DENVER (CO)
Crux
March 26, 2019
By Christopher White
Following last week’s lawsuit from West Virginia against the state’s only Catholic diocese and its former bishop for allegedly covering up for abusive priests, the state’s attorney general is calling on witnesses to come forward with any relevant information on the diocese.
Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, himself a Catholic, brought a lawsuit under the grounds of the Consumer Credit and Protection Act and alleges that the diocese and former bishop failed to meet or enforce the standards in which it advertised and claimed to operate safe environments for minors, and now he is soliciting further witnesses as the case makes its way through the circuit court of Wood County.
“A lot of times in instances like this it is the people who step forward who will provide us with additional details,” Morrisey told The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, in an interview over the weekend. “They are the ones who can make the real difference.”
“We want the folks to step up. We believe there are more that haven’t stepped forward yet,” he said. “We are trying to identify more victims and more witnesses.”
Bishop Michael Bransfield retired as bishop of the diocese in 2018, a post he held since 2005, and at the time the Holy See named Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore both to serve as interim administrator of the diocese and to conduct an investigation into Bransfield’s handling of abuse and financial misconduct.
Earlier this month, Lori announced that he, along with a team of 5 lay experts, had completed his investigation and sent the report to Rome for review, although its findings have not been made public.
Morrisey is now calling on that report to be made public, saying that there has been a lack of transparency from the diocese in its refusal to release certain requested records.
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