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  I-team: Group Calls for Cleveland Diocese to Release Names of Accused Priests

By Bill Sheil
Fox 8
May 14, 2010

http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-i-team-accused-priests-cleveland-diocese-txt,0,4579991.story

[with video]

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Boston-based group "Bishop Accountability.org" says the Cleveland Diocese should release all the names of priests who've been accused of abusing or molesting children.

"Dozens of bishops in the country have come forward and named their accused priests," says Terry McKiernan, the founder of the group. "This is not a radical request on our part."

The group says Cleveland has the widest "gap" of any diocese in the country between the number of priests who are thought to have abused and the number of names that have been released. It says former Bishop Anthony Pilla admitted to knowing the names of 118 priests, yet the names of less than fifty have been made public.

"Naming them publicly is the most powerful way to keep children safe in this diocese," says Anne Barrett Doyle, a co-director of Bishop Accountability.org, "and Bishop Lennon should do that today."

Back in 2002, at the conclusion of his grand jury criminal investigation, County Prosecutor Bill Mason said that "without a doubt" more priests would have been indicted except for the statute of limitations. He investigated 143 priests.

After that announcement, FOX 8 sued to try and get the names released. Mason's office filed a brief supporting the release. The diocese opposed the release, and won in court - a judge ruling that state law prohibit the release of names because of the rules surrounding grand jury secrecy.

In a statement, the diocese says in part that, "to the best of our knowledge, no one against whom there is reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing" is currently active in the diocese. It says there is a "zero tolerance policy" and that the diocese "is committed to protecting children from harm."

 
 

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