Searchable database of Catholic priests accused of sexual assault includes hundreds of New York clergy

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A searchable database of the thousands of Catholic clergy who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse across the country was released on Tuesday and includes hundreds of members of dioceses and religious orders in the region. New York.

The database, compiled by ProPublica, is based on lists published by the dioceses. The 178 disparate lists were compiled into a single database for the first time.

The Archdiocese of New York had 126 names on its list of accused clergy, which was first published in April 2019.

The Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens, had 121 names. Their first published list of accused clergy came out in February 2019.

The database also contained information on smaller orders in the New York area, including the Dominican province of St. Joseph which had 25 names on its list first published in November 2018, and the Paulista Fathers who had 13 names on their list published in March 2019. The Jesuits of the Northeastern Province of the United States had 52 men on their list published in January 2019.

Staff from the ProPublica project said they were inspired to compile the database after it became clear that disclosure standards vary widely between different dioceses. “But even though the bishops dedicated these lists to victims of abuse and described the disclosures as a public acknowledgment of the suffering of the victims, it became clear that many of the alleged perpetrators were overlooked and that there are no standard to determine who each diocese credibly considers accused, ”the reporters wrote.

The database also comes nearly a year after New York’s Child Victims Act was enacted on February 14, 2019, which created a one-year window for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to sue. an abuser or a negligent institution, no matter how. a long time ago the abuse happened. The Catholic Church, along with other organizations, had opposed passage of the bill for years, and after the CVA was passed last year, victims’ advocates lobbied the Chief of the Archdiocese of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, to release the names of the accused clergy.

Some dioceses and religious orders have yet to release lists of their accused clergy, including the Rockville Center Diocese on Long Island, according to ProPublica.

The Rockville Center Diocese website did not have a list of the names of the accused clergy, but noted that 370 people filed complaints with them about sexual assaults by the clergy: “In 2017, we launched our Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) to provide a confidential mechanism for survivors to receive compensation and some measure of healing and justice, ”the diocese said on its website. “To date, 370 people have submitted requests to our IRCP. The vast majority of claimants – 277 to be exact – have accepted compensation totaling just over $ 50 million, with 75 to 80 claims still pending.

The Survivors of Those Abused by Priests Network, or SNAP, has been lobbying the church for decades to publish the names of clergy accused of abuse and related records. “They continue to be as secret as possible, spreading as little information as possible and only under great duress,” David Clohessy, who led the group for nearly 30 years, told ProPublica. “They are absolute masters of hairstyles – always have been and still are. Do we now know the names of more predatory priests than before? Yes, of course. Are we close to one? full transparency? Absolutely not. “

ProPublica has published a detailed story about the church’s lack of transparency to accompany the database – read it in full here.

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