MASSACHUSETTS
Standard-Times
January 14, 2021
By Kiernan Dunlop
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/14/attorney-garabedian-diocese-list-priests-accused-abuse-fall-river-new-bedford-taunton-victims-minors/4149456001/
The sheer number of names on the Diocese of Fall River’s list of clergy credibly or publicly accused of sexual abuse of a minor is shocking on its own, but the list provided little information about when and where the abuse occurred, how many victims there were, and who knew about it.
Additionally although the lists contain 75 names, an attorney for victims of sexual abuse believes it is incomplete.
“I think it’s incumbent on the Diocese of Fall River to practice complete accountability and transparency and list church employees such as custodians, lectors, and deacons in addition to religious priests, seminarians, and diocesan priests [in its credibly accused list],” Mitchell Garabedian said.
Garabedian released his own list of credibly accused clergy in January of last year to pressure the diocese to release its list, which it had originally said would be released in spring of 2019, and the attorney’s list included a custodian.
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