SEATTLE, WA – The Washington State Attorney General’s Office today announced initial legal action against one of the state’s three Catholic Archdiocese. AG Bob Ferguson says the Seattle Archdiocese has refused to comply with his investigation into whether it – and those in Spokane and Yakima – used charitable funds to cover up allegations of child sex abuse by clergy. The office has authority under the Charitable Trusts Act to investigate the use of charitable funds by various organizations.
Subpoenas were sent to all three entities last summer and again this spring, but due to the lack of response, Ferguson has filed a petition to enforce the subpoena in King County Superior Court, asking that it be heard on May 22nd. The office has not yet taken action against the Spokane and Yakima dioceses, but Ferguson says they are prepared to do so if they refuse to comply.
Ferguson says his office has a policy that it normally does not comment on active investigations.
He adds that all survivors deserve to be heard.
Ferguson says the Catholic Church has made public several reports about clergy sexual abuse, including publicizing the names of current and former priests that the church itself determined to be credibly accused of that abuse, but other investigations have found a dramatically greater number of credible allegations.
The AG’s office says that in addition to Washington, 23 state attorneys general have announced investigations into the Catholic Church, while 27 have not.
Six states have produced reports detailing their findings in the past five years, including Illinois, where a report was published last year. Ferguson says it listed four times as many substantiated child sex abusers than the dioceses of Illinois had previously disclosed – 451 compared to 103.
From the WA AG’s Office:
Survivor Esther Lucero-Miner issued a statement in support of the investigation: “Like too many other women (and men too), I experienced sexual abuse at the hands of a priest, my Catholic pastor. … For years, I believed that family and friends and the community, would believe and defend the priest. I was terrified of being labeled and becoming an outcast, so I kept quiet. For too long, I felt estranged from my community of faith. I was reticent to go to church because I did not trust that I would be safe in what should be a holy and sacred place, this abuse engulfed my life. For me, the struggle is not over. As with any significant injury, the pain of the incident never completely goes away. … I strongly support the investigation by the Attorney General into the Catholic dioceses of Washington state. It is long overdue in my opinion and will be an important step in the healing that our Church deserves.”
Advocacy organization Heal Our Church offered a statement: “For too long the faithful have been kept in the dark regarding the ‘how and why’ of this sordid chapter of Church history. We call on the Church, and its legal representatives, to cooperate fully with the investigation by granting full access to all relevant records, including internal chancery memos, attorney correspondence and financial information. Church members and survivors deserve no less.”
The dioceses only responded with information that was already public. They did not fully respond to the subpoena.
