Those financial troubles have led dioceses throughout the country to sell diocesan property, including diocesan headquarters, seminaries, schools and churches. In the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, every parish had to pay amounts ranging from five figures to more than $1 million toward a bankruptcy settlement.
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Of all the survey years, 2019 had the highest number of credible allegations reported, with 2,506 credible allegations reported that year. That year came after a flood of revelations about the extent of sexual abuse in the church.
Many state investigations were opened after an August 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report found that there were more than 1,000 victims of child sexual abuse in that state and that Catholic bishops and other leaders had participated in a cover-up.
2018 was also the year that several dioceses found that the allegation that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had sexually abused a minor was credible, leading to McCarrick’s removal from the clerical state in February 2019.
Over two decades, the survey’s questions changed in ways that may impact the total count of credible allegations. Before 2013, the survey did not include allegations of abuse by religious brothers, who are considered lay people in the Catholic Church.
Before 2016, all allegations were sorted into “credible” and “unsubstantiated/obviously false” categories. In 2016, a third category, “unable to be proven,” was introduced, which decreased the proportion of allegations deemed “credible.”
Based on the allegations deemed credible, the report estimates 4,490 alleged perpetrators, of whom 80% were diocesan priests, 15% were priests from religious orders, 4% were religious brothers and 1% were deacons.
In the years that the perpetrators were reported by dioceses, eparchies and men’s religious communities, 86% of the perpetrators were already dead, removed from ministry, laicized or missing. The other 14% were removed from ministry or retired from ministry during the survey year.
This article originally appeared here.
