Tracking Violations of Article 3 of the Dallas Charter

This is a public call for all US-based victims/survivors who have signed any kind of agreement with the Catholic Church. If you have signed an agreement as part of a settlement or compensation program in the past, read below to learn more about the Silenced No More initiative and how you can help us hold the USCCB accountable.

Quick summary of the problem:

We are gathering information for an investigative report. Article 3 of the Dallas Charter says that victims are NOT to be silenced by the church, unless the victim requests the silencing. However, since 2002, many dioceses/epiarchies/religious orders have continued to allow non-disclosure agreements, non-disparaging agreements or other silencing language to be included in settlement against victim's wishes. This is a blatant violation of the Dallas Charter but it has not been detected or corrected in 18 years of USCCB audits of the dioceses/eparchies.