The Archdiocese
of Los Angeles is not releasing any further information after adding 24 priests
and brothers to its list of clergy accused of child
molestation.
The Los Angeles
Times said Wednesday the archdiocese will not provide information about the
number of accusers, the dates of the abuse or where the clergy
worked.
The names were
disclosed in a two-page report posted on the archdiocese's website last month,
with 12,000 pages of records related to the internal handling of abuse
claims.
None of the
named men is currently working as a minister in the archdiocese, according to
the report.
A lawyer for the
archdiocese, J. Michael Hennigan, denied the church was attempting to bury the
list by including it in the 12,000 pages of records, and said the two dozen men
accused have never been sued in court.
Hennigan said
the disclosure of the information was completely
voluntary.
In the
mid-2000s, during a similar scandal, the archdiocese released much more
information, including the names of 236 priests and the dates the abuse
allegedly occurred, as well as the number of accusers.
Prosecutors said
they are reviewing the information. UPI
FACTS & FIGURES
The Catholic
Church has been rocked in recent decades by accusations that it tried to cover
up the sexual abuse of children by priests and has paid out billions in
settlements to abuse victims, bankrupting several U.S. dioceses. Daily
Star
Sexual abuse of
children by Catholic priests has been widely reported throughout the world, with
the countries of Canada, Ireland, United States, United Kingdom, Mexico,
Belgium, France, Germany and Australia receiving the most attention. The United
States and Ireland are the only countries that conducted nationwide inquiries.
digitaljournal.com
In the U.S.,
Ireland, the Channel Islands, the list seems to go on and on -- new sordid
stories of child sexual abuse are being investigated, at times, linking to a
disturbing hierarchy of silence in institutions which were considered "sacred,"
-- be it the Catholic Church, the BBC or even Penn State football. The
Huffington Post
The majority of
the sexual abuse by Catholic priests takes place with children between the ages
of 11 and 14. The Huffington Post
On Jan. 31, the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of internal
files on priests accused of sexually abusing children. NY
Times