http://www.startribune.com/nation/105635353.html
Decades of priest-abuse claims revealed in thousands of newly unsealed Calif.
church records
By GILLIAN FLACCUS , Associated Press
Last update: October 25, 2010 - 3:53 AM
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SAN DIEGO - Nearly 10,000 pages of previously sealed Catholic church documents
have been made public and showed that the Diocese of San Diego long knew about
abusive priests, some of whom were shuffled from parish to parish despite
credible complaints against them.
After a three-year legal battle over the diocese's internal records, a retired
San Diego Superior Court judge ruled late Friday that they could be made public.
Attorneys for 144 people claiming sex abuse made the papers public Sunday.
The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either credibly
accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit. They
include a decades-old case in which a priest under police investigation was
allowed to leave the U.S. after the diocese intervened.
The plaintiffs settled with the diocese in 2007 for nearly $200 million, but the
agreement stipulated that an independent judge would review the priests' sealed
personnel records and determine what could be made public.
The files show what the diocese knew about abusive priests, starting decades
before any allegations became public, and that some church leaders moved priests
around or overseas despite credible complaints against them.
"We encourage all Catholics, all members of the community, to look for these
documents," attorney Anthony DeMarco said at a news conference. "These documents
demonstrate years and years and decades of concerted action that has allowed
this community's children to be victimized, and it is not until the community
looks at these documents that this cycle is ever going to be ended."
Donna Daly, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of San Diego, did not immediately
return a call on Sunday and no one answered at the main diocese number. Maria
Roberts, an attorney for the diocese, did not immediately respond to a message
left with her office on Sunday.
Decades of priest-abuse claims revealed in thousands of newly unsealed Calif.
church records
By GILLIAN FLACCUS , Associated Press
Last update: October 25, 2010 - 3:53 AM
2Comments +Add commentPrint this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on Digg
More from Nation
SAN DIEGO - Nearly 10,000 pages of previously sealed Catholic church documents
have been made public and showed that the Diocese of San Diego long knew about
abusive priests, some of whom were shuffled from parish to parish despite
credible complaints against them.
After a three-year legal battle over the diocese's internal records, a retired
San Diego Superior Court judge ruled late Friday that they could be made public.
Attorneys for 144 people claiming sex abuse made the papers public Sunday.
The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either credibly
accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit. They
include a decades-old case in which a priest under police investigation was
allowed to leave the U.S. after the diocese intervened.
The plaintiffs settled with the diocese in 2007 for nearly $200 million, but the
agreement stipulated that an independent judge would review the priests' sealed
personnel records and determine what could be made public.
The files show what the diocese knew about abusive priests, starting decades
before any allegations became public, and that some church leaders moved priests
around or overseas despite credible complaints against them.
"We encourage all Catholics, all members of the community, to look for these
documents," attorney Anthony DeMarco said at a news conference. "These documents
demonstrate years and years and decades of concerted action that has allowed
this community's children to be victimized, and it is not until the community
looks at these documents that this cycle is ever going to be ended."
Donna Daly, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of San Diego, did not immediately
return a call on Sunday and no one answered at the main diocese number. Maria
Roberts, an attorney for the diocese, did not immediately respond to a message
left with her office on Sunday.
