You recently released the results of the annual audit of the Diocese of Rockville Centre's compliance with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Long Island Voice of the Faithful may disagree with some of the findings of the audit; however, our organization fully supports the Charter.

We believe that for the protection of children it is important that every Catholic is familiar with the articles of the Charter, and LIVOTF has a proven record of supporting the Charter. Both the English and Spanish language versions appeared on our website long before either of these appeared on the diocesan website. We have printed and distributed more than 1200 copies of the Charter and have held more than twenty information sessions about the Charter. But our resources are much smaller than those of the Diocese.

We therefore ask that you, as the Shepherd of this Diocese, follow the lead of Long Island Voice of the Faithful in educating the clergy and the laity. We urge you to have information sessions about the Charter in every parish and diocesan institution. We also request that a printed copy of the Charter be given to every family, and that it be distributed each year in every Catholic school, and in all religious education and youth programs.

When the Charter becomes a document with which all Catholics are familiar, parishioners will have the power to judge for themselves whether the Diocese is compliant and, most importantly, our children will be safer. Because our organization already has experience in educating the laity, we offer our assistance to you in implementing this request.