SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
KNTV - NBC Bay Area [San Jose CA]
April 16, 2025
By Michael Bott and Candice Nguyen
Years of meeting minutes from the San Francisco Archdiocese’s Independent Review Board were released Wednesday morning following a bankruptcy’s judge’s order
175 pages of once-secret meeting minutes from the San Francisco Archdiocese’s Independent Review Board (IRB) – the group handpicked by the Archbishop to probe abuse claims against clergy and other staff members – were publicly released Wednesday morning, shining a light on how the church investigates its own.
Click here to read the meeting minutes yourself.
The disclosure was ordered last month by a judge in the Archdiocese’s ongoing bankruptcy case against the objections of church attorneys, with victims and their attorneys calling the move “unprecedented.”
“This is the first time I can say in a bankruptcy case that an archdiocese had to make these minutes public,” said Brittany Michael, a bankruptcy attorney representing the Archdiocese’s creditors.
The minutes, which contain numerous redactions, summarize conversations between IRB members and other officials of the Archdiocese, including Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, but do not contain the full reports compiled by investigators hired by the church.
Michael said the newly released documents show a consistent pattern from the IRB and the Archdiocese.
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“The minutes reveal that the Archdiocese remains hyper focused on protecting the reputation of priests, even if it means putting children in danger,” Michael said. “Another issue that stands out in the minutes is the nitpicking of survivor stories in order to find fault.”
In at least a half-dozen cases, the IRB did not sustain accusations against actively working priests and returned them to ministry following their investigation.
“Is this a process that the public should have trust in?” said Steve Moreno, a clergy abuse victim himself who serves on the creditors’ committee in the bankruptcy case. “The answer is no.”
Moreno questions how independent the IRB truly is and wants more representations from victims.
“Have some independents that are part of the review board,” Moreno said. “Are you taking into account the victim, not just the abuser? I think the abuser does have rights, don’t get me wrong. But anybody who’s willing to come forward should be heard.”
The church says its review board consists of more than a half-dozen people, including a psychologist, two physicians, a clergy abuse survivor, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese and a pastor.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese said the IRB is “truly independent” and “members of the IRB are volunteers [and] well-educated and highly skilled professionals who care deeply about the topic of sexual abuse.”