BishopAccountability.org
	Concern over Delay in Listing Accused Priests By Lisa Wangsness Boston Globe November 12, 2010 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/11/12/concern_over_delay_in_listing_accused_priests/ Advocacy groups for victims of clergy sexual abuse expressed concern yesterday that the list of Catholic priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct that the Archdiocese of Boston plans to release will not be as broad as the advocates would like. More than two dozen dioceses in the United States have released lists of all credibly accused clergy, and in March 2009, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley suggested the Archdiocese of Boston would follow suit. Obtaining such lists has been a top priority for victims’ advocates. But at a press conference outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross yesterday, leaders of BishopAccountability.org and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said they feared the Boston list would not be as inclusive as advocates would like. According to records posted on the archdiocesan website, church leaders told a lay advisory council last March that the list would include 155 names of credibly accused priests, “of which 40 may be new names.’’ But that was challenged by BishopAccountability.org. Its leaders said they know of more than 200 priests who served in the Boston area who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct. The advocates also criticized the archdiocese for not having produced the list yet. “Literally every day that the identities and whereabouts of these priests is unknown is a day that kids are in jeopardy,’’ said David Clohessy of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Kelly Lynch, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said in a statement yesterday that church officials were getting feedback from “internal constituencies’’ and evaluating the complexities of the “serious due-process concerns’’ involved with disclosing information about priests who have died or whose guilt or innocence has not been determined. She said the archdiocese would continue to report all allegations of sexual abuse to local law enforcement, to publicly disclose when a priest is removed from ministry pending an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor, and to disclose when a priest is convicted of sexual abuse of a minor through the court system, or removed from the clerical state through the church’s own legal system. She would not say when the list would be released.
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