Hundreds of credibly accused clergy left off US Catholic Church's sex abuse lists, analysis finds
Claudia Lauer and Meghan Hoyer, Associated Press
Richard J. Poster served time for possessing child pornography, violated his probation by having contact with children, admitted masturbating in the bushes near a church school and in 2005 was put on a sex offender registry.
And yet the former Catholic priest, who served in the Davenport diocese, was only just this month added to a list of clergy members credibly accused of child sexual abuse — after The Associated Press asked why he was not included.
Victim advocates have long criticized the Roman Catholic Church for not making public the names of credibly accused priests. Now, despite dioceses' release of nearly 5,300 names, most in the past two years, critics say the lists still are far from complete.
An AP analysis found the names of more than 900 clergy members accused of child sexual abuse were missing from lists released by the dioceses and religious orders where they served.
This undated photo obtained from the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services in December 2019 shows Richard J. Poster. Poster served time for possessing child pornography, violated his probation by having contact with children, admitted masturbating in the bushes near a church school and in 2005 was put on a sex offender registry. And yet the former Catholic priest was only just in December 2019 added to a list of clergy members credibly accused of child sexual abuse -- after The Associated Press asked why he was not included. (Photo: AP)
The AP reached that number by matching the public diocesan lists against a database of accused priests tracked by the group
BishopAccountability.org and then scouring bankruptcy documents, lawsuits, settlement information, grand jury reports and media accounts.
More than a hundred of the former clergy members not listed by dioceses or religious orders had been charged with sexual crimes, including rape, solicitation and receiving or viewing child pornography.
On top of that, the AP found another nearly 400 priests and clergy members were accused of abuse while serving in dioceses that have not yet released any names.
"No one should think, 'Oh, the bishops are releasing their lists; there's nothing left to do,'" said Terence McKiernan, co-founder of BishopAccountability.org, which has been tracking the abuse crisis and cataloging accused priests for almost two decades, thus accumulating a database of thousands of priests.
"There are a lot of holes in these lists," he said. "There's still a lot to do to get to actual, true transparency."
Church officials say that absent an admission of guilt, they have to weigh releasing a name against harming the reputation of priests who may have been falsely accused. By naming accused priests, they note, they also open themselves to lawsuits from those who maintain their innocence.
Earlier this month, former priest John Tormey sued the Providence, Rhode Island, diocese, saying his reputation was irreparably harmed by his inclusion on the diocese's credibly accused list. After the list was made public, he said he was asked to retire by the community college where he had worked for more than a decade.
Some entire categories omitted from lists
Some dioceses have excluded entire classes of clergy members from their lists — priests in religious orders, deceased priests who had only one allegation against them, priests ordained in foreign countries and, sometimes, deacons or seminarians ousted before they were ordained.
Others, like Poster, were excluded because of technicalities.
Poster's name was not included when the Davenport diocese issued its first list of two dozen credibly accused priests in 2008. The diocese said his crime of possessing more than 270 videos and images of child pornography on his work laptop was not originally a qualifying offense in the church's landmark charter on child abuse because there wasn't a direct victim.
After he was released from prison, the diocese found Poster a job as a maintenance man at its office, but he was fired less than a year later after admitting to masturbating in the bushes on the property, which abuts a Catholic high school. Still, the diocese did not list him.
Poster went on to violate the terms of his probation, admitting he had contact with minors at a bookstore and near an elementary school, federal court records unsealed at the AP's request show. A judge sent him back to jail for two months and imposed several other monitoring conditions.
Child pornography was added to the church's child abuse charter in 2011 and, though the diocese promised it would update its list of perpetrators as required under a court-approved bankruptcy plan, it never included Poster.
"It was an oversight," diocese spokesman Deacon David Montgomery told the AP. He said the public had been kept informed about the case through press releases issued from Poster's arrest until his removal from the priesthood in 2007.
Poster, now 54, lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, near a school and two parks. He hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing for more than a decade and declined to comment when reached by the AP, saying he preferred to stay out of the spotlight.
Of the 900 unlisted accused clergy members, more than a tenth had been charged with a sex-related crime — a higher percentage than those named publicly by dioceses and orders, the AP found.
Dioceses varied widely in what they considered a credible accusation. Like Poster, some of the priests criminally charged with child pornography weren't listed because some dioceses said a victim needed to report a complaint.
