SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times [Seattle WA]
March 16, 2026
By The Seattle Times editorial board
Leaders of the Catholic Church in Washington have made many statements of contrition for the decades when priests’ sexual abuse of children went unexamined and largely unpunished. But if the church truly wanted to atone for those criminal acts — and the lifelong damage they’ve caused parishioners — it would embrace full transparency.
That’s the best way to show that this is a new era.
Instead, for more than 20 years, the Archdiocese of Seattle has zealously fought against an independent review of its files, hiding behind claims that opening the records to scrutiny might “re-traumatize” victims.
What likely worries the church more are potential legal costs that could arise. The Archdiocese has already paid over $100 million in settlements, according to attorneys who’ve represented abuse victims in Western Washington, and new revelations could increase that tally.
Yet earlier this month, in a brave and welcome ruling, the Washington State Court of Appeals affirmed that the attorney general may subpoena church records to find out whether charitable contributions were used to conceal child sex abuse.
“It’s a great victory for survivors,” said retired Judge Terrence Carroll, a lifelong Catholic and co-founder of the reform group Heal Our Church. “Our view is: Deal with this sordid chapter to get past it.”
Carroll, who has read some of the files privately, discovered cases that have never been aired. “The concern of a cover-up is great,” he said. “The whole story has not been told.”
Despite an avalanche of revelations that came to light in the early 2000s about child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy nationwide, more recent inquiries have shown that the scope of these crimes may be even broader than realized. In Rhode Island, for instance, a new investigation revealed 75 priests who’d abused more than 300 children. Only 20 of those clerics were ever charged. Another dozen were laicized, or removed from the clergy.
The Washington court was ruling on a filing made by Gov. Bob Ferguson in 2023, when he was attorney general. In other states, like Maryland and Illinois, the church has been more willing to cooperate, Ferguson said. And when their files were opened, the records revealed “quadruple the number of credibly accused abusers than the Church had voluntarily disclosed.”
The church is supposed to be a place of solace. To make good on that mission, it must do more than issue empty platitudes. It must open its files and show, definitively, that a new day has arrived.
The Seattle Times editorial board: members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Ryan Blethen, Melissa Davis, Josh Farley, Alex Fryer, Claudia Rowe, Carlton Winfrey, Frank A. Blethen (emeritus) and William K. Blethen (emeritus).