UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org
Compiled by BishopAccountability.org
From reports commissioned by the USCCB
May 20, 2016
As of May 20, 2016, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has counted 6,528 clerics “not implausibly” and “credibly” accused in the period 1950 through June 31, 2015 of sexually abusing minors. These USCCB counts effectively omit from the running totals any allegations made in 2003 and any allegations made in January-June 2014.
The USCCB has counted 17,651 victims who have alleged that they were abused as minors by priests. The USCCB counts effectively omit from the running totals any persons who made allegations in 2003, and any persons who made allegations in January-June 2014.
In the table below, we provide a year-by-year summary of the USCCB’s data and also calculate running totals, which are lacking in the USCCB reports. The numbers in the table are color-coded for easier reference – red for credibly accused priests and purple for victims. We also provide links to all the USCCB source documents from which the numbers are derived.
The USCCB hired the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to evaluate data submitted by member bishops regarding the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, bishops, deacons, and seminarians. In its 2004 report, the John Jay College found, according to survey forms completed by the bishops, that the bishops had received in 1950-2002 “not implausible” allegations of sexual abuse of minors committed by 4,392 priests, including 12 bishops.
In 2004, the USCCB commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University to begin collecting annual data on allegations and settlements, and starting in Spring 2005, CARA has published a report each year. (See Bendyna’s 2/15/05 letter to Skylstad describing the commission, in the 2005 Report, PDF p. 12.) Among other data, that report counts the number of diocesan and religious order priests “credibly” accused of abuse during the previous calendar year, and states how many of those had been accused in prior years or are being accused for the first time. These data were obtained using a survey that was available to the bishops and superiors of religious orders online. See, for example, the 2009 diocesan and religious order surveys (populated by CARA with aggregate U.S. numbers), and see below for the Manchester diocese’s summaries of its responses to the surveys.
The latest CARA report – the CARA report on 2014-2015 allegations – was released on May 20, 2016 along with an audit of the implementation of the Charter. We have cached a copy of the report for safekeeping.
The previous report – the CARA report on 2013-2014 allegations – was the first report to implement a change in the reporting period for the reports, an unfortunate change that has been continued in the latest report.
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