Other dioceses excluded cases deemed not credible by a board of lay church people, or those in which the clergy members in question had died and thus were unable to defend themselves.
"If your goal is protecting kids and healing victims, your lists will be as broad and detailed as possible. If your goal is protecting your reputation and institution, it will be narrow and vague. And that's the choice most bishops are making," said David Clohessy, the former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who now heads the group's St. Louis chapter.
Common exception: Priests in religious orders
The largest exceptions were made for the nearly 400 priests in religious orders who, while they serve in diocesan schools and parishes, don't report to the bishops.
Richard J. McCormick, a Salesian priest who worked at parishes, schools and religious camps in dioceses in Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Indiana and Louisiana, has been accused of molesting or having inappropriate contact with children from three states. In 2009, his order settled the first three civil claims against him. Yet he does not appear on any list of credibly accused clergy members.
McCormick finally faced criminal charges after one of his victims spotted the priest's name on a very different list — one posted in 2011 by a Boston lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who represents church sexual abuse victims.
Thirty years had gone by, but Joey Covino said he immediately recognized a photo of McCormick as the priest who had molested him over two summers at a Salesian camp, a woodsy retreat for underprivileged boys in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Covino's boyhood had revolved around church, where he served as an altar boy, played in a Catholic Little League and where his mother — raising four children on her own — gratefully accepted assistance from friendly priests.
When she sent Covino and his brothers back to the free camp for a second year, "I was petrified — petrified — and I couldn't say anything. I couldn't even ask my brothers to see if it had happened to them," said Covino, now 49 and a police officer in Revere, Massachusetts. "I've always told myself I should have done something. I should have fought back."
Guilt is often associated with child sex abuse. But pedophiles are experts a picking children who are not likely to fight back.
Covino said the entirety of his adult life had been altered by McCormick's abuse — failed relationships, his decisions to join the military and later the police, nightmares that plagued him. His decision to come forward led to McCormick being convicted of rape in 2014 and sentenced to up to 10 years. The priest since has pleaded guilty to assaulting another boy.
The Salesians, based in New Rochelle, New York, have never posted a list of credibly accused priests. "Our men who have been credibly accused and have had accusations have been listed in the various dioceses that we serve," said Father Steve Ryan, vice provincial of the order.
But when Boston posted its list in 2011, Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley wrote that he was not including priests from religious orders or visiting clerics because the diocese "does not determine the outcome in such cases; that is the responsibility of the priest's order or diocese."
O'Malley since has called on religious orders to post their own lists, spokesman Terry Donilon said.
In this Sunday, March 10, 2013 photo, U.S. Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley arrives to the Santa Maria alla Vittoria church in Rome to celebrate Mass. When Boston posted its list of credibly accused priests in 2011, Archbishop O’Malley wrote that he was not including priests from religious orders or visiting clerics because the diocese “does not determine the outcome in such cases; that is the responsibility of the priest's order or diocese.
(Photo: Domenico Stinellis, AP)
The AP found the Boston archdiocese has the most accused priests left off its list, with almost 80 not included. Nearly three-quarters, like McCormick, were priests from religious orders. Another dozen died before allegations were received — another exclusion cited by the archdiocese.
McCormick also is not on the New York archdiocese's list or lists posted by the Archdiocese of Gary, Indiana, and the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida — both places where he faced accusations. The archdiocese in New Orleans, where McCormick served in 1991, added his name to its list of credibly accused priests only after an inquiry from the AP.
Priests named on any list were excluded from the AP's undercount analysis, even if they were not named on lists in the other dioceses where they served. Because the AP counted only priests left off all lists, critics say the number of 900 unnamed priests represents just a tiny portion of the true scope of the underreporting problem.
Some exclusions tied to review board rulings
Other priests excluded from the credibly accused lists were left off because of findings from the diocesan investigations process.
Review boards — independent panels in each diocese staffed with lay people to review allegations of abuse — make the initial recommendation on whether an allegation is credible. The standards those boards use to investigate claims and the process itself often is so shrouded from public view that some victims say they weren't allowed to attend when their allegations were discussed.
