At a news conference on April 10, 2024, BishopAccountability.org released this list of publicly accused clergy who have been omitted from the Cleveland diocese’s list of accused priests.
Every one of the 50 priests and brothers listed below spent all or some of his career as a cleric within the Cleveland diocese. Thirty-nine of the 50 have been named as credibly accused by another bishop or a religious superior. These clerics are denoted by an asterisk.
Click on the linked name to see source documents and detailed information about the allegations and cleric’s assignment history.
RELATED LINKS
See the Cleveland diocese’s list of clergy with substantiated allegations. Bishop Malesic lists 51 priests with “substantiated” allegations plus one priest (deceased) with an allegation that was not substantiated.
https://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/healing/list-of-clergy
161 U.S. dioceses have published lists of accused clergy. Of those, 124, or 77%, have included accused religious order clergy on their lists. Bishop Malesic chose NOT to include religious order clergy from his list. See links to all 161 diocesan lists:
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/diocesan_and_order_lists.htm
See BishopAccountability’s database of accused Cleveland clergy. Click on each blue-colored name to get full details about that case. [Note: This partially overlaps but isn’t the same as the list of 50 names above.]
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/dioceses/usa-oh-cleveland/
See Bishop Anthony Pilla’s admission in 2004 of 118 accused priests:
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/usccb/natureandscope/dioceses/clevelandoh.htm
In 2002, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor identified 145 Cleveland priests who had offended against children. See:
https://www.cleveland.com/news/erry-2018/10/ef02acccf92394/catholic-priest-sex-scandal-wi.html
Ohio’s civil and criminal statutes of limitations (SOL) for child sex crimes are among the most restrictive in the country. The result: many offenders are not prosecuted, and institutions that fail to prevent sexual assault of children are not held accountable. Ohio’s current civil and criminal SOL are detailed here:https://childusa.org/law/ohio/sex-abuse-sol/
Child USA gives Ohio the grade of D for its criminal SOL and F for its civil SOL. See: https://childusa.org/sol-rankings/
The overwhelming majority of child sex abuse victims — 86% — never report their abuse. The average age of those who do come forward is 52. (In Ohio, victims have only until age 30 to file a lawsuit against the institution that shielded their abuser.)
See: https://childusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Delayed-Disclosure-Factsheet-2020.pdf
- *Already named as credibly accused by another bishop or a religious superior