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June 5, 2020

Director of safe environment office assesses goals, changes in his first year

REGIONAL
By Sharon Roulier

Jeffrey Trant speaks to reporters during a June 2019 press conference during which he was introduced as the director of the Springfield Diocese’s Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance. (iObserve file photo/Rebecca Drake)

 

 

SPRINGFIELD — June 18 will mark one year since Jeffrey Trant was named director of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance for the Diocese of Springfield.

During the last year, he has been working to “create meaningful change to address the immediate issues that are facing the diocese” while developing steps to appropriately address “community level trauma,” Trant said in an interview with Catholic Communications June 2.

Trant’s appointment came following Pope Francis’ issue earlier last year of new protection guidelines for the Catholic Church worldwide.

Among his early goals was to revamp the investigative services for the diocese, which included developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the district attorneys of western Massachusetts, setting a framework for how the diocese would report allegations of abuse to law enforcement, he said.

“Sexual abuse of a child or a vulnerable person is a crime and first and foremost it’s the diocese’s responsibility to make sure that we get that information to law enforcement so the information can be assessed in accordance with law,” said Trant.

In addition to reporting all allegations to law enforcement, the diocese also hired a panel of investigators to address matters related to canon law.

“It’s important that we assess and investigate a case because there are actions that the church may have to take to address a member of the clergy,” Trant said.

“So, really, the new investigative process develops a standardized framework to ensure that criminal authorities get information in a timely manner so that they can act. And then when it’s appropriate for the diocese to do our work, that’s where our new panel of investigators who implement investigative best practices will come in,” he added.

Trant noted that over the last year, the diocese has received 14 allegations of sexual abuse, 10 of which are against a minor/child and four against a vulnerable adult. Of these reports, four involved independent religious orders and two allegations involved a cleric from another diocese.

Jeffrey Trant is interviewed by a reporter during a June 2019 press conference at the Bishop Joseph Maguire Pastoral Center in Springfield. (iObserve file photo/Rebecca Drake)

Currently, there are three priests from the diocese who are temporarily removed from public ministry as a result of an allegation, he acknowledged. All three are at various stages of investigation and, as of now, there has not been a finding in any of them.

In mid-July 2019, the diocese also announced that retired Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis would explore and investigate allegations of misconduct made against the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon dating back to the early 1960s.

The decision to engage the services of Judge Velis came after it was determined that the recently promulgated Vatican procedures for handling allegations of misconduct against bishops would likely not apply to deceased bishops.

“Judge Velis presently is conducting an investigation that first assesses the credibility of the allegation against Bishop Weldon and, in addition to that, he’s answering the question: How has the Diocese of Springfield handled this matter since the first day that we were aware of it and what are the opportunities for improvement?” said Trant.

He said when the diocese receives the Velis report it will be released to the public.

Last month, Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski announced the creation of a 10-member special independent task force in response to sexual abuse within the diocese. The task force is being chaired by retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Daniel Ford and vice chaired by Irene Woods, founding executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Franklin County and the North Quabbin. Trask said the primary focus of the task force is to develop a strategic plan or method in seeking additional information in alleged abuse cases.

“I think that’s really our greatest strength is to be able to go out and to engage the community, the additional survivors, family members, members of the clergy, other members of the diocesan community, as well as the community at large, to be able to understand what’s working well as well as what are needed changes,” he said. “And so the task force is really charged with engaging in that broader strategic planning process, to be a bridge to move us from the information and the data that Judge Velis uncovers in his investigation, and then move us to action through a strategic planning process.”

Trant agreed that there is a large wound that the Catholic Church will need to deal with for some time to come, requiring the church to “become a trauma-informed church.”

“That means that we become transparent. It means that we create a safe space for all people. And it means that we start to move towards helping our entire community recover,” he said.

The complete Catholic Communications interview with Jeffrey Trant will be featured on the June 6 edition of “Real to Reel,” which airs Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. on WWLP-22 NEWS and in the Berkshires Sunday mornings at 5:30 on Albany’s Fox 23, WXXA.

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