PORTLAND – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is in compliance with the provisions of the mandatory policy adopted to prevent sexual abuse of minors by priests, according to a church audit released Tuesday.

The report included one instruction, two recommendations and two commendations given to Maine’s Catholic Bishop Joseph J. Gerry after the audit last summer.

As of Dec. 1, all instructions and recommendations had been addressed, the report stated.

America’s Catholic bishops adopted the reforms measured by the report in June 2002, at the height of the priest sex abuse scandal. The conference hired a Boston firm owned by former FBI official William Gavin to conduct an audit of every diocese in the nation and write the report.

Amid much fanfare, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the report on how well the nation’s 195 dioceses have implemented the provisions of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The press conference that accompanied the report’s release was broadcast live Tuesday morning from Washington on television and over the Internet.

Critics said the study was fundamentally flawed.

The review found that 90 percent of the dioceses were fully complying with the plan, which dictates how guilty priests should be punished and requires bishops to take steps to protect children. Among the 20 considered out of compliance are the archdioceses of New York; Anchorage, Alaska; and Omaha, Neb. Four dioceses were not audited.

Victim advocates said bishops had too much control over how the audit was conducted, so it should be viewed skeptically.

The bishops recommended whom the auditors should interview. According to the report, auditors were unable to view personnel files that would verify whether bishops were complying with the policy’s ban on transferring offenders from one diocese to another.

“This is the bishops grading themselves based on a test they devised,” said Peter Isely of the Midwest chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “I don’t think anyone is going to be too surprised that after years of chronic failure they are now going to tell us they have miraculously become star performers.”

However, Gavin insisted the audits were comprehensive and accurate. Investigators did not view personnel records because of “sensitivity to laws and privacy violations that may occur.” Otherwise, he said, “we had free rein.”

A team from the Gavin group spent four days at the offices of the Maine diocese in Portland in June, according to information released Tuesday. The two-page report on the Portland diocese stated that at the conclusion of the visit, the auditors issued three directions and two statements praising the diocese’s efforts.

They were:

. Instruction – the diocese will provide notification of the location of an “offending priest” who leaves the diocese, even for an extended vacation, to the bishop of the diocese into which the offending priest is temporarily taking up residence.

. Recommendation 1 – That the diocese implement wider distribution of outreach programs and activities to mental health professionals and social service agencies.

. Recommendation 2 – That the diocese warn present and future clerics removed from ministry for sexual abuse of minors that they may not wear clerical garb or present themselves publicly as priests.

. Commendation 1 – For the development of innovative approaches to resolving problems, such as the development of the information outreach team and the crisis response teams. The teams consist of clergy, lay people and professionals from around the state.

. Commendation 2 – For the preparation of a code of ethics and its distribution to all employees and volunteers.

In background information issued Tuesday by the Portland diocese, officials reported that more than 225 sessions have been conducted for church employees and volunteers by 46 trained facilitators statewide.

In Maine, 1,300 criminal background checks mandated by the bishops on clergy, church employees and volunteers who work with children have been completed. That includes 88 percent of all clergy, according to information provided by diocesan Communications Director Sue Bernard.

A second and potentially more important study, also commissioned by the bishops, is scheduled to be released Feb. 27. It will attempt to tally every church abuse case in the country since 1950.

The entire report on charter compliance can be accessed on the Web site for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at www.usccb.org.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.