California Franciscans' Abuse Files Released

Catholic Culture
May 23, 2012

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14385

In what the Associated Press describes as "the largest release of a religious order's files to date," over 8,000 pages of testimony and internal files have been made public related to abuse allegations against members of the Franciscan friars' St. Barbara Province in California.

"One offender bringing kids in can set them up to be abused by another offender and those kids in turn grow up to become a member of the order and themselves begin abusing children," said Terence McKiernan, of BishopAccountability.org.

"The generational phenomenon of abuse is really, really clear in these documents and it's a heartbreaking story."