Archdiocese of New Orleans agrees to release secret files on clergy accused of child sexual abuse | New Orleans

In a gesture of reconciliation toward victims of the decades-old clergy abuse scandal, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans has tentatively agreed to make publicly available the confidential personnel files of priests and deacons accused of significant allegations of child sexual abuse.

Church officials on Thursday announced the plan to disclose clergy records as one of several non-monetary commitments as part of the U.S.'s second-oldest Catholic archdiocese's efforts to settle a costly federal bankruptcy restructuring first filed in 2020.

The church and more than 500 clergy abuse survivors remain miles apart over the financial terms of a possible bankruptcy settlement. In September, the church's lawyers suggested that the archdiocese and its affiliates – but not its insurers – pay each sexual abuse claimant about $125,000. A committee of survivors countered that the church, its affiliates and its insurers should pay each applicant $2 million.

The federal bankruptcy judge ordered them to reach a settlement by the end of January because the church had already spent more than $40 million in fees on lawyers and professional advisers.

A statement from the chairwoman of a committee representing the interests of those left behind by the bankruptcy said her group's goal was to “ensure that no harm is ever brought to a child again.”

“We all have family and friends who need protection, and I will not be deterred by that goal,” said Chairwoman Patricia Moody.

Moody's fellow survivor James Adams, who served as committee chairman for a time before Moody, hailed the release of files on abusive clergy as “huge” — but said the archdiocese should have implemented most of the steps outlined Thursday long ago.

“The fact that it took our church four and a half years and more than $40 million to get to this point — well, I guess better late than never,” he said.

The Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, said in a statement: “The Church is committed to protecting children and preventing the evil of child sexual abuse in our Catholic parishes, schools and ministries.” I welcome this progress our restructuring, but more importantly, I welcome the new funding to strengthen our existing, effective programs to keep our children safe across our services.

He added: “I pray that our work with the committee will continue to be collaborative and keep survivors at the center of decisions.”

Thursday's announcement reflected promises Aymond made publicly in an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper published in July.

He told the newspaper that he would make the archdiocese's files on the local church's clergy abuse scandal publicly available once the bankruptcy is resolved. He also said he was willing to meet privately with small groups of abuse survivors to hear their stories, and the proposed non-monetary agreement commits to holding those meetings within 18 months of a final agreement.

Additionally, the proposal would require the church to apologize for the clergy abuse scandal — something the archdiocese specifically said in its Thursday statement that it has already done but is doing so “again.”

The church and survivors jointly presented the non-monetary settlement terms in a 37-page filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Thursday. In addition to disclosing the files, the church also committed to reporting all allegations of child abuse to secular law enforcement authorities within 90 days of a final settlement.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has been under investigation by the Louisiana State Police since at least April on suspicion of child sex trafficking. A state police search warrant alleges that “widespread sexual abuse of minors dating back decades” was “covered up and not reported to law enforcement.”

The church also agreed to make changes to the independent review board it has used since 2002 to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse and recommend punishment to the archbishop.

Under the proposed agreement, the church would commit to adding at least two abuse survivors, a child sexual abuse prevention expert and a current or former prosecutor or investigator to its board for at least 10 years.

She would also agree to regular child protection audits published on the archdiocese's website by an independent auditor for at least 15 years.

Until now, the church has always kept the members of the independent audit committee and their investigation results secret. Recently, the Guardian and WWL Louisiana published documents showing cases in which the review board found abuse and recommended punishment for the accused priests, only to be overruled without explanation by Aymond or his predecessor Alfred Hughes.

Other actions the church would take under the agreement repeat some promises it made repeatedly in earlier phases of the clergy abuse scandal – without always following through on them. This includes:

• Removal from archdiocese properties of “all plaques, images, statues, or other public recognition” of clergy who have committed sexual abuse;

• Posting plaques on all church property stating that the archdiocese has “zero tolerance” for abuse and recommending that anyone who knows anything about abuse report it to the police;

• four years of publishing survival stories on an archdiocesan website;

• Updating the current list of 78 credibly accused clergy with any additional names and the number of claims filed against each clergy in the bankruptcy case;

• Engage a child protection consultant to review the Church's child protection policies and publish a public assessment of those policies;

• Appointing a child protection advisor and hiring a child protection officer to focus on preventing future abuse;

• Regular reporting of all allegations of clergy abuse, whether verified or not, to the Child Protection Advisor, the Child Protection Officer, and the Independent Review Board;

• Improve the collection of sexual abuse complaints and more fully promote the way in which complaints can be made both online and by telephone;

• Mental health treatment and related services.

The church's past failures to collect and maintain records of abuse complaints became apparent in 2020 when WWL investigated multiple child abuse allegations against a then-living priest named Brian Highfill.

After the station questioned the archdiocese about why it had only investigated one complaint out of several documented complaints against Highfill, Aymond agreed to add Highfill to the church's official list of credibly accused clergy, which did not include accompanying personnel files when it was first made public in 2018. The archdiocese initially told WWL that there was no record of a 2002 complaint against Highfill through the church's dedicated hotline for reporting abuse. But shortly after Aymond accused a “clerical error” during an on-camera interview, church officials produced a typed transcript of that complaint from 2002 and said they had just found it.

Whether any of the non-monetary relief comes into play depends on whether the church and abuse survivors can agree to financial compensation. Recent bankruptcy cases involving Catholic dioceses in other countries have cost more than $600,000 for each abuse claim.

Under an agreement, the archdiocese would have 30 days to select a university to archive previously secret clergy personnel files. A website would then provide access to the archive. And all clergy who were not on the list of credible defendants but who had at least three abuse complaints that they named in the bankruptcy would have their personnel files archived.

The proposal reflects actions taken by John Wester, the Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wester completed his organization's bankruptcy case in December 2022, including by agreeing to – and then arranging – to deposit files on the careers of 150 clerical predators in a public archive at the University of New Mexico. His church also agreed to pay about $320,000 each to about 400 applicants.

Thursday's proposal does not expand the definition of adults vulnerable to abuse, as some survivor advocates had hoped. Today, people with intellectual disabilities are considered to be adults at risk. But some adults who claim they were abused under the spiritual control of a clergyman have pointed out that some states, including Texas, have laws that make it a crime for clergymen to have sex with adults who emotionally dependent on their religious leadership.

A few months after a Guardian investigation published in February, police in Texas filed criminal charges against a priest accused of exploiting women he met through his work in that state and the New Orleans area.

A Vatican report published at the end of October called on dioceses around the world to consider the abuse of minors as more than just a crime.