On May 9th, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that his office is seeking a court order to obtain documents pertaining to clergy sexual abuse and its institutional concealment from the Archdiocese of Seattle. Ferguson confirmed what members of the Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) had announced at a press conference in February: his office had sent subpoenas to Archbishop Étienne of Seattle, Bishop Tyson of Yakima, and Bishop Daly of Spokane last summer. The Attorney General shared that his office sent another round of subpoenas in the spring and that the Catholic dioceses of Washington state had all refused to comply. The dioceses, led by Archbishop Étienne of Seattle refused to share any information that is not already publicly available.

CAP members were present in person and on the phone to urge Attorney General Ferguson to follow-up by sending subpoenas to religious orders with clergy serving in Washington State. Three religious orders have published lists of offenders, many of whom also served in Washington State’s diocesan parishes:

These files must be obtained and reviewed.

CAP members also urged the Attorney General to contact the Vatican through the US Ambassador to the Holy See Joe Donnelly to obtain abuse records from the Vatican’s archives. Since Pope Francis’s 2019 lifting of papal secrecy, Catholic bishops are required to comply with law enforcement investigations by sharing abuse records.

Since 2018's groundbreaking Grand Jury Investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, 23 state attorneys general have undertaken investigations into abuse in the Catholic Church and other faith-based organizations. Washington State is now the 24th state to open an official investigation.

The Attorney General has taken this step after years of public activism by survivors and advocates demanding accountability for clergy abuse and cover-up in Washington State.

In November 2018, clergy abuse survivors from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) met with public safety policy advisors in Governor Jay Inslee’s office to share information regarding the scale and severity of clergy abuse in Washington State, the participation of Catholic bishops and other religious leaders in the institutional concealment of abuse, and to request public support from Governor Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson for a statewide clergy abuse investigation.

On Tuesday, February 13th, 2024, the Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) held a press conference to discuss subpoena requests that were sent to Archbishop Étienne of Seattle, Bishop Tyson of Yakima, and Bishop Daly of Spokane last August seeking abuse-related documents and evidence. We praised Attorney General Ferguson for taking this step and urged him to make his investigation public and take the following steps that survivors know are necessary to an effective investigation:

  • Immediately establish a confidential hotline and online reporting system, as has been done in other statewide investigations. This would provide a secure platform for victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers to expose abuse and cover-up within faith-based organizations. 

  • Compel the production of pertinent documents, evidence, and the testimony of leadership in organizations where abuse has transpired. 

  • Pursue, in cooperation with local district attorneys, criminal prosecutions based on evidence uncovered in the course of his investigation

  • Issue a comprehensive final report to the citizens of Washington State, detailing the Attorney General's findings.

Now that Attorney General Ferguson has made his investigation public, CAP will continue to hold the Attorney General’s office accountable to their promises to survivors and urge any person with information about abuse and cover-up to report by calling this number: 833-952-6277.