By Lou Baldwin • Special to the CS&T • Posted April 18, 2012

Three new members have been appointed to the Archdiocesan Review Board, the consultative panel that advises the Archbishop of Philadelphia throughout the process of addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors, evaluating clerics’ suitability for ministry, and the continual review of archdiocesan policies and procedures related to these matters.

With the appointment of these new members, Robert L. Sadoff, Bebe Kivitz and Stacey Ginesin, the board has a total of 12 members all appointed for four or five-year renewable terms.

“With their strong leadership skills and unique professional backgrounds, these newly appointed individuals will greatly assist and further guide the Archdiocesan Review Board through these critical review processes,” said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. “I am thankful to all those serving on the Archdiocesan Review Board and am pleased to have such a dedicated and talented group of people, each of whom brings the highest level of expertise, long-standing dedication and passion, working with us through this process.”

Robert L. Sadoff is clinical professor of forensic psychiatry and director of the forensic psychiatry fellowship program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he has taught since 1972. He has examined more than 10,000 individuals charged with crime during the last 50 years and has testified for the prosecution and defense in over 20 states and several federal jurisdictions.

Bebe Kivitz is a former prosecutor and former chief of the Child Abuse Unit in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and currently is an attorney in private practice. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, an organization that collaborates with law enforcement, child welfare and medical professionals and conducts state-of-the-art forensic interviews of child abuse victims.

“My whole professional life has been with issues of abuse,” Kravitz said. “I would not have agreed to be on the board if I did not feel it would be an effective commission. I hope to see further progress and actions that will lead to the termination of abuse and discipline when appropriate. Any action that is a deterrent to abuse is a good one.”

Stacey Ginesin is a current member of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board and the former program director of TAP program, an outpatient sex offender treatment program in Philadelphia. She is a clinical psychologist with nearly 15 years of experience working with sexual offenders in Atlanta, San Francisco and Philadelphia. In addition to her work with offenders, Dr. Ginesin has worked with sexual abuse victims and their families.

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The Archdiocesan Review Board was established in accord with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Essential Norms, and is comprised of psychologists, social workers, educators, retired law enforcement agents, health care professionals, parents and pastors. This group functions as a confidential advisory committee to the Archbishop, providing recommendations in the assessment of allegations of abuse and suitability for ministry.

Through careful analysis of reports, the board works to ensure that individuals who may have been harmed are given necessary care and that no one with a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse will serve as a member of active ministry. All allegations of abuse heard by the Review Board, whether historical or current, are reported to law enforcement by the Delegate for Investigations.

Other members of the board, each of whom is appointed to serve a four-year or five-year term, are Ana Maria Catanzaro, who also serves on the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is an associate professor and chair of graduate nursing programs at Holy Family University; Msgr. Thomas Owens, pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in Maple Glen; Anne Shenberger, executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates/Youth Advocates, Inc.; Michael Boyle, program director at Philadelphia Sexual Assault Response Center; Arnold Gordon, a retired prosecutor who served as First Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia; Janet Shaw Lemoine, former victim advocate who most recently served as director of the Victim/Witness Training and Networking Project; Richmond Parsons, deputy chief of offender dervices in the Montgomery County Adult Probation and Parole Department; Laura Rogers, a former prosecutor in San Diego where she specialized in child homicide and child sexual molestation prosecutions, and Robert Spinelli, a former prosecutor with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and now a partner at the law firm Kelley, Jasons, McGowan, Spinelli, Hanna, & Reber, LLP).

The new members will participate in their first Review Board meeting on April 21.