WASHINGTON (DC)
The Associated Press
October 16, 2018
By Ashraf Khalil
Days after Washington’s archbishop resigned over his handling of sexual abuse allegations, the Archdiocese of Washington released the names of more than two dozen clergy members it says have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors.
The revelation comes just four days after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl and while the Washington Archdiocese is still reeling from recent revelations that Wuerl’s predecessor as archbishop had a decades-long string of abuse allegations.
The archdiocese posted the list of priests on its website late Monday. It names 28 clergy members and three priests who were part of religious orders, but served in Washington parishes or schools. Most of the cases date back multiple decades and only three of the alleged abuses took place after 2000. Of the 31 men listed, 16 are dead.
The list includes several priests who were accused of abuse and convicted, and some who were accused, “treated” and returned to work only to be accused again. Some were removed from their clerical positions or the ministry at some point.
The controversy that forced Wuerl’s resignation does not actually cover his time in Washington; it centers on a Pennsylvania grand jury report accusing him of covering up multiple sexual abuse allegations and shuffling pedophile priests through different parishes, during his 18-year tenure as a bishop in Pittsburgh.
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