BATON ROUGE (LA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
November 12, 2018
By Kim Chatelain
The diocese of Baton Rouge hopes to release the names of Roman Catholic clergy members under its auspices who have been “credibly accused” of abusing minors before the end of January, Bishop Michael G. Duca said.
In a letter Duca asked priests to read at weekend Masses, the bishop said last week researchers began an independent review of personnel files of priests and deacons who have served the diocese since it was carved out of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1961.
The Baton Rouge law firm Hebert, Spencer & Fry has been hired to perform the review. The lawyers have employed the accounting and consulting firm Postlethwaite & Netterville to assist. It will take a minimum of four to six weeks to complete the review, after which a comprehensive report will be turned over to the diocese, the letter said.
“Neither I nor any of my staff is involved in this review, and the auditors will have full access to clergy personnel files while they are on site,” Duca said in the letter. “From this information, I will compile a list of credibly and substantially accused clergy to be publish hopefully before the end of January.”
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