Once-secret records show how S.F. Archdiocese handled priests accused of child sex abuse
The church turned over the 175 pages of records on Tuesday after a federal bankruptcy judge ordered the release against the wishes of the archdiocese.
The records show:
At least three priests who by the church’s definition faced credible accusations of sexually abusing minors stayed on the San Francisco Archdiocese’s list of clergy members with full status for years, including one, David Ghiorso, who faced five credible abuse accusations and remains on the good standing list. The other two priests, Lawrence Finegan and Daniel Carter, were taken off the list in 2024 after accusations were sustained, without any public acknowledgment of the church’s findings, according to court records.
Another priest, Linh Tien Nguyen, remains on the good standing list despite being accused in a lawsuit of abusing a middle-school student and former altar boy between 2005 and 2008.
The IRB and the archdiocese regularly visited clergy members with sustained abuse allegations, supporting them financially through monthly pension payments, housing stipends and therapy reimbursements.
While the San Francisco Archdiocese petitioned for bankruptcy in 2023 after being named in 537 sex abuse lawsuits just 49 priests were named in the IRB’s table of investigations into its clergy as of 2022, including several who are now deceased and two dozen priests it cleared of abuse.
The board discussed publicizing the names of credibly accused clergy members but decided against it because doing so would “stir up controversy.”
Archbishop Cordileone has long denied the existence of lists of credibly accused priests in his organization. But in October 2023, Cordileone, at an IRB meeting, acknowledged the existence of internal lists the archdiocese kept of clergy with sustained accusations of child sexual abuse as determined by the IRB.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...277287.php
The church turned over the 175 pages of records on Tuesday after a federal bankruptcy judge ordered the release against the wishes of the archdiocese.
The records show:
At least three priests who by the church’s definition faced credible accusations of sexually abusing minors stayed on the San Francisco Archdiocese’s list of clergy members with full status for years, including one, David Ghiorso, who faced five credible abuse accusations and remains on the good standing list. The other two priests, Lawrence Finegan and Daniel Carter, were taken off the list in 2024 after accusations were sustained, without any public acknowledgment of the church’s findings, according to court records.
Another priest, Linh Tien Nguyen, remains on the good standing list despite being accused in a lawsuit of abusing a middle-school student and former altar boy between 2005 and 2008.
The IRB and the archdiocese regularly visited clergy members with sustained abuse allegations, supporting them financially through monthly pension payments, housing stipends and therapy reimbursements.
While the San Francisco Archdiocese petitioned for bankruptcy in 2023 after being named in 537 sex abuse lawsuits just 49 priests were named in the IRB’s table of investigations into its clergy as of 2022, including several who are now deceased and two dozen priests it cleared of abuse.
The board discussed publicizing the names of credibly accused clergy members but decided against it because doing so would “stir up controversy.”
Archbishop Cordileone has long denied the existence of lists of credibly accused priests in his organization. But in October 2023, Cordileone, at an IRB meeting, acknowledged the existence of internal lists the archdiocese kept of clergy with sustained accusations of child sexual abuse as determined by the IRB.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...277287.php
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