Dozens of priests whose accusers received payouts or legal settlements were left off credibly accused lists because review boards deemed the accusations not substantiated or because bishops or even the Vatican later overturned the board's findings on appeal. The standards for Vatican appeals are even more secretive.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro told the AP that he had to fight church leaders to release a groundbreaking 2018 grand jury report that named more than 300 predator priests and cataloged clergy abuse over seven decades in six of the state's dioceses, not including Philadelphia.
Several bishops played a direct role in covering up the abuse in Pennsylvania, Shapiro said. "You can't put much stock in the lists that the church voluntarily provides because they cannot be trusted to police themselves," he said.
In Buffalo, New York, Bishop Richard Malone resigned under pressure earlier this month after his executive assistant leaked internal church documents to a reporter after becoming concerned the bishop had intentionally omitted dozens of names from its list of credibly accused priests.
Buffalo's list has more than doubled to 105 clergy members since those documents were released. Still, the AP found nearly three-dozen accused priests who remain unnamed by the diocese.
In this Feb. 13, 2013 photo, Bishop Richard Malone speaks to Catholics on Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo, N.Y. In December 2019, Malone resigned under pressure after his executive assistant leaked internal church documents to a reporter after becoming concerned the bishop had intentionally omitted dozens of names from its list of credibly accused priests. (Photo: David Duprey, AP)
The number of new claims being reported to law enforcement and church officials over the last two years has increased, spurred in part by revelations of abuse from high-ranking church officials such as former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and by the Pennsylvania grand jury report and the more than 20 other state investigations launched in its wake.
Victims and advocates say the church should be transparent about investigations when allegations are received, arguing that trust in the church can be restored only if bishops are completely forthcoming.
Several dioceses have chosen to include priests under investigation on their lists, removing them if the allegations are determined to be unsubstantiated, but many others do not disclose investigations or include those names.
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Pennsylvania dioceses offer $84M to
564 clergy sex abuse victims
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2015 file photo, clouds are lit by the rising sun over St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses have paid nearly $84 million to 564 victims of sexual abuse, a tally that’s sure to grow substantially in 2020 as compensation fund administrators work through a backlog of claims, according to an Associated Press review. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses have paid nearly $84 million to 564 victims of sexual abuse, a tally that’s sure to grow substantially in the new year as compensation fund administrators work through a backlog of claims, according to an Associated Press review.
Seven of the state’s eight dioceses launched victim compensation funds in the wake of a landmark grand jury report on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. The funds were open to claims for a limited time this year. They are independently administered, though each diocese set its own rules on eligibility.
To date, the average payout across all seven dioceses has exceeded $148,000 — a fraction of what some adult victims of childhood abuse might have expected from a jury had they been permitted to take their claims to court. Under state law, victims of past abuse only have until age 30 to sue.
“These are all time-barred claims, so it’s not going to be the kind of numbers one sees in a courtroom,” said Camille Biros, who helps administer compensation funds for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and dioceses in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie and Scranton.
Lawmakers recently agreed to begin the lengthy process of amending the state constitution to allow a two-year window for civil suits otherwise barred by the statute of limitations, but there’s no guarantee that effort will bear fruit.
For sure, Catholics, the Boy Scouts, and their insurers will fight this all the way.
Childhood abuse victim David Zernhelt was unwilling to gamble that state lawmakers will follow through and give people like him access to the courts. Compensation fund administrators for the Diocese of Allentown recently offered $400,000 to Zernhelt, and he accepted it.
“It doesn’t make me rich,” said Zernhelt, 45, of Easton. “It creates a positive starting point for me. I can try to make my life a little bit better and put this behind me.”
The AP does not typically name victims of sexual abuse, but Zernhelt agreed to be identified.
Together, Allentown and the four other dioceses that hired Biros and veteran claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg to run their funds have received more than 1,500 claims, of which about 500 have been reviewed. Of those, 41 claims were rejected for lack of evidence or because they didn’t meet eligibility criteria, as some dioceses bar claims against religious order clergy, Catholic school officials and other lay leaders.
Another 391 victims accepted financial settlements.
“We try to be consistent with the claims in terms of the nature of the abuse, how long it went on, the age of the child, the effect of the abuse. We consider all that and use our judgement to determine the settlement offer,” Biros said. “We want to make sure everybody is treated as consistently as possible.”
