3 new members appointed to National Review Board

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops named three new members, all lawyers, to the National Review Board on Child and Youth Protection.

The appointees are:

• Donald Wheeler from the Diocese of Arlington, Va., worked for 30 years in various federal law enforcement and investigative positions with the U.S. Department of Labor and the General Accountability Office (GAO). He is a senior investigator with the law firm of Hunton & Williams, LLP.
• D. Jean Ortegao-Piron from the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., is retired from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. An attorney, she has worked in the Office of Special Counsel for Child Welfare Services for the Governor of Illinois.
• Howard Healy of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wis., is a partner at the Di Renzo and Bomier Law Firm and served in the U.S. Army Reserve as an officer in the Judge Advocate General Corp.

The appointments were made by USCCB President Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, who expressed his gratitude to the three new members, saying, “None of us has a more important responsibility than protecting children.” The review board was established by the bishops in 2002, in the wake of new revelations of widespread sexual abuse of children by clergy. It’s role is to collaborate with the conference in preventing sexual abuse of minors by priests and others who work for the church.