WASHINGTON
Seattle Times
By Michael T. Pfau
Special to The Times
THE Catholic Church across America has been mired in scandal for nearly 20 years — since reports of widespread abuse of children by its priests first surfaced. The Seattle Archdiocese is no different.
As an attorney, I have represented hundreds of Catholics who were abused by priests, brothers and lay employees in Seattle and across Washington. My clients have been men and women, young and old, rich and poor, from both stable and troubled families. These survivors of abuse have a unique and important perspective on the actions of the Seattle Archdiocese with regard to how it handles complaints of abuse, and its claims of apology and accountability.
On Jan. 15, the Archdiocese released the names of 77 individuals who it deemed had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children. Almost immediately, survivors of abuse and their advocates began to call on the Seattle Archdiocese to release all of its files pertaining to the 77 abusive priests, nuns and clerics it identified.
The Archdiocese of Seattle maintains files and a “secret archive” regarding abusive priests in its ranks, including many of the 77 individuals it recently identified. Under canon law, which governs the Catholic Church, every bishop and archbishop is required to keep “secret files” that contain information regarding misconduct by his priests. The secret files include information regarding priests who are accused of sexually abusing children, including internal correspondence that often sheds light on how the church allowed the abuse to happen.
Each bishop and archbishop has the authority to make his secret files public. A number have exercised that authority and released the files regarding priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children, including the archbishop of Chicago, who oversees the third largest archdiocese in the United States.
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