The Archdiocese of Seattle is refusing to turn over documents showing how it handled child sexual abuse allegations by church leaders, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news conference Thursday.
The archdiocese is citing a legal exemption for religious organizations that shields the records from public disclosure, said Ferguson, who has asked a King County Superior Court judge to force the church to comply with the office’s subpoenas and turn over the documents. Ferguson has requested a May 22 hearing.
Ferguson’s motion comes months after his office issued subpoenas to the state’s three dioceses — Seattle, Spokane and Yakima — as part of an investigation into allegations that they misused charitable funds to cover up decades of sexual abuse by church leaders. The investigation also seeks to identify accused priests and determine the church’s role in how it had kept those in positions of power, Ferguson said.
Ferguson is among nearly two dozen state attorneys general in the country investigating alleged abuse by church leaders, he said at a news conference Thursday in Seattle.
He said states such as Illinois have found hundreds more “substantiated child sex abusers” compared to what Catholic officials have disclosed.
“This investigation is not about second guessing the church’s use of funds for legitimate religious or charitable purposes,” said Ferguson, who is running for governor. “Abuse of children is obviously not a religious or charitable purpose — that exemption does not apply to them.”
His office will file similar motions for the Yakima and Spokane dioceses if they refuse to cooperate with the investigation, Ferguson said.
Ferguson said the Attorney General’s Office made a round of subpoenas to all three dioceses last summer and this spring.
In a statement Thursday, the Archdiocese of Seattle said it had cooperated with the Attorney General’s Office for the last 10 months and had already turned over some of the information requested in an April subpoena, including offering to share with the office this week a series of “private deposition documents.”
The archdiocese also referenced a list it made public in 2016 of all 83 clergy members in the archdiocese who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor, and said it had received no new reports since 2007.
“Only by addressing this issue directly, will victims and the Church find healing,” the organization said in a statement. “However, based on the recommendations and guidance of professionals, we must do so in a way that protects the privacy of victims and ensures they are not re-traumatized.”
The archdiocese said it had asked the Attorney General’s Office earlier this year if they could hold a joint news conference about the investigation, but was rebuffed.
The Attorney General’s Office does not typically discuss ongoing investigations, but did so Thursday because it is taking legal action against the Archdiocese of Seattle, Ferguson said.
The Attorney General’s Office set up a hotline for victims and people with information to call at 833-952-6277.
“There is still time for the church to do the right thing — I can’t say I’m optimistic, but there is still time,” Ferguson said. “I’m speaking more as a Catholic than as an attorney general, but I have personally asked them to do that and to do the right thing and to do it now.”
In a statement, Washington-based nonprofit Catholic Accountability Project called for Ferguson’s office to share with survivors and advocates documents it gets from the archdioceses as the investigation progresses. The organization also called for Ferguson’s office to work with the Vatican to obtain documents in its archive as well.
Terry Carroll, a retired King County judge and member of Heal Our Church, an organization pushing for transparency concerning sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Church, said the Archdiocese of Seattle should have made the documents sought by the Attorney General’s Office public years ago.
“What entity purporting to represent the teaching of our Lord would not welcome the idea of truth and reconciliation unless there was something to hide?” said Carroll, who is Catholic. “It is critical that the chips fall where they may with any conclusions of the attorney general in their investigation — this is essential for our church to heal and move on.”