She said a torrent of claims arrived in the week leading up to a Sept. 30 deadline. Biros expects it will take at least through June, and probably longer, to work through the backlog.
The dioceses agreed to pay victims after the grand jury concluded that more than 300 predator priests had molested more than 1,000 children since the 1940s — and that church leaders systematically covered it up.
Zernhelt applied to the compensation program and told the fund administrator a horrific story of abuse.
He said the Rev. Thomas Kerestus assaulted him two to four times a week for five years beginning when Zernhelt was 13. Zernhelt said that he and his family reported Kerestus — who died in 2014 and is named in the grand jury report — but that the diocese swept it under the rug. He said he was sexually abused by a second man, Gerald Royer, a defrocked priest also named in the report.
“It caused a lot of emotional pain, a lot of depression, a lot of PTSD,” Zernhelt said. “I felt like I was a survivor on the Titanic who was crying out for help for that boat to rescue me, and in the end the boat never came.”
The settlement represents a chance at a fresh start, but Zernhelt said the compensation funds also allow the dioceses to get off easy.
“I feel that it’s a shield for the church to get a discount on paying the victims,” he said.
Indeed, average payouts vary widely from diocese to diocese. While the five dioceses whose funds are administered by Biros and Feinberg have averaged nearly $169,000, two other Pennsylvania dioceses have paid much less. Greensburg has paid about $82,000 per victim, while Harrisburg has paid about $114,000, according to data supplied by the dioceses. The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has no compensation fund, saying it can’t afford one after spending $15.7 million on an earlier program to assist clergy abuse victims.
Richard Serbin, an attorney who has long battled the Catholic Church on behalf of victims, has taken the compensation funds to task for another reason: They allow the church to avoid open court and thus a case-by-case public airing of its dirty laundry.
But some of his clients have accepted the church’s offer.
“Some did it because they want to try to move forward and are looking to heal, and they feel this will be of assistance, and for those clients I do think it’s good, and I recommend they take it,” he said. Others, he said, “are in desperate financial situations, and they needed the money.”
REVENGE KILLING ‘Abused’ teen boy, ‘kills paedophile priest by ramming a CRUCIFIX down his throat’
Mark Hodge
A TEEN has been arrested for allegedly torturing and killing a suspected paedo Catholic priest by ramming a crucifix down his throat.
The suspect, 19, was allegedly abused by Roger Matassoli, 91, as was his father before him in Agnetz, France, north of Paris.
Roger Matassoli, who is suspected of sexually abusing dozens of youngsters, was allegedly murdered by one of his victims in northern FranceCredit: Central European News
The teen has been arrested and remanded in custody on charges of aggravated murder, acts of torture, and for resisting arrest.
He is suspected of having murdered the alleged sex offender on November 4 by torturing him before asphyxiating him with a crucifix.
He allegedly rammed the cross down the suspected paedo's throat, according to local media,
Alexandre was first arrested on the day of the murder while driving the victim's car but
he was taken to hospital on psychiatric grounds.
He was formally charged yesterday, the prosecution in the town of Senlis has announced.
KILLED WITH A CROSS
Catholic priest Roger Matassoli was found dead with a crucifix rammed down his throat and signs of torture on his corpse after being accused of sexually abusing at least four boys over four decades – between 1960 and 2000.
But he is alleged to have abused dozens of young victims.
The suspect was employed by the victim as a housekeeper while his father was allegedly abused by the priest as a child as well.
The dad reportedly said his own father - the alleged murderer's grandfather - had killed himself upon learning of the abuse.
He also said the alleged abuse had led his own son to attempt suicide, it has been reported.
Stephane said:
"This man has shattered a whole family." - No kidding, 3 generations destroyed!
Police believe that the murder was an act of revenge, according to local media.
The teen suspect has reportedly told cops he cannot remember committing the gruesome murder.
It somehow seems like poetic justice, a paedophile priest choking on the Cross. But his real justice is being meted out now.
Diocese of Providence challenges RI
statute of limitations expansion
.
Rhode Island Capitol. Credit: cleanfotos / Shutterstock.
Providence, R.I. (CNA).- The Diocese of Providence has challenged a new Rhode Island law that greatly expands the time window for filing childhood sexual abuse lawsuits.
