As part of Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne’s promise to protect children in the care of organizations within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington and pledge to heal those who have experienced abuse by clergy, a website has been created and will be updated continuously to ensure that the Diocese is transparent about the handling, prevention and response to the sexual abuse of minors. The website can be found at vermontcatholic.org/promise.

The abuses of the past were inexcusable and the pain inflicted upon survivors and their families terrible. These acts were immoral and evil. The Diocese of Burlington is committed to supporting and caring for all survivors of abuse and to making sure this never happens again.

In 2002, the Diocese of Burlington adopted the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ approved Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which requires: mandatory reporting of all abuse allegations to civil authorities; removal of clerics from active ministry; background checks of all priests, staff and volunteers; training to recognize and prevent abuse; and many other proactive steps to ensure the safety of all members of the Church family. To learn more, visit vermontcatholic.org/charter.

Since these new policies have been enacted, there has been only one credible and substantiated allegation against a priest, involving an “at-risk” adult. There are no priests in ministry who have had a credible and substantiated allegation made against them.

“As has been the case for the past 16 years, I, along with the clergy, staff and volunteers of the Diocese, will continue to work to ensure safe environments for all God’s people — especially children, youth and vulnerable people — in which no form of harassment, sexual or otherwise, is tolerated,” Bishop Coyne said.