DENVER (CO)
December 19, 2018
By Christopher White
In a recent interview with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), DiNardo was asked about a pledge that all dioceses in Texas would release the names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse.
“‘Credibly accused’ is being worked out in terms of our lawyers even now as we speak,” DiNardo said, adding that independent auditors were also reviewing archdiocesan files.
As the U.S. Catholic Church has attempted to reckon with a mounting crisis of clerical sexual abuse, dioceses throughout the country have begun to release the names of accused priests.
While the first lists of accused priests were published in 2002, the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August has spurred an immediate surge of other dioceses beginning to follow suit – with more than 70 dioceses and numerous religious orders throughout the country having done so.
Yet despite the increasing trend to release names – an initiative widely demanded by sex abuse survivors and praised by watchdog organizations – the practice also raises new questions, most notably being what “credibly accused” actually means and who gets to decide.
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