Thread by @LChurchilll

NEW: A team of us @propublica spent many months collecting, analyzing & reporting on nearly 180 lists of accused clergy released by dioceses and religious orders in the U.S.

Our conclusion: Catholic leaders have not delivered on their promises of full transparency. THREAD

@propublica 2/ Before I tell you about the shortcomings of these lists, let me tell you why they matter.

I spoke with nearly 2 dozen survivors, many who took years or decades to come forward about their abuse.

By the time they report, there are often few legal options.

@propublica 3/ Meet Larry Giacalone. It took him 40 years to speak up about his abuse, and he did so only because he thought he was going to die from leukemia. Credit: @KayanaSzymczak

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak 4/ This is Richard Donahue, left, the Boston priest Larry and one other victim say abused them as children back in the ‘70s.

He’s with @CardinalSean, the current leader of the Boston Archdiocese. cardinalseansblog.org/2008/08/29/

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 5/ Donahue was first reported to the archdiocese in 2015.
In response, the archdiocese barred him from public ministry, entering school/parish property & restricted him from returning to Honduras, where he served for many years.

But it did not add him to its list of accused.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 6/ Giacalone reported Donahue in 2017. The archdiocese paid him $73k through a compensation program in Feb. 2019.

But the archdiocese still didn’t add Donahue.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 7/ Then Giacalone's lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, pointed out the omission in May.

Still the archdiocese didn’t add him. nbcnews.to/2U1X0a4

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 8/ When I first contacted the archdiocese in December, I was told Donahue was not on the list because the investigation was ongoing.

But its list has a category specifically for such cases.

Here’s how they responded when asked why he wasn’t on that part of the list:

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 9/ But @propublica kept asking and gathered internal church records about Donahue’s case.

The archdiocese later conceded that the omission was “an oversight.”

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 10/ What happened next was confusing.

Despite two allegations and one settlement against him, the archdiocese added Donahue to a separate list for “unsubstantiated” cases.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean 11/ One big takeaway from this: how dioceses and religious orders’ like @bostoncatholic evaluate “credible” or “substantiated” allegations can lead to omissions.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean @bostoncatholic 12/ @propublica found that dozens of dioceses leave out religious order members who have been accused within their ranks and clergy members who have died before accusations were reported.

Lists like the one from @ArchOmaha draw their own lines, like not naming seminarians.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean @bostoncatholic @ArchOmaha 13/ Bishop Accountability has long tracked publicly accused priests using court records, church documents and news articles. Its site: bit.ly/314Tmxv @propublica created our database to consolidate and analyze lists Catholic leaders have recently released or updated.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean @bostoncatholic @ArchOmaha 14/ Our analysis also found the information included about each clergy member varies widely.

Key stats:
- Leaders disclosed the number of reports made against
only 10% of clergy.
- About 58% of clergy listed have information about what
parishes or schools they served in.

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean @bostoncatholic @ArchOmaha 15/ Read more about Giacalone’s story, our analysis and the history of these lists:

Here’s the version from our partner, the @HoustonChron: houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

Here’s ours: propublica.org/article/cathol…

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean @bostoncatholic @ArchOmaha @HoustonChron 16/ Also please explore our newly launched app (by the wonderful @schwanksta & @emsimani), which compiles all the lists of accused priests dioceses and religious orders around the country have released, largely over the last year and a half: projects.propublica.org/credibly-accus…

@propublica @KayanaSzymczak @CardinalSean @bostoncatholic @ArchOmaha @HoustonChron @schwanksta @emsimani 17/ And finally keep up with new @propublica stories as they come by signing up for our Big Story newsletter: go.propublica.org/bigstory-social