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Protecting the safety of children and providing support to victims have been top priorities of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to archdiocesan officials. Following the adoption of new protocols in 2003, the archdiocese has conducted criminal background checks on thousands of parish, school and archdiocesan employees. More than 50,000 volunteers who come in contact with young people have also undergone required screenings, and employees and volunteers alike have undergone yearly training in ethics in ministry that includes discussion of protecting children from abuse.

A Senate child sex abuse bill that Catholic leaders said would have crippled the church’s many ministries in Maryland was defeated March 16 on an 8-2 vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Sponsored by Sen. James Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat, Senate Bill 575 would have suspended Maryland’s existing statute of limitations allowing civil lawsuits against the three Catholic dioceses serving Maryland for claims stretching beyond the current seven-year limitation.

Providing avenues for healing to victims of childhood sexual abuse and creating a safe environment for all children entrusted to the Church’s care form the foundation of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s child protection efforts. Senate Bill 575 fails to promote either of these goals. For this reason, and for the reasons stated below, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is opposed to this legislation.

MEXICO CITY – Catholics and civic organizations have launched a campaign against a Mexico City proposal to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. The proposal “has awoken the conscience of civil society in this city,” said Armando Martinez, president of the College of Catholic Lawyers in Mexico City, at a March 18 press conference after Mass in Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral. Martinez said the proposal would violate the Mexican Constitution, and he pledged to file a challenge before the nation’s highest court if it is approved.

ROME – Curiosity about the New Testament figure of Judas and a feeling that his reputation as the worst sinner in history “isn’t fair, isn’t right” led British novelist Jeffrey Archer to attempt a new version of the story. Archer, presenting “The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot” at a March 20 press conference in Rome, said he is a practicing Anglican who wanted his new book to be backed up by solid biblical scholarship. So he convinced Father Francis J. Moloney, provincial of the Salesians in Australia and a former president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, to collaborate.

ROME – Pope Benedict XVI visited a Rome juvenile detention center and told young people that true happiness involves discipline as well as freedom. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors March 18, then met with the 49 young detainees in a gym. Greeting them individually, he gave each one a blessing and a rosary. The young people, including many immigrants and non-Catholics, said they were moved by the fact that a pope would take time to visit them.

WASHINGTON – In a new directory the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate has identified 165 U.S. Catholic communities of consecrated life that have sprung up since 1965. A little more than half of the 152 communities that provided membership information by gender admit only women, CARA said, while 24 percent admit only men and 25 percent have men and women members. Of those 152, in 87 communities all make public vows or promises; in 43, all make private vows or promises; 10 have both vowed and unvowed members; and members do not make vows or promises in 12 communities. In all, the communities in the directory had more than 1,300 full members and several hundred members in formation.

The requirement to participate in a March 15 commencement of a Catholic Charities program was to stay out of prison for two years. But for the 23 graduates of the Baltimore-based Maryland Re-entry Partnership, the ceremony celebrated a new outlook on life. “If you told me three years ago I wouldn’t be back in prison right now, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said John Lightner, 45, of Woodlawn, a graduate who has been in and out of prison since he was 18. “But now, I can’t imagine ever going back.”

Despite last week’s defeat of a bill to ban the death penalty in Maryland, Catholic leaders are encouraged that the abolitionist cause appears to have gathered significant strength after many years of frustrated efforts. Senate Bill 211, which would have replaced the death penalty with prison sentences of life without parole, was killed March 15 in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on a 5-5 vote. The bill needed six votes to go the Senate floor.