DENVER (CO)
Colorado Sun
February 19, 2019
By Jesse Paul
The three Catholic dioceses of Colorado will open their records to an independent investigator in an effort to provide a full accounting of sexual abuse of children by priests through the decades, part of a national reckoning for the church after an explosive grand jury report last year in Pennsylvania.
The investigator will compile a list of priests with substantiated allegations of abuse, including where the clergy were assigned and the years when the offenses were alleged to have occurred, under the initiative announced Tuesday by the church and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. That list will then be made public. The initiative also will include a full review of the church’s policies and procedures in responding to and preventing abuse.
“My colleagues around the country have responded to the Pennsylvania grand jury report in a variety of ways,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, said in a written statement. “Today, we are announcing a Colorado solution that is collaborative, enhances transparency and provides victims access to support services and compensation. I want to thank the bishops for working with my office to achieve these positive steps.”
Colorado’s former U.S. attorney, Bob Troyer, will lead the independent investigation. Half of his fees will be paid by private anonymous donors known to state officials; the other half will come from the dioceses in Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs.
The review will go from 1950 onward and is aimed, in part, at making sure that there are no known abusers still in the church, Weiser’s office said at a news conference Tuesday. No state funds will be used.
“It’s important to note this is not a criminal investigation. This is an independent inquiry will the full cooperation of the Catholic church,” Weiser said.
Victims will not be named.
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