Beginning in early 2020 as a small group* of concerned fellow parishioners, we began reaching out to the Diocese of Dallas with suggestions on how to update and improve the Diocese’s Safe Environment Program (SEP). We submitted a Recommendations document in May 2020. Highlights include:

• Simplifying and shortening the various SEP documents (currently totaling over 60 pages)  which are focused on legal/liability risk reduction rather than education or preventing abuse

• Requesting that the anonymous members of Bishop Burns’ Diocesan Review Board be identified so that the public can have confidence in the credentials and qualifications of these lay board members.  Many other U.S. Dioceses identify and provide information regarding the backgrounds of the members of their lay review boards:

  • Boston, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Brooklyn, Chicago

• Abuse by members of the clergy can be especially difficult to recognize, report and remedy. Modifying training videos and materials so that examples of abuse – and training on how to recognize and report it -- include cases of abuse by clergy and not just abuse by lay persons.

• Correcting language in the Diocese SEP document (pp 16-17) and Sexual Misconduct Policy (Art. 7) currently implying that the “seal of the Sacrament of Penance” overrides Texas law, which mandates that certain professionals (including social workers, attorneys, medical practitioners and clergy) report suspected abuse or neglect of a child to the authorities, even though their communications may “otherwise be privileged.” See Texas Family Code, Section 261.101(c).

• Updating the definition of prohibited pornographic images in the Diocese Sexual Misconduct Policy to prohibit images of minors older than 14 years of age. Pope Francis made the possession and dissemination of pornographic images of children under the age of 18 a “most grave delict” in December of 2019. Previously, the ban applied only to children under 14. 

• Placing information regarding the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service (CBAR) “hotline” on the Diocese website. The CBAR reporting hotline was approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in June of 2019, and activated in May of 2020.

Although no direct response was received from the Diocese on these proposals, two unannounced modifications were made – (1) the CBAR hotline info was added to the site and (2) the definition of banned pornographic images modified to be consistent with the 2019 prohibition.

*Initially organized as the “TASC Force,” out of which TCAT was independently launched.