Sex-abuse accusations grew by 31 last year in archdiocese

Three years after the Roman Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal broke open, more than 1,000 accusers around the country came forward last year, 31 of them in the Seattle Archdiocese.

The numbers were released yesterday with the results of a nationwide audit into whether dioceses were complying with a 2002 policy established by the nation's bishops to protect minors from sexual abuse.

The audits, conducted on-site by teams of mainly former FBI agents, found that 187 of the nation's 195 dioceses, including Seattle, Yakima and Spokane, had complied with the new policies.

In the Seattle Archdiocese, the 31 new claims accused 10 priests of sexual abuse dating from 1955 to the mid-1980s. Those priests are either deceased, defrocked or permanently removed from ministry; one is on administrative leave pending action by the Vatican, archdiocese officials said.

That brings to 184 the number of people who have alleged abuse against 52 local clergy since 1950. That represents about 4 percent of the total number of clergy in the diocese during that period.

The Seattle Archdiocese has spent about $18 million over the past 17 years for financial settlements with victims, payments for counseling and attorneys' fees. Those costs have been covered by the archdiocese's insurance programs, officials said.

"I deeply regret every incident of child sexual abuse by a member of the clergy," Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett said in a news release. "I am relieved to report, however, that all cases reported in 2004 involved inactive or deceased priests and that most allegations date back more than 30 years."

Information

The report and more information on the audits is available at www.usccb.org

David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he was troubled that much of the audit findings came from information supplied by the dioceses.

He was even more concerned about the next round of audits, since far fewer dioceses will have on-site visits. Monitoring is "destined to become even weaker," Clohessy contended.

"We had hopes that as time passed and bishops learned more, the bar would be raised. And it clearly hasn't."

Locally, seven members of a 10-person case-review board looking at whether accused priests should continue in ministry criticized the archbishop late last year for, among other things, trying to soften a board report critical of church policies.

Some members of that board, and of another panel that reviews the archdiocese's abuse policy, also said they were surprised to receive letters late last year essentially dismissing them because a new board was being formed.

Those steps made some question whether the archdiocese was returning to a "more insular, if not defensive, posture," said Lucy Berliner, director of Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress, who was a member of both boards.

Archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni said the archbishop is fully committed to fighting abuse.

He said members of the case-review board were essentially dismissed because their charge — to review the cases of 13 accused priests — was finished. And having two boards to separately review cases and policy was "expensive, unwieldy and not as effective as having a single board," Magnoni said. The new Archdiocesan Review Board will look at any new cases and will review policy.

Local church officials sent letters to members of the former boards asking if they wanted to be part of the new board, and expect some to accept, including those "who have been critical at times of our policies on this issue," Magnoni said.

Berliner, for example, has been offered a position and is considering it.

Tim Smith, a local counselor who has worked with victims and accused priests and had served on the policy-review board since 1986, had said earlier he was concerned a new board would not have members who knew the history of the board or "why we did this; what our thinking was."

He has accepted a position on the new board.

Smith said he will keep an eye on the independence of the board, since that is "an ongoing concern by victims and victim advocates over time — that recommendations given to bishops have been too in-house or what they wanted to hear."

The archdiocese hopes to have the new board, with 10 to 12 members, in place by the end of March.

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com.