ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
December 5, 2018
The Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico has released a list of names of priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.
We are grateful to Attorney General Hector Balderas for compelling the diocese to take this action. Without his active investigation into clergy sex abuse, we doubt that this list would have been released nor would it have included as much detail as it currently does. We hope that any survivors who are encouraged to come forward by this disclosure will take advantage of the resources that the attorney general’s office has made available on their website and make their report to independent law enforcement authorities, not to the Church.
It is worth noting that this announcement refers only to “credible accusations.” This, in our opinion, means that many names are probably missing from this list. Church officials are not the best arbiters of what is credible and what is not, especially since there have been many examples – such as this case in California – where accusations deemed “not credible” actually turned out to be very real. We believe that Bishops should release all names and allow independent law enforcement officials to determine credibility.
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