PARKERSBURG (WV)
West Virginia Record
May 1, 2019
By Chris Dickerson
The Wheeling-Charleston Diocese has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office alleging it and a former bishop knowingly employed pedophiles.
The AG’s complaint, filed March 19 in Wood Circuit Court, also says the Diocese and former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield failed to conduct adequate background checks for those working at the Diocese’s schools and camps, all without disclosing the inherent danger to parents who purchased its services for their children. The lawsuit alleges those actions lacked transparency and stood in sharp contrast to the Diocese’s advertised mission of providing a safe learning environment.
In the dismissal motion filed last month, attorneys for the Diocese and Bransfield say the AG’s office failed to show a violation of the consumer credit and protection act.
A statement from the Diocese after the suit was filed dismissed the allegations, saying the suit does not “fairly portray its overall contributions to the education of children in West Virginia nor fairly portray the efforts of its hundreds of employees and clergy who work every day to deliver quality education in West Virginia.”
Morrisey said the Diocese’s motion to dismiss lacks merit, and he said his office will respond in court.
“Meanwhile, our lawsuit documents the Diocese’s long pattern of covering up and keeping secret the criminal behavior of priests as it relates to sexual abuse of children,” Morrisey told The West Virginia Record. “Not until our office subpoenaed information did the Diocese publish a list of priests that it deemed to have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children, and even then that list did not detail the Diocese’s failure to conduct adequate background checks for those working at its schools and camps.
“Furthermore, even while the Diocese talks about turning over some materials, it continues to withhold other documents subject to our subpoenas, a lack of cooperation that inhibits the state’s ability to complete its investigation. Those who pay tuitions to fund the Diocese’s schools and camps deserve a safe learning environment just as the Diocese advertises — not years of cover up and concealment as detailed in our lawsuit.
“Now is the time for meaningful change. The Diocese should come clean with what it knows and focus its efforts on restoring the public’s trust, and that begins with transparency.”
Morrisey was talking about transparency in March when his office first filed the suit.
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