HONOLULU (HI)
Honolulu Civic Beat
March 5, 019
By Anita Hofschneider
Last summer, a Minnesota law firm published a 50-page booklet listing Hawaii priests accused of child sex abuse.
The alphabetical list started with Marc Alexander, who is currently serving as Honolulu’s housing director and has denied 2016 allegations by a minor in Kailua. It ended with Douglas Zlatis, who was accused by two students at Father Damien Memorial School and died in 2009.
Overall, the compilation names nearly 60 members of the clergy who have been accused of molesting children in the islands.
But advocates for survivors believe there may be a lot more. That’s why some are backing a Hawaii Senate resolution that calls on the attorney general’s office to investigate Hawaii’s Catholic clergy.
The Diocese of Honolulu opposes a resolution calling for the attorney general to investigate claims of child sexual abuse within the church in Hawaii.
The proposal comes in the wake of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that found at least 1,000 children were abused by more than 300 priests over several decades in that state. The Washington Post reported that the 1,400-page report prompted attorneys general in 14 states and Washington, D.C., to launch similar inquiries.
Hawaii wasn’t among them.
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