Texas Catholic dioceses to release lists of priests accused of sex abuse

Pope Francis welcomes Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston at the Vatican on Sept. 13, 2018. The Archdiocese, alongside others in Texas, plans to release a list of names of priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

less Pope Francis welcomes Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston at the Vatican on Sept. 13, 2018. The Archdiocese, alongside others in Texas, plans to release a list of names of priests accused of sexually ... more Photo: HANDOUT, Handout / AFP/Getty Images Photo: HANDOUT, Handout / AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Texas Catholic dioceses to release lists of priests accused of sex abuse 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Amid mounting pressure for the Vatican to atone for decades of mishandling sexual misconduct claims, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston agreed Wednesday to go public with a list of clergy who they believe have been “credibly accused of sexually abusing” children.

Fourteen other Catholic dioceses in Texas have chosen to do the same, with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo attributing the decision as a “response to the faithful’s call for greater accountability and transparency.”

There was no indication how many names would make each list or when they would be made available. An Archdiocese spokesperson said their list of bishops, priests and deacons accused of child molestation in the past seven decades would be compiled by an unidentified “outside consultant” and released before Jan. 31, 2019.

"Every bishop in our state has made a statement expressing his concern for all who have been hurt and I want to express my personal sorrow at such fundamental violations of trust that have happened," wrote DiNardo, sharing a statement penned from Rome. For the second time since September, the cardinal is visiting the Vatican to attend the Synod on Young People, the Faith, and the Vocational Discernment.

"We are completely committed to eradicating the evil of sexual abuse in the church and promoting healing among the faithful and those injured by this crime,” wrote DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The participating dioceses are Galveston-Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo, Beaumont, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Laredo, Lubbock, San Angelo, Tyler and Victoria. Each of the bishops agreed last month to release the names during a recent meeting in Austin.

The only Texas diocese listed on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website not participating in the independent review is the Diocese of The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, which is based at the St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.

"It will take some time for files to be reviewed, and there may be people who come forward with new information following this announcement,” Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, of San Antonio, said in his own statement.

Michael Norris, a member of the Houston chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, called the decision to release the names a "positive step,” but he took exception to the use of the phrase “credibly accused.”

“That’s a wiggle word. Who determines credibility,” said Norris, who was sexually abused by a Kentucky priest child. “Of the cases they have said are not credible, my cases is one of those. They told me my case was not credible, but he’s sitting in prison today because a jury thought it was credible.”

Norris has called on Attorney General Ken Paxton to conduct a probe similar to the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report released in August. The sweeping document took two years to compile,with some cases dating back more than 70 years. Its 900 pages identify more than 300 accused priests and the “systematic cover up by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and the Vatican.”

“Why rely on people hired by the Catholic Church,” Norris argued.

The national network of priest abuse survivors also questioned the timing of the lists.

“This move is at best belated, at worst a distracting attempt to stave off inquiries from Texas law enforcement authorities,” a SNAP spokesperson wrote in a statement. “The fact remains that bishops have had the power to make these lists public for years. We are glad that public pressure has risen to the point where bishops felt compelled to take this step today. We hope that this pressure also compels law enforcement officials to follow in the footsteps of Pennsylvania and Michigan in launching an aggressive investigation.”

After learning of the promised lists Wednesday, 69-year-old Belinda Kaylani wondered if the list would name the priest who she says repeatedly groped her at a drive-in theater in Houston’s East End.

The priest, who Kaylani says has since died, allegedly abused her and two more family members while attending a Catholic school in the early 1960s.

Kaylani said she initially saw the priest for counseling after daring to ask her mother for permission to date boys. Her weekly counsels with the priest escalated to inappropriate touching at the drive-in as her younger relatives sat in the backseat, she said.

“If you sat in the front seat, you got felt up, so we would rotate. As time went by I grew so disgusted,” Kaylani said.

She said her mother never thought it was odd at the time for a priest to take children to a drive-in theater to watch Doris Day and Rock Hudson flicks.

“I remember during one scene in the movie, Rock Hudson and Doris Day are going to kiss and you know he actually put his hands over my eyes so I wouldn’t see,” Kaylani said. “What a nut.”

She kept the abuse a secret from her mother until she was in her 30s, when she learned the same priest was back in town to give a eulogy at a friend’s funeral. After speaking of the priest to the rest of her family, she learned one of her relatives endured more harrowing abuse at his hands.

Kaylani considered bringing a lawsuit against the church but a lawyer warned her not to, she said.

“He told me they have a deep war chest and they will destroy you and your family. I let it go,” Kaylani said, adding that she sees hope now that “a lot of survivors are coming forward.

“Finally,” she said. “The pendulum is swinging.”

The pledge on Wednesday to release the names takes a cue from the Diocese of San Bernardino County, California, which on Monday released the identities of 34 priests accused of sexually abusing children, including six who were convicted of criminal charges.

The Diocese used a similar term of “credible allegations” as the criteria for posting a list of the clergy accused of molestation to its website. The list dates back to 1978, when the diocese was formed. The Associated Press reported that all but one of the alleged abusers were removed from the priesthood, permanently banned from the ministry or had since died. The lone unaccounted for priest on the list left the diocese in 1993 and could not be found.

One of the latest scandals to rock the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was the arrest last month of Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, a Houston-area priest facing four counts of indecency with a child. He is accused of molesting a boy and girl, now adults, who attended Conroe’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Both have said that local Catholic leaders, including DiNardo, were dismissive of their stories.

In an interview with the Chronicle, the man said that in August he was flown to Houston to meet with DiNardo.

DiNardo, he said, told him, “Well, you should've told us earlier."