By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Burleigh

The national panel that monitors the Roman Catholic Church's new sexual abuse policy will meet in Greater Cincinnati today.

The 13-member National Review Board was appointed by the nation's bishops earlier this year to oversee implementation of the church's new sex-abuse policies.

The board, which is made up of prominent lay Catholics, is expected to issue several reports on the abuse issue during the next few years, including recommendations on how church officials can better protect children from abusive priests.

The board also will issue annual reports on how well dioceses are complying with the new sex-abuse policies.

Today's meeting, which is closed to the public, is the fifth the board has held in various cities since beginning work this summer.

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"We're getting a much better idea of the problem, and the scope of the problem," said William Burleigh, a board member and the former chief executive officer of E.W. Scripps Co. "There's an awful lot of work going on."

Mr. Burleigh would not give details about the group's findings to date, and he would not disclose the location of today's meeting or say why they are meeting in Greater Cincinnati.

He said the board has identified several issues, and that one goal is to research the "causes and effects" of the abuse scandals discovered across the nation this year. Another is to produce a statistical analysis measuring the extent of the abuse problem.

So far, the board has met with priests, abuse victims, lawyers and sexual-abuse experts in an effort to learn more about the problem.

The board's membership includes Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta.

Board members are not expected to meet with church officials while they are in Greater Cincinnati.

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com