BishopAccountability.org
	Abuse Lawyer Tries to Force Church's Hand By Marie Szaniszlo and Colneth Smiley Jr. Boston Herald January 20, 2011 http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20110120abuse_lawyer_tries_to_force_churchs_hand/ Clergy abuse victims and their advocates yesterday called on Cardinal Sean O'Malley to make good on a 2-year-old pledge to release more information about abusive priests. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian released on his Web page the names of 117 priests, deacons and lay members that he claims abused 750 children over half a century, in an effort to force the archdiocese to act. "The public must know: Where are these pedophiles now?" Garabedian said. "We've released their names so that individuals might know who they are living next to." Garabedian said all the 117 men — priests, members of religious orders and other church employees — have been named in sexual abuse complaints for which he has obtained settlements or arbitration awards. He said 99 were accused of molesting children within the boundaries of the Boston archdiocese. "If he (O'Malley) wants to keep children safe, if he wants to get victims healed, we need information," said Ann Barrett Doyle, of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks abusive priests. "There is no organization in the Commonwealth that has done more in recent times to educate and empower children, parents and staff on the terrible and pervasive problem of sexual abuse in our society," countered archdiocesan spokeswoman Kelly Lynch. She said the archdiocese continues to evaluate its policy on disclosing information about "credibly" accused clergy as well as "the serious due-process concerns this presents for those accused." Of 19 names previously unreleased names, the 12 identified as Boston clerics are all deceased, Lynch said. "In each of these 12 cases (as in all cases), law enforcement was notified of the complaint, and the individual who brought forward the allegation was offered support services through our Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach," Lynch said in an e-mail. "Since all of the new names are deceased men, clearly no child was put at risk because these names were not in the public domain." Three of the listed priests remain in good standing, because an archdiocesan review board found the claims against them to be unsubstantiated, Lynch said. Contact: mszaniszlo@bostonherald.com
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