The archdiocese has paid a total of over $67 million to 338 victim-survivors since launching the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) in 2016.
Jones recommended that the archdiocese hire a full-time employee to oversee its response to sexual abuse complaints, as well as annual safe environment training for all employees working with children.
She noted that the Archdiocese's Office of Priest Personnel has protocols that require any priest from outside the archdiocese who wants to minister in New York, on a short-term or long-term basis, to provide a certification from his home diocese or religious order that he has never been credibly accused of sexual abuse.
A New York Archdiocese priest must present a similar certification if he wishes to minister in another diocese, she reported.
"These protocols are sound but are hindered by a paper filing system that can be susceptible to mistakes," she said, suggesting a digitizing of all priest personnel files, which she said the archdiocese has already purchased and plans to implement next month.
"The Office could perform its functions more effectively with better technology," she said, adding that she recommends hiring a compliance officer for the office to monitor its functions and oversee the new electronic management system.
Jones made a similar recommendation for the Archdiocese's Safe Environment Office, which promulgates the code of conduct for adults interacting with children in archdiocesan institutions and monitors "more than 30,000 employees and volunteers," conducting criminal background checks and training before any employee or volunteer can begin working with children.
She said in addition to updating that office's technology- including the creation of a database to monitor adults who want to work with children in the archdiocese- more cooperation from parishes and programs is also needed to maintain up-to-date information and track compliance.
Jones also recommended that the archdiocese's Memoranda of Understanding with the 10 New York-area District Attorneys be updated to include "a reporting protocol for allegations of sexual abuse of non-consenting adults, as well as for allegations of sexual abuse committed by employees and volunteers."