PHOENIX (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
by Michael Clancy on Aug. 17, 2012, under Arizona Republic News
The Diocese of Phoenix has missed its self-imposed deadline to publish details of how many priests have been accused of sexual misconduct and the associated costs of the scandal.
The diocese, which oversees parishes in Maricopa, Coconino, Yavapai and La Paz counties, promised to publish a comprehensive list of abusive clergy and an accounting of costs associated with the scandal by June 14. That hasn’t happened, and diocese officials are refusing to talk about it.
The report as promised would detail the full scope of the church abuse scandal in Phoenix, which lost more than two dozen priests to accusations and arrests. The scandal, which erupted in 2002 with the release of diocesan files in Boston, is believed to have cost the church nationwide an estimated $3.3 billion in court settlements and verdicts to date.
The diocese more than a year ago said the report would be ready in time for the 10th anniversary of the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, known as the Dallas Charter. The charter was the bishops’ response to the burgeoning scandal, which caught fire earlier that year.
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