SEATTLE (WA)
Northwest Catholic [Archdiocese of Seattle WA]
October 4, 2024
The Archdiocese of Seattle announced on Friday the final settlements totaling approximately $785,000 for three separate claims related to allegations of sexual abuse by representatives of the Church. The cases, from the 1970s and ’80s, involve individuals who are now deceased.
In a news release, the archdiocese said it has settled:
• Two cases involving allegations of sexual abuse by Father Gerald Moffat in the mid-1980s when he served as pastor at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Snoqualmie. Moffat is deceased.
• A case involving an allegation of sexual abuse by Terry McGrath in approximately 1975 when he was a basketball coach at Holy Family Parish in Kirkland. McGrath is deceased.
Moffat was included on the archdiocese’s List of Clergy and Religious Brothers and Sisters for Whom Allegations of Sexual Abuse of a Minor Have Been Admitted, Establish or Determined to be Credible when the list was originally published in January 2016.
This list was first published with review from former FBI-agent Dr. Kathleen McChesney and her firm, Kinsale Management Consulting. The names of those identified in this review were then provided to the external Archdiocesan Review Board and to Archbishop J. Peter Sartain who approved the publication of the names in 2016.
Since then, the Archdiocese of Seattle has added names to the list and updated it with links to other public lists provided by religious orders that worked in the archdiocese as well as status updates related to people currently on the list.
Sexual abuse in the archdiocese peaked in 1975 and has since sharply declined. To learn more about the history of sexual abuse in the archdiocese, visit its Protect and Heal website. The website outlines the focus on helping victim survivors and their families find healing, and how the archdiocese has taken steps to prevent abuse and protect the community since the early ’80s.
Today the archdiocese enforces its Safe Environment Program with policies and procedures designed to prevent and recognize signs of sexual abuse of minors.
Read the full release here.
How to report abuse in the Archdiocese of Seattle
To report any suspicion of abuse by any Catholic Church personnel, contact local law enforcement.
In addition, anyone with knowledge of misconduct by a member of the clergy, an employee or a volunteer of the Archdiocese of Seattle is urged to call the archdiocesan hotline at 1-800-446-7762.