PROSPECT HEIGHTS — An independent monitor’s first-year review of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s child-protection program has credited the diocese’s efforts to foster a safe environment and recommended enhancements for current processes.
“We invited this oversight because protecting young people and vulnerable persons is a sacred responsibility, and accountability is part of that work,” Bishop Robert Brennan said in a statement. “We are grateful for the monitor’s careful review and equally committed to the improvements suggested.
“Safeguarding our youth is a continuing obligation, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to improving our practices and providing a safe environment.”
The independent monitor was appointed in 2024 as part of an agreement reached with Attorney General Letitia James following her office’s investigation into the diocese’s handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations since 2002, when the nation’s bishops implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
The attorney general’s office began its investigation into all eight New York Catholic Dioceses in 2018. In 2022, James reached a settlement with the Diocese of Buffalo. Investigations into the Archdiocese of New York and the Dioceses of Albany, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Rockville Centre, and Syracuse remain ongoing.
To monitor the Diocese of Brooklyn, as required by the agreement between the two sides, the Attorney General’s Office selected StoneTurn, a global services firm, for a three-year term with a mandate to issue an annual compliance report.
This first report from StoneTurn concluded that in the first year of the monitorship, the diocese has shown a commitment to the mandates of its agreement with the attorney general’s office “and, in certain respects, exceeded the requirements.”
“The Diocese successfully established key oversight roles, updated core policies and maintained a high level of receptivity to the Monitor’s contemporaneous feedback,” the report states. “These actions reflect a genuine effort to foster a safer environment and improve responses to allegations of abuse and improper conduct.”
As part of its review, the report recommended further process improvements for the diocese, including stronger participation in the 2025 Code of Conduct certification and annual compliance training, as well as more consistent documentation in the diocese’s response to allegations. To address these areas, the monitor and the diocese have established protocol enhancements to be implemented.
Through the first monitorship term, which began in April 2024 when the agreement was reached with the Attorney General’s Office, the diocese has received allegations of historic abuse against 11 clergy, which it determined “at least seems to be true,” according to the report.
There is one allegation of present misconduct under review, but it has yet to be determined whether it constitutes abuse or improper conduct. Also, during the period of the first monitorship, the diocese received six code of conduct allegations against clergy involving minors that did not rise to the level of abuse.
Regarding employees and volunteers, the diocese received and addressed six allegations of abuse and 23 allegations of code of conduct violations that did not rise to the level of abuse during the monitoring period.
The diocese is in the process of investigating and addressing one abuse allegation and one improper conduct allegation reported against an employee and a volunteer, respectively.
In year two of the monitorship, according to the report, StoneTurn’s focus will shift from design and implementation of the enhanced policies to testing their effectiveness across the diocese, including in parishes and schools.
While announcing the results of the first monitor’s report, the diocese encouraged anyone who has experienced or is aware of abuse to report it to local law enforcement and to the diocese through its confidential reporting line (888-634-4499), which is immediately turned over to law enforcement.
For information on how the diocese is dealing with clergy sex abuse, visit the website of the Office of Safe Environment and “Protecting our Children” on the Diocese of Brooklyn’s website.