In July, a bill was signed into law by Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) extending the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse cases from seven to 35 years in Rhode Island. The 35-year window would commence from the victim’s 18th birthday. The law also includes a “seven year discovery” provision allowing victims to file lawsuits up to seven years after they have re-discovered childhood abuse as an adult, such as through therapy sessions.
Several months later,
in September, a lawsuit was filed by Philip Edwardo against the Diocese of Providence alleging that he was abused by a diocesan priest, Phillip Magaldi, hundreds of times in the 1970s and 1980s.
According to the Providence Journal,
lawyers for the diocese have argued that the extension of the statute of limitations is invalid as previous abuse cases had already expired under the old law.
According to state court public records, Edwardo’s complaint was filed on September 30 and a memorandum in support of motion to dismiss the case was filed on December 19. A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for April 15, 2020.
The diocese did not initially respond to CNA’s request for comment on Tuesday.
The complaint named Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, previous Bishop Louis Gelineau, the diocese, and St. Anthony’s parish in Providence as defendants. Magaldi was pastor of St. Anthony’s at the time Edwardo said he was abused.
Magaldi is named on the diocese’s list of credibly accused priests; according to the diocese,
he was stationed at St. Anthony’s parish in Providence from 1976 to 1988, and then served in San Antonio, Texas, and the diocese of Fort Worth before he was removed from ministry in May of 1992. He died in 2008.
Rhode Island is one of seven states to have extended the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases. Eight states have instituted “look back” windows on cases of sexual abuse, allowing victims to file lawsuits long after the state statute of limitations had expired.
According to Edwardo’s complaint, he alleged that Fr. Magaldi groomed him and then sexually assaulted him at St. Anthony’s while he was a child parishioner and altar boy.
Edwardo would serve Masses at the parish on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. Magaldi let him stay overnight at the rectory in a spare bedroom, as a retreat from a “difficult” situation at home, the complaint alleged.
On a trip to a nearby spa, Magaldi first allegedly assaulted Edwardo in 1979 when he was 12 years old, and then began plying him with alcohol and abusing him in subsequent encounters. Edwardo said he was abused by Magaldi “between 100 and 300 times” from the ages of 12 and 17, during the years 1979 to 1983.
When he finally told Magaldi he would no longer tolerate the abuse, Magaldi lied to Edwardo’s father that he had been stealing from the church, and Edwardo reluctantly went along with the lie, the complaint said.
Edwardo said he did not publicly speak about the abuse until 2007 in marriage counseling; he said he also went to the diocese with the allegations at that time.
Uncovering sexual abuse by priests slow in Japan
TOKYO
(Jiji Press) —
Although cases of sexual abuse against children by Catholic Church priests have been exposed across the globe, work to shed light on such wrongdoing has yet to make progress in Japan, with the domestic authorities being reluctant to share information with third parties.
In June 2019, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan started a nationwide investigation into such cases. Many, however, have criticized the conference’s practice of not letting any third parties join its survey. It is unclear whether the survey will successfully bring the real situation to light.
It really hasn't anywhere else, only a glimpse of the real horror.
“The conference is reluctant to face the issue of sexual abuse,” said
Katsumi Takenaka, 63, the only person in Japan claiming he suffered sexual abuse and disclosed his name.
When Takenaka was in his early teens and living in an orphanage in Tokyo, a German priest called him to come and see him on a daily basis and touched the lower half of his body. The priest has since passed away.
At that time, Takenaka did not recognize the priest’s actions as sexual abuse.
“Growing up without knowing love from parents, I even felt warmth [from the priest’s actions],” he said.
Takenaka had forgotten the shocking incident for a long time, but
had a flashback about the abuse at the age of 34, in 1991, when he was bathing his 1-year-old child.
Since then, he has suffered aftereffects, including suddenly shouting and thinking about killing himself.
“Keeping silent is unforgivable, leading to the protection of abusers,” Takenaka said.
In 2018, after his retirement from work, Takenaka publicly announced his experience of being abused, and disclosed his name.
Claiming that
“priests, who are supposed to preach the way of God, threw a child into the hell,” Takenaka has called on the conference and other entities to launch an investigation into cases of sexual abuse against children.
'Threw them into Hell', means they take them home, to their home, the home of their father, Satan, rather than leading them into the Kingdom of God.
