the Eparchy newspaper but need to be further publicized. A Recommendation was made to suggest further public announcements about the procedures. The Eparchy has entered into no confidentiality agreements since June 2002.

To Guarantee Effective Response to Allegations of Abuse of a Minor
The Eparchy has had no contact with local civil authorities regarding sexual abuse allegations, because no allegations have been reported to the Eparchy since June 2002. The Eparchy does have 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 Eparchy has established a clear and well-publicized code of conduct for priests, deacons, and other adults who have contact with children; however, this policy has not been widely circulated as yet. The Eparchy does not have a communications policy reflecting the bishop’s pledge to be open and transparent on issues regarding the sexual abuse of children. At the time of the audit, the Eparchy had two lay people interested in assuming the role of communications director, and an Instruction was written requiring an appointment to this position and an implementation of a communications policy.

To Ensure Accountability of Procedures
The Eparchy had not participated in the research study regarding the “nature and scope” of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, since they had no incidents to report. This issue was resolved during the audit.

To Protect the Faithful in the Future
The Eparchy was found not to have developed or implemented a series of safe environment seminars for presentation to adults having regular contact with children, as it had limited funds and limited activity involving children. An Instruction was written requiring the Eparchy to contact the diocese in which it had facilities and to arrange, through that diocese, to have the appropriate eparchial personnel trained. As mentioned above, the Eparchy has 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, but the Eparchy needs to publicize these standards better. The Eparchy has not completed background investigations on any members of the clergy or on any diocesan and parish personnel who have regular contact with minors. An Instruction was written to require immediate correction of this situation; it was suggested that the larger diocese in which the Eparchy works might help, where possible, and the Instruction required that an appropriate record-keeping function be established. It was not clear whether the priests who come from India have undergone background checks in India or have been cleared of any wrong doing by their home bishops. The Eparchy has not transferred any priests or deacons who have had credible allegations of sexual abuse lodged against them to any other eparchy for ministerial assignment or residence since June 2002. The archbishop and the major superiors of any orders having a presence in the Eparchy have not coordinated their respective roles regarding issues of allegations of sexual abuse made against a cleric member of a religious institute. The Eparchy 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 Eparchy has not established screening and evaluative techniques in the selection of candidates for ordination, as there have been no candidates for ordination. Ongoing formation programs have not been initiated to date. An Instruction was written requiring the appointment of a formation coordinator and the implementation of a formation program.

Compliance with the Provisions of the Charter

At the conclusion of this audit, the Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St. Thomas of Chicago, Illinois, was issued four Instructions and one Recommendation.

INSTRUCTION 1—The Eparchy should implement a communications policy.

INSTRUCTION 2—The Eparchy should implement a safe environment training program.

INSTRUCTION 3—The Eparchy should implement a background evaluation program and establish a central filing system for these records. The Eparchy should also determine whether criminal record checks have been conducted on the priests coming from India.

INSTRUCTION 4—The Eparchy should appoint a formation coordinator and implement a formation program.

RECOMMENDATION—That the Eparchy make readily available, in printed form, the procedures for making a complaint of sexual abuse of a minor, and that the Eparchy publicize the name of the victim assistance coordinator.

As of December 1, 2003, neither the Instructions nor the Recommendation had been addressed. The Syro-Malabar Eparchy of St. Thomas in Chicago, Illinois, is compliant with the Charter as measured by the process described in Chapter 2 in Section I, with the exception of Articles 2, 7, 12, and 13.


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