Survivors and advocates: Judge Scott’s decision to deny AG subpoenas gives Church a free pass
AG Ferguson has vowed to immediately appeal the decision
Survivors are urged to continue calling AG’s clergy abuse hotline at 833-952-6277
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JULY 12, 2024
CONTACT:
Tim Law
Catholic Accountability Project Founding Member
Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) Board Member
timalaw@aol.com
206-412-0165
Mary Dispenza
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Northwest Director
Catholic Accountability Project Founding Member
425-941-6001
mcdispenza@comcast.net
This afternoon in King County Superior Court, Judge Michael Scott denied Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s petition to compel Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle to cooperate with subpoenas from his office for documents and evidence pertaining to sexual abuse of children and vulnerable people and its institutional concealment.
Ferguson immediately vowed to continue fighting for clergy abuse survivors by appealing the decision, saying “Washingtonians deserve a full public accounting of the Church’s involvement and responsibility for the child sexual abuse crisis.”
Survivors and advocates of the Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) are stunned that Judge Scott has ruled that the Archdiocese of Seattle has an organizational exemption from investigation into their pattern and practice of facilitating and enabling child sexual abuse and concealing it from Catholics and the public. This is an extreme and dangerous position that functions to give the Church a free pass to use charitable funds to insulate itself from accountability for sexual violence.
CAP is grateful to Attorney General Ferguson for his allegiance to survivors and committed to fighting alongside the attorney general’s office for justice, accountability, and healing for the Church’s crimes that have impacted thousands of survivors in Washington State. The organization has reached out to the campaigns of attorney general candidates Nick Brown, state Senator Manka Dhingra, and Pete Serrano to schedule meetings to discuss how their potential administrations could effectively support survivors and continue to pursue justice for clergy sexual abuse.
At the conclusion of today’s hearing, survivors asked Ferguson if today’s decision would impact his hotline for reporting abuse and cover-up. Ferguson responded that his office is still encouraging survivors and anyone with information about sexual abuse and cover-up to call his office.
Tim Law, a founding member of CAP said, “Archbishop Etienne is not being truthful when he tells Seattle Catholics he is cooperating with Ferguson's investigation. The attorney general's office made it very clear in court today that Etienne is not cooperating. It is now more important than ever for survivors, their family members, and Catholics of conscience to contact Attorney General Ferguson’s office to report abuse and cover-up.”
Yesterday afternoon, CAP delivered around 7,500 pages of abuse-related documents and evidence from Church whistleblowers to Attorney General Ferguson's Seattle office. The organization expects that the attorney general's office will review and investigate the documents for evidence for violations of criminal and civil law.
CAP is urging victims, concerned Catholics, and whistleblowers to report their abuse, and share their experiences and concerns, as well as any other relevant documents and evidence by calling the Attorney General’s clergy abuse hotline at 833-952-6277.
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The Catholic Accountability Project (CAP) is dedicated to advocating for justice for victims of clergy sexual abuse and holding perpetrators and those who enabled them responsible for their actions. We relentlessly pursue the vision of a church free from abuse through proactive intervention by justice officials, an unequivocal end to secrecy, and an unwavering commitment to full accountability for the harm caused.