Monday, January 04, 2010

Database of Publicly Accused Priests in the United States

Given the Vatican's gross failure to discipline bishops and cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church who enabled and/or covered up the sexual abuse of minors by priests, the organization BishopAccountability.org has worked to pressure the Church to hold these clerics accountable. One continuing problem has been the refusal of many bishops to release the names of accused sexual abusers. To address this issue, BishopAccountability has compiled a data base of accused priest which can be found here and which reports on those convicted, often after the Church gave the abusers a free pass. The data base is described as follows:
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According to the John Jay report commissioned by the U.S. bishops, allegations of sexual abuse were made in 1950-2002 against 4,392 priests. The number is generally believed to underestimate the problem. A few bishops have released the names of accused priests, but no official list exists of U.S. priests who have abused children and vulnerable adults. Below we present the most complete list currently available, culled from media reports and legal documents – with many photos, assignment records, and source articles. You may view and search the database by priest's name, by diocese, or by state.
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A case in point out of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia involved Fr. John E. Leonard - a BFF of former bishop Walter Sullivan. I am VERY familiar with the case because one of Leonard's accusers who refused to be silenced by the Church is a friend of mine. Ultimately, despite Bishop Sullivan's efforts to protect Leonard, Leonard was prosecuted, copped a plea deal, and was defrocked. Unfortunately, Bishop Sullivan went unpunished and was even rewarded by having the Catholic High School in Virginia Beach named after him. Sadly, this type of story is the norm in the USA as well as many other countries. As I have mentioned before, based on a study done by the Dallas Morning News back in 2002, TWO THIRDS of the bishops in the USA had enabled or covered up for sexual predators. Yet many Catholics continue to fawn over and ass kiss these less than godly bishops. It is sickening.

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