“Credible” abuse claims against clergy

I’m just going to leave this here.

Every Roman Catholic Diocese in Texas released a list Thursday of “credible abuse” claims against clergy going back decades, a move that comes as dioceses across the nation have released or prepared to release similar lists in response to a call from Pope Francis for greater transparency and accountability.

The ongoing sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the church reached a new crescendo in August after a Pennsylvania investigation found more than 1,000 victims and more than 300 perpetrators throughout the state. Two months later, the 15 dioceses across Texas announced that they would be publishing their own lists by Jan. 31.

Gustavo García-Siller, the Archbishop of San Antonio, said at the time that Texas bishops “are working to further healing and restore trust, to take new actions to protect the vulnerable and offer support to survivors of clergy sexual abuse of minors.”

On Thursday, the names of accused clergy appeared on each diocese’s website: 42 in Galveston-Houston, four priests and a deacon in Lubbock, 22 in Austin, 53 in San Antonio. Many of the lists were accompanied by letters from bishops or videos like the one posted by Austin Bishop Joe S. Vásquez, who said, “I apologize and express my deepest sorrow to the victims and their families for the abuse that occurred and for any failures of the Diocese of Austin. I pray daily for these and all victims of sexual abuse.”

Jordan McMorrough, director of communications for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, said each list includes every credible allegation of sexual abuse going back as far as the 1940s and ’50s. The San Antonio archdiocese list, released on its website, stretches back to 1940.

The lists also included the church’s definition of a “credible allegation.” The Catholic Diocese of Dallas website said a credible allegation was “one that, after review of reasonably available, relevant information in consultation with the Diocesan Review Board or other professionals, there is reason to believe is true.”

“Although I have also provided this list of names to law enforcement, inclusion on this list does not indicate that a priest is guilty of, been convicted of, or has admitted to the alleged abuse,” Dallas Bishop Edward J. Burns said in a letter that accompanied his diocese’s list of 31 people — 17 of them deceased.

The Archdiocese of San Antonio also plans to release a document with an audit of all of its cases and how they were handled, written by an independent Lay Commission on Clergy Sexual Abuse of Minors.

Emphasis mine. I’m glad this is all coming to light, but boy has it taken a lot longer than it should have. Now we need an equally comprehensive report on who covered up for all these crimes. There’s still a lot more the Church needs to do before it can meet its own standards for absolution. The Chron has more.

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