Full List Released Of NJ Catholic Clergy Accused Of Sex Assault

NEW JERSEY – The journalism site ProPublica, a Patch Partner, has compiled the most comprehensive list so far of Catholic clergy “credibly accused” of sexual abuse. The list includes many accused abusers from New Jersey.

The searchable database — which includes nearly 200 priests accused from the dioceses of Metuchen, Newark, Trenton, Camden and Paterson — comes on the heels of various reports identifying hundreds of "predator" priests across the state.

New Jersey also enacted a law last month that extends the statute of limitations in civil actions for sexual abuse claims, creating a two-year window to file cases for which the statute of limitations had previously expired.

Already, a number of law firms have announced they were filing lawsuits. Attorneys from Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, LLP and Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC (PCVA) said they planned to file 38 lawsuits on behalf of dozens of abuse survivors.

In New Jersey, the ProPublica database includes:

(Click on the name of the diocese to see the full database)

• 29 abusers from the Diocese of Paterson
• 56 abusers from the Diocese of Camden
• 14 abusers from the Diocese of Metuchen
• 31 abusers from the Diocese of Trenton
• 63 abusers from the Archdiocese of Newark

Along with the list, ProPublica outlines the challenges of identifying offenders long after such widespread abuse became known.

Nearly 200 names on a list of sex offenders in the clergy were also named by the Catholic church last year. Here is the list released by the Catholic church in February 2019: Here's List Of NJ Priests Accused Of Child Sexual Abuse (UPDATED)

In April 2019, 52 Boy Scout leaders who worked in New Jersey and were accused of sexual abuse were named by attorneys who represent victims. Read more: 52 NJ Boy Scout Leaders Accused Of Sexual Abuse Named

Then, in May 2019, the names of more than 100 additional priests and members of the clergy were also released in a new disclosure. Read more: Another 100 NJ Priests, Clergy Accused Of Sex Abuse In Disclosure

From ProPublica:

Over the last year and a half, the majority of U.S. dioceses, as well as nearly two dozen religious orders, have released lists of abusers currently or formerly in their ranks.

The revelations were no coincidence: They were spurred by a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report, which named hundreds of priests as part of a statewide clergy abuse investigation.

Nationwide, the names of more than 5,800 clergy members have been released so far, representing the most comprehensive step toward transparency yet by a Catholic Church dogged by its long history of denying and burying abuse by priests.

But even as bishops have dedicated these lists to abuse victims and depicted the disclosures as a public acknowledgment of victims’ suffering, it has become clear that numerous alleged abusers have been omitted and that there is no standard for determining who each diocese considers credibly accused.

ProPublica has collected the 178 lists released by U.S. dioceses and religious orders as of Jan. 20 and created a searchable database that allows users to look up clergy members by name, diocese or parish. This represents the first comprehensive picture of the information released publicly by bishops around the country.

Some names appear multiple times. In many cases, that accounts for priests who were accused in more than one location. In other instances, dioceses have acknowledged when priests who served in their jurisdiction have been reported for abuse elsewhere.

Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI official who helped establish a new set of child protection protocols within the USCCB [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops] in the early 2000s, has urged bishops and religious orders for nearly two decades to create a comprehensive list of accused clergy. She said our database will allow the public to better track dioceses’ disclosures, rather than seeing each list in isolation.

“People don’t know where to look,” McChesney said. “The contribution of the one list will help a lot of people to perhaps identify someone that they believe abused them.”

Still, much crucial information remains missing. Despite the recent surge of releases, 41 dioceses and dozens more religious orders have yet to publish lists, including five of seven dioceses in Florida, home to more than 2 million Catholics.