The conference looked into cases of clergy sexual abuse in 2002 and 2012, but it failed to take measures to prevent re-occurrences, such as sharing information about priests who were found to have committed such acts among senior officials at churches, according to informed sources.
The latest survey, which was conducted from June to October 2019, found a total of 21 child sexual abuse cases across the nation.
Of the priests involved, three were transferred, while one was suspended from work, according to internal documents. The documents also showed that
another three were not given any punishments.
OMG! Who are the Bishops representing when they make such decisions? Certainly not the children; certainly not God; they are representing their father. They protect and even enable Satan's soldiers to destroy children and blaspheme God. The Bishops need to be investigated and charged with complicity.
The conference is currently conducting an additional survey, but it has yet to set up a third-party investigation group. The survey was relaunched amid strong worries at the Vatican over sexual abuse by priests.
“I hope that the Catholic Church becomes a religion that stands by victims of sexual violence,” Takenaka said. He has called for a drastic investigation to comprehend the reality and compile measures to prevent re-occurrences.
“We will disclose [the results of the survey] on the website, as soon as they can be reported,” an official of the conference said.
Yeah, right! I'm convinced!
N Carolina diocese publishes list of
credibly accused clergy
Martha Waggoner, Crux
This July 9, 2014, photo shows Bishop Peter Jugis at a groundbreaking ceremony for Mother Teresa Villa apartment homes for low-income disabled adults in Charlotte, N.C. The Catholic diocese in North Carolina on Dec. 30, 2019, published a list of 14 clergy who it says have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse in the nearly 50 years since the diocese was established. (Credit: Todd Sumlin/The Charlotte Observer via AP.)
RALEIGH, North Carolina - A Catholic diocese in North Carolina on Monday published a list of 14 clergy who it says have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse in the nearly 50 years since the diocese was established.
The Diocese of Charlotte
also listed six clergy members who served the area before the diocese was formed in 1972, and 23 clergy members from the diocese who were accused of misconduct while working for the Church in other places.
“
To all who have been victimized by Catholic clergy, I apologize on behalf of the diocese and express to you personally my heartfelt sorrow for the physical, emotional and spiritual pain you have suffered,” Bishop Peter Jugis wrote on the diocese’s website.
“Regrettably, it is clear in our history that the Catholic Church - including this diocese - did not fully understand the pathology of child sexual abuse or respond to allegations as aggressively as it could have, as we do today,” wrote Jugis.
Clearly, no-one in the church was listening to the voice of God or you wouldn't have needed to understand the pathology of child sex abuse to know it was wrong. Any kind of relationship with God at all would have prevented your priests from abusing children.
No active clergy in the diocese have a credible allegation of child abuse against them, Jugis said.
Of the 14, nine are dead, according to the diocese’s list. Of the remaining five, two were convicted, the diocese said.
The others were removed, dismissed or left the ministry.
The Charlotte Diocese made most of the names known years ago, Jugis said. They include
Robert Yurgel, who was assigned to churches in
Charlotte and Gastonia in the late 1990s.
Yurgel pleaded guilty to felony second-degree sexual offense in 2009 and served nearly eight years in prison after a man reported that Yurgel had repeatedly abused him when he was 14.
In 2010, a civil lawsuit against the Capuchin Franciscans, the religious order in New Jersey to which Yurgel belonged, and the Charlotte diocese was settled.
A leader of the Charlotte affiliate of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said the diocese should have released the list long ago, when news broke of clergy abuse in Boston.
“I’m not going to give them a gold star for doing what they should have done 18 years ago,” said David Fortwengler of Gaffney, South Carolina. ”But a list is better than no list.”
The publication of the names is a turnaround for the Charlotte Diocese in the past year. In January, after state Attorney General Josh Stein urged the diocese to release names, a spokesman said that doing so might further harm victims.
The investigation into the names of credibly accused priests began more than a year ago, Jugis said. The diocese hired independent investigators to review about 1,600 personnel and other historical records, he said.
The Charlotte Diocese serves more than 400,000 Catholics in 46 counties in western North Carolina. It defines a credible allegation as “one that has the semblance of truth; one supported by information worthy of belief. It is not a finding of guilt.”
The diocese is establishing a hotline to make it easier to report abuse, Jugis said.
To whom? The list can be found on the Diocese website.
