ALMOST 10,000 PAGES OF SAN DIEGO CATHOLIC DIOCESE’S BAD PRIESTS’ FILES MADE PUBLIC: SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

News of what may be the largest public disclosure of previously secret or confidential documents maintained by the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego relating to known pedophile priests has gone viral.  Many members of the media have asked us:  "Why has it taken so long for these documents to be released to the public?   What should we expect to find in these documents?   What does this mean?"   I will attempt to answer these questions to the best of my knowledge since I was involved in the negotiations with lawyers for the San Diego Diocese resulting in the settlement of 144 cases on behalf of childhood sexual abuse survivors in September 2007. This settlement included the terms and conditions for the release of these documents.

One hundred and forty four survivors (144) of sexual abuse by priests and other religious members associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego filed lawsuits in 2003. During that year, the California Legislature opened a one-year window allowing victims to sue - victims who had previously been barred by prior statutes of limitations to take legal action.   After almost four years of litigation and a "disingenuous" [1]bankruptcy filing by the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego, a global settlement was reached which included two major conditions:  First, the SD Diocese, the Diocese of San Bernardino and their insurer, Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, were to pay $198,000,000 to the victims which would be allocated by California Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman among the 144 plaintiffs; Second, these dioceses and certain Catholic religious Orders agreed to the public release of the personnel files of priests for whom 1) they had determined there were credible allegations of sexual abuse, 2) were named or identified in the lawsuits filed by the plaintiffs, and 3) had been criminally convicted.  The parties agreed to the appointment of retired San Diego Superior Court Judge William C. Pate to act as a referee to resolve disputes over which documents could be made public.  The negotiations over the second condition of the settlement - the release of the documents - were extremely difficult and emotional.  Even though an agreement was reached on the dollar amount, lawyers for the victims refused to settle the cases unless the Dioceses and the Orders would agree to the public release of the bad priests' files.

During the last three years, there have been legal challenges by living priests to the release of their files, and objections raised by the Dioceses to a full release of all of the documents.  After surviving court battles and convincing the Dioceses that most, if not all, of their objections were not defensible, they agreed to the release of what we estimate to be about 80% of the files which amount to about 10,000 pages.  They continue to object to the release of the remaining documents and we will be working with Judge Pate to resolve those objections. 

The importance to the hundreds of victims of child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego and San Bernardino regarding the release of these documents cannot be overemphasized.   For decades, these Dioceses have known of the abuse of children by their priests and have looked the other way.  Worse, they have actively engaged in a cover-up to protect their avoidance of scandal over the interest of the children.   They have denied and minimized the degree of this scourge of sexual abuse, and they have called victims and their lawyers liars, moneygrubbers and anti-Catholic.   Now, the truth - in the words of the Bishops and other officials of the Dioceses - has come out.  This is a vindication and affirmation of the claims made by survivors. 

Most of what is contained in the released documents is mundane administrative communications which is typical of a large Catholic Diocese operation.   And, unfortunately, in the early 1990's, Chancellor Fr. Steve Callahan [2] took it upon himself at one time to shred confidential files of certain priests and all seminary records for their transcripts.  Many of the incriminating documents have likely been purged from these files.  Several thousand pages have still not been disclosed. Even with the purging and non-disclosure of records, there are many documents that reflect a pattern and practice of moving bad priests from parish to parish, or even attempting to assist them out of the country to avoid scandal.   The reader will note that rarely, if ever, will there be a reference to "sexual abuse", "sexual molestation" or "pedophile".  Instead, officials of the dioceses used a practice known as "vive voce" by voice only, or code words when dealing with problem priests.   They would often refer to an "issue with moral character", "immaturity problems", or problems with "alcohol" .   Priests were sent to insular Catholic treatment facilities such as The House of Affirmation in Massachusetts, or Villa Cieli, a facility in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, run by the Servants of the Paracletes (a Catholic religious Order that ministers to problem priests).  They were often put back in ministry after their return despite warnings against doing so. 

The exposure of this scandal and the release of these documents are critically important to the public in general and to those who are concerned about the safety of children.  This evidence proves what can happen when an institution with access to children is allowed to operate without scrutiny - with impunity and with a reckless disregard for the safety of children.   The real question is whether things have changed.  Only time will tell.