UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune
By Margaret Ramirez and Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 19, 2005
In a sign that the Roman Catholic Church's sexual-abuse crisis is far from over, a report released Friday found that 1,083 people came forward last year with new, credible allegations that they had been sexually abused as minors by priests and deacons.
The findings, released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C., formed the bulk of a comprehensive audit of the nation's dioceses to ensure compliance with reforms to prevent sexual abuse of children. The audit is the second since the reforms were put in place in 2002, months after the scandal broke.
The newly reported allegations named 756 priests and deacons, more than 300 of whom were not previously known as abusers. Most of the alleged incidents occurred between 1965 and 1974, the report said.
Although most of the alleged offenders are dead or have already been removed from ministry, the report found there were 42 priests or deacons accused of abuse who were still in active ministry at the time of the audit.
Posted by kshaw at February 19, 2005 06:01 AM