Catholic Leaders In Texas Name 286 Accused Of Abusing Minors
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Catholic leaders in Texas have identified 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children, a number that represents one of the largest collection of names to be released since an explosive grand jury report last year in Pennsylvania.
Reverend Edward J. Burns of Dallas said, "I am following through on a commitment I made in October to provide the names of those priests who have been the subject of a credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in the Diocese during the period from 1950 to the present."
Fourteen dioceses in Texas on Thursday named those credibly accused of abuse. The only diocese not to provide names, Fort Worth, did so more than a decade ago.
There are only a handful of states where every diocese has released names and most of them have only one or two.
The move by Texas church leaders follows a shocking Pennsylvania report in August detailing seven decades of child sexual abuse by more than 300 priests.
In the months after that report, about 50 dioceses and religious provinces have released the names of nearly 1,250 priests and others accused of abuse. Approximately 60 percent of them have died. About 30 other dioceses are investigating or have promised to release names of credibly accused priests in the coming months.
