GARDEN CITY (NY)
Long Island Herald
June 6, 2019
By Ben Strack
A report released by a Minnesota-based law firm last week lists the names of 65 priests who at one point worked in the Diocese of Rockville Centre and were accused of sexual abuse, as pressure from abuse survivors and their advocates on the diocese to release all names of those credibly accused continues.
The diocese is one of eight in the state, and comprises 133 parishes, 57 schools and 109 other facilities, according to the report compiled by Jeff Anderson and Associates. There are currently 304 priests, 289 permanent deacons, 60 religious brothers and 875 religious sisters in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, it adds, according to church records.
The 40-page report was created from publicly available sources, claims made by survivors to the dioceses responsible for the offenders and legal settlements, it states. The histories of where the listed priests were assigned were gathered from the Official Catholic Directory, BishopAccountability.org, statements from church officials, diocesan records and media reports.
At a news conference in Uniondale on Monday, Anderson joined Steven Werner, of North Carolina, who alleged he was abused in the 1970s by the late Rev. Peter Charland in St. James. The two called for the diocese to release the names of credibly accused priests. The New York Archdiocese, the Diocese of Brooklyn, among others, have published such lists in the past few months.
Sean Dolan, spokesman for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, wrote in a statement last month that the diocese “believes that while the investigations of claims and allegations are ongoing, it is premature to release a list of accused clergy.” He added that not one priest or deacon of the diocese who has been the subject of a credible and substantiated claim of abuse against a child is in the ministry, and that all allegations, credible are not, are reported to authorities.
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