SACRAMENTO (CA)
ABC 10 News
May 17, 2019
The Sacramento Diocese announced on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 the creation of a new victim compensation fund for people who have been abused by members of the clergy.
Sacramento is one of five dioceses across the state launching the fund in an effort “to own and atone for the Church’s failure to protect children and young people abused by Catholic priests,” according to Bishop Jaime Soto’s statement.
In April, the Diocese published a list of forty-four priests and two deacons credibly accused of perpetrating sexual abuse. The Diocese defined a credible allegation as one in which, “with the information we have, is it more likely than not that the allegation is true.”
In the following weeks, the Bishop also made public the Diocese’s commitment to cooperate with California Attorney, General Xavier Becerra’s investigation into whether California dioceses complied with their mandatory reporting of sexual abuse to law enforcement.
Since the list was made public, some have questioned whether it is complete and if there are more than the 130 victims reported in it.
Kurt Hoffman told ABC10 about the sexual assault he suffered while attending Sacramento Jesuit High School in 1987 when he was 14 years old.
“I was shocked and to my dismay, he wasn’t included on the list,” said Hoffman of Brother William Farrington, the school’s swim coach at the time.
Kevin Eckery, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Diocese told ABC10 that “the name of Mr. Hoffman’s abuser was published by the Jesuits on December 7th of 2018 and distributed widely. There are currently efforts underway to add his name to the Sacramento list.”
He added that, “Nuns or brothers may be added later. Staff or volunteers may be added at some point, but no decision has been made.”
Hoffman said that after he made the accusation, school authorities fired Brother Farrington and told his parents the man would never work with young people.
Fifteen years later, “in 2002 when the church scandal erupted, I googled him… To my dismay, shock, and outrage, I found out he was working at Loyola Marymount University,” said Hoffman.
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