Barbara Jones, a former federal judge and prosecutor hired by the Archdiocese of New York to investigate its handling of the sexual abuse crisis, has determined that any priest who was credibly accused of sexual abuse has been removed from the ministry.

USA Today reported that the information came from Jones’ report. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, retained Jones to examine the way the Archdiocese of New York has dealt with the scandal. Dolan had already created the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Fund and appointed prominent mediation expert Kenneth Feinberg, who helped to establish the 911 Victims Compensation Fund, to administer it.

Hopeful Results

In her report, Jones says that the archdiocese has done an admirable job of cleaning up its act and protecting young people. After an exhaustive analysis of policies, procedures and protocols put into place by the diocese, she concluded that there have been only two “substantiated claims” of sexual assault involving an underage youth in the last 17 years.

“Almost all the complaints received over the last several years are not complaints of current conduct, but rather they are complaints about conduct which occurred sometimes decades ago,” Jones said.

Accused Catholic Priests Still Subject of Litigation

The Archdiocese of New York still faces dozens of lawsuits over events alleged to have taken place decades ago. New York’s new Child Victims Act, signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in February, has lifted the statute of limitations in many cases, giving victims whose cases had expired a new opportunity to hold accountable their abusers and the institutions that enabled them. Since the law went into effect, nearly 300 lawsuits have been filed against accused Catholic priests, nearly a third of them on the first day. According to Jones, eight New York dioceses have paid over $67 million to 338 abuse survivors.

More to be Done

Although the Archdiocese of New York appears to have the sex abuse scandal in hand by removing any credibly accused Catholic priests, Jones and Dolan both acknowledge that more needs to be done. Dolan originally commissioned Jones to do the investigation in order to rebuild trust among parishioners that has been lost because of the scandal.

“I’ve had people tell me that they didn’t trust the bishops or the Church,” he says.

Recommendations that came out of Jones’ final report include:

• Update the archdiocese’s IT infrastructure for more effective background checks and monitoring of priests and lay volunteers
• Hire an officer to deal with sex abuse allegations
• Convert all paper records to digital format
• Expand the Lay Review Board (LRB), adding people with a wide range of background and experience

The LRB is charged with determining whether or not allegations have merit and deciding what to do with priests who are credibly accused.

Jones also believes that the current training, which requires anyone who is placed in a position that brings them into contact with children and youth, should be done on an annual basis, particularly for those who work in parochial schools.

Victims also now have a one-year look-back window to file lawsuits if they were previously denied the ability to sue because the statute of limitations had passed.

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