Victims' advocates unsatisfied by Boston archdiocese list of accused clerics

August 26, 2011

Victims’ advocates, who had been pressing the Boston archdiocese to release the names of all priests accused of abuse, have complained that the list made public on August 25 is incomplete.

When the archdiocese released the names of 159 priests who have been accused of abuse, the list did not include members of religious orders, or priests from other dioceses who were accused of molesting young people while serving in Boston. The list also does not name some priests who died before accusations against them could be investigated. (Deceased priests are included on the list if the accusations against them had already been made public.)

Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who has represented abuse victims, said that omission of those names was “unconscionable.” Barbara Blaine of SNAP accused Cardinal Sean O’Malley of “shameless hairsplitting” in his explanation of the omissions.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley agreed. “Those names should be disclosed in the interests of the victims and public safety,” she said. Coakley’s predecessor, Thomas Reilly, had announced in 2003 that his investigation had identified 237 priests who were accused of abusing young people. Reilly’s list of accused clerics has never been made public.

 

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Further information:

• Church names accused priests (Boston Globe)
• Victims of clergy abuse call cardinal’s list ‘outrageous’ (Boston Herald)
• O'Malley puts down a new marker on abuse crisis (National Catholic Reporter)
• Boston archdiocese identifies all accused priests (CWN, 8/25)