CLEVELAND (OH)
WOIO - CBS 19 [Cleveland OH]
April 10, 2024
By Sia Nyorkor
[VIDEO]
On Wednesday, about half a dozen members from BishopAccountability.org gathered in front of The Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist in Downtown Cleveland demanding Bishop Edward Malesic release the names of every Catholic priest who has been accused of sexual abuse in the church but has not been revealed.
“His list only includes 51 priests who have faced substantiated allegation. he is leaving dozens and dozens of abusers off his list and he knows this,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director of BishopAccountability.org.
19 News is not showing the list of names since the priests have not been criminally charged.
The watchdog group says laws in the state of Ohio regarding sex abuse are some of the worst in the country.
Current law states a child sex abuse survivor can only pursue charges against their alleged attacker until they are 30 years old.
“The single most compassionate thing the Bishop can do when he says he cares about victims is not a healing mass, is not a healing garden, it’s not even praying for them, it’s releasing information,” said Barrett Doyle.
The watchdog group says by not releasing the full list of names is a potential public safety crisis.
19 News reached out to the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and received this statement:
“The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland is steadfastly committed to the protection and safety of children, as demonstrated in its robust policies regarding background checks, its education and training, its commitment to reporting all allegations of child sexual abuse to civil authorities, and by the fact that no cleric in the Diocese of Cleveland against whom a substantiated allegation has been made is permitted to ever again serve in ministry.
The Diocese also makes public the names of any cleric who has been accused of child sexual abuse, regardless of when the alleged conduct took place or whether the accused is alive or deceased, provided the allegation is substantiated.
This list does not include non-diocesan clergy (clerics serving other dioceses) or clerics who belong to a religious order, only clerics of the Diocese of Cleveland.
For more comprehensive information on how the Diocese of Cleveland reports and compiles these lists and to view the current list, please visit our website.”
Group leaders say they plan to send the Bishop an official letter detailing all of their requests.
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