June 17, 2005

Web site tracking accused priests

UNITED STATES
Telegram & Gazette

By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com

While American Catholic bishops met yesterday in Chicago to discuss whether to make changes in national sexual abuse policies adopted in 2002, another organization — BishopAccountability.org — worked quietly at its Waltham headquarters expanding its national database of priests accused of sexual misconduct.

The church scandal, which erupted in in Boston in 2002 and spread throughout the United States, resulted in many newspaper stories and civil suits, which in turn resulted in thousands of public documents regarding priests who abused minors over the years.

BishopAccountability.org is compiling those records and wants to add the assignment records of all the accused priests. Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the organization, said it would be a major task. She said being able to look at a priest’s assignments would show the various linkages and circles that abusive priests worked in.

BishopAccountability.org began in 2003 and it Web site — www.bishop-accountability.org — has become a “go to” site for documents related to the scandal or for background on an accused priest, Ms. Barrett Doyle said.

The nonprofit research group said yesterday it has posted a database of 2,173 priests accused publicly of sexually abusing minors. The database, which includes priests accused in the Worcester diocese, is believed to be the largest list of its kind.

The organization hopes to compile more records relating to allegations of sexual abuse in the Worcester diocese, Ms. Barrett Doyle said. She called it an “interesting diocese.”

Ms. Barrett Doyle said a priest’s name does not go into the database unless the accusation is documented by a public source. If the priest is later cleared, that information is added to the database but the priest’s name is not removed.

The organization keeps a secret list of priests accused of misconduct based on names provided by alleged victims and other sources, Ms. Barrett Doyle said. The name remains out of the public domain unless a public record surfaces, at which point it goes to the public database, she said.

In reports to theAbuse Tracker Review Board, which was set up by the bishops to monitor compliance with its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, bishops said they have complaints against 4,760 priests since 1950. The Worcester diocese said 45 credible accusations were made against priests in this diocese. However, not all the names were made public.

“By keeping names secret, bishops continue to protect abusers. They also prevent countless numbers of still-hidden victims from making the life-changing discovery that their perpetrators were accused by someone else. And they withhold information that the public needs to keep children safe,” Ms. Barrett Doyle said.

Terence McKiernan, the organization’s founder and president, said he believes bishops are trying to prevent further exposure of their own complicity.

Posted by kshaw at June 17, 2005 11:18 AM