How many priests?
Prosecutor won't explain inaccuracy of '18 dead priests'
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
A prosecutor refused to resolve a dispute Monday over the number of now dead Roman Catholic priests who have been accused of sex crimes against children.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin would not clarify a statement she made in a recent court filing, calling the statistic of 18 dead priests accused of abuse to be inaccurate.
Robbin would not say Monday if the real number was higher, lower or significantly different from 18, the figure that had been unchallenged since it was released to the public in May by Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson.
The dispute is relevant to a court fight between the Attorney General's office and the Blethen Maine Newspapers over the release of the names. The newspaper has argued that the identities of the dead priests should be revealed under the state's Freedom of Access Law since they can no longer be part of an active criminal investigation.
The state has argued that the names are not public records because even though the priests are dead, information in their files still could be used in criminal cases against others. The state also contends that the release of the names would create an unfair invasion of privacy, both to the priests and their alleged victims. And, Robbin argued, they do not have charges against 18 dead priests, as the newspaper charged in its motion.
The state's criticism of the figure shows why the information should be made public, said Sigmund D. Shutz, the newspaper's lawyer.
"She is insinuating that the scope of the problem is not as great as the public has been led to believe. That's fine, but the public should know that," he said. "If the number 18 overstates the issue, the public needs to know that as well."
On May 28, Anderson released the preliminary results of the church's investigation of its records. Anderson said there were allegations against 51 Catholic clerics in Maine, 33 living, 18 dead. She said that of the living priests, none was in active ministry.
Those numbers were confirmed by a church spokeswoman and have not been disputed until the state's filing last week.
Anderson stood by her initial count Monday, which she said was based on a document she got from the diocese. She said some may not have been ordained to the priesthood, but still functioned as Catholic clergy.
Diocese spokeswoman Sue Bernard said she believed the count was compiled by investigators from the Attorney General's office, not the diocese, but did not dispute 18 as the accurate number.
The dispute over the number and the state's unwillingness to clarify it was troubling to Michael Sweatt, a leader of Maine's Chapter of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of Roman Catholic laity which formed in response to the church sex scandal. Sweatt's group and people who say they were abused by priests have called for a complete release of information, to ease the guilt and shame felt by many sex abuse victims.
"That is the number we've all accepted, and the diocese has not disputed it," he said. "Why would the state challenge it now?"
Nationally, the Catholic Church has been tarnished by the sexual abuse of minors by priests and by the decisions of some church officials to keep the allegations secret and reassign accused priests to new parishes.
The magnitude of the problem became public at the end of last year after the Boston Globe persuaded a judge to lift a confidentiality agreement surrounding a civil suit against a convicted pedophile and defrocked priest, John J. Geoghan.
Revelations that alleged crimes were kept secret and accused priests were reassigned led to similar inquiries across the country. Ultimately, it was learned that about two-thirds of top U.S. Catholic leaders had allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to continue working.
Maine's Catholic Diocese has refused to publicly release records of allegations — something the church in New Hampshire did — but instead turned over personnel records to prosecutors.