USCCB Reports Decline in Abuse Allegations Against Catholic Clergy

Since last year, there has been a 32% decline in U.S. child abuse allegations against Catholic cler-gy, according to the 2024 annual report of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Se-cretariat of Child and Youth Protection. Overall, “902 allega-tions were reported by 855 victims-survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy,” the report said, compared with 1,308 allegations by 1,254 survivors last year.
Covering July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, the annual report is based on a survey of 195 U.S. Catholic dioceses and eparchies, drawn from data collected by the Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University as well as an audit by StoneBridge Business Partners.
The annual reporting stems from the U.S. bishops’ 2002 creation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which established a framework and protocols related to allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.
StoneBridge also pointed out several cases of noncompliance by jurisdictions and entities that are in violation of the articles established in the 2018 revision of the youth protection charter.
“Measuring charter complia-nce allows each diocese/eparchy to assess strengths and weaknesses and identify programmatic areas requiring improvement, which are critical in our mission of prote-cting our children,” the report said. The report restated the Catholic Church’s commitment “to work to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults by performing background checks on clergy, employees, and volun-teers, and providing training on how to identify and report abuse signs.”
“For the U.S. Church and as articulated in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, this commitment tran-slates into a zero-tolerance policy toward abuse,” the USCCB report reads. Abuse allegations have shown a steady decline since 2020, averaging a 30% decrease annua-lly, according to data accumu-lated over the past five years.