Baton Rouge list of clergy members ‘credibly accused’ of abuse coming before end of January, diocese says

By Kim Chatelain
NOLA.com | Times-Picayune
November 12, 2018

https://bit.ly/2QKkzzT

The diocese of Baton Rouge hopes to release the names of Roman Catholic clergy members under its auspices who have been credibly accused of abusing minors before the end of January

The diocese of Baton Rouge hopes to release the names of Roman Catholic clergy members under its auspices who have been “credibly accused” of abusing minors before the end of January, Bishop Michael G. Duca said.

In a letter Duca asked priests to read at weekend Masses, the bishop said last week researchers began an independent review of personnel files of priests and deacons who have served the diocese since it was carved out of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1961.

The Baton Rouge law firm Hebert, Spencer & Fry has been hired to perform the review. The lawyers have employed the accounting and consulting firm Postlethwaite & Netterville to assist. It will take a minimum of four to six weeks to complete the review, after which a comprehensive report will be turned over to the diocese, the letter said.

“Neither I nor any of my staff is involved in this review, and the auditors will have full access to clergy personnel files while they are on site,” Duca said in the letter. “From this information, I will compile a list of credibly and substantially accused clergy to be publish hopefully before the end of January.”

The Archdiocese of New Orleans on Nov. 2 released the names of 57 clergy members credibly accused of abusing minors over many decades. Archbishop Gregory Aymond said all of the clerics are either deceased or have been removed from the ministry.

More than 50 dioceses across the U.S. have published lists of accused priests in the wake of an explosive Pennsylvania grand jury report in August that named more than 300 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims over several decades in that state. The report drew calls for transparency in the clergy abuse scandal that has angered the faithful and shaken the world’s largest Christian church.

The five other dioceses in Louisiana are expected to eventually join those in New Orleans and Baton Rouge in releasing names of clergy member credibly accused of abusing minors.

Duca was appointed by Pope Francis as the sixth bishop of Baton Rouge to succeed retiring Bishop Robert Muench. Duca’s installation was Aug. 24.

“You may think that my arrival in the diocese just two months ago is the principal reason the diocese appears to have delayed publishing such a list,” Duca said in the letter. “On the contrary, we have been working carefully and intestinally on this list since I arrived so that we can publish a list that will be complete, accurate, credible and transparent.”