A list of 310 New York Catholic clergy accused of sexual assault was released by a victims’ rights attorney in August 2019, a figure more than twice the 120 on the Catholic priest abuse list released by the Archdiocese of New York in April 2019, NBC News reported.

The goal of the victims’ advocate report was to convince Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan to fully disclose the identities and current locations of all priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse.

Timing is important to victims, who may take advantage of a one-year look back window that opened in August 2019 as a result of the passing of the New York Child Victims Act. The law allows a survivor of child sexual abuse more time to file a lawsuit against the offender and/or the institution. It also opens a look back window in which survivors can pursue litigation even when the original statute of limitations expired years or decades ago. Originally, the look back window was intended to last only one year, but it has been extended twice, and is now set to expire on August 14, 2021.

When the Archdiocese shared its list of 120 credibly accused predators in April 2019, most of those named were ordained before 1969. Most of the alleged abuse occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, and many of the named perpetrators are dead.

The Archdiocese of New York has been faulted for not disclosing the places predators worked or the years spent at certain parishes. Many dioceses and states throughout the country have released their own Catholic priest abuse lists, most of them purportedly more detailed than the Archdiocese of New York’s list.

The priests named by Archdiocese of New York did not include anyone ordained since 2002, the same year the Catholic Church adopted a charter to protect children. The list, according to NBC News, included five deacons, two bishops, and a defrocked cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, a man NBC News characterized as a “prince of the church.”

Importance of Catholic Priest Abuse List

The look back window through New York’s Child Victims Act begins Aug. 14, 2019, and is now set to end on Aug. 14, 2021. During this time, survivors of child sexual abuse can bring charges against a Catholic priest, nun, or other church official who committed sexual abuse, including survivors over the age of 55 who otherwise would have been excluded by the statute of limitations.

Before the passage of the Child Victims Act on Feb. 14, 2019, victims older than 23 could not bring charges against child abuse perpetrators. The updated law also allows victims to hold institutions responsible for the abuse if the institution tried to hide it or simply moved the abuser to a different parish.

Survivors now have until age 28 to file criminal charges against sexual abusers and until age 55 to file suit for monetary damages.

Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of New York sued 32 insurance companies for allegedly failing to pay abuse claims. The church created its Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, which, as of January 2021, had paid out $258 million to victims of sexual abuse, Kenneth Feinberg, the compensation program administrator, told NBC News.

The New York Archdiocese alleges it paid for liability coverage for years to protect the church from lawsuits over allegations of sexual abuse and physical abuse, and the insurance companies are obligated to pay the claims.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.