Judge rejects effort by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to get records from Catholic church

[Pelican Press 0]

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Judge rejects effort by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to get records from ********* *******

SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state judge said Friday that Attorney General

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is not entitled

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seeking decades of records from the Seattle Archdiocese, despite his assertion that the records are needed to learn whether the ********* ******* used charitable trust funds to cover up ******* ****** by priests.

Judge Michael Scott sided with the archdiocese, which argued that under the state’s law governing charitable trusts, Ferguson did not have authority to enforce the subpoena. The law contains an exemption designed to ensure the state does not meddle in religious practices.

Nevertheless, Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne said in a written statement after Friday’s decision that the ******* is willing to provide the state with relevant records and collaborate with Ferguson on the investigation “in a lawful manner.”

“******* ****** in the ******* is a heart-wrenching part of our history, and I am deeply sorry for the pain caused to victim survivors, their families and all **********,” Etienne said. “We remain focused on the need for healing and proper governance in these matters. … Because we are committed to preventing ******, promoting transparency and continuously improving our processes, my offer to collaborate with the attorney general still stands.”

Ferguson, himself a *********, said his office would appeal. The state argued that the exemption in the law does protect religious practices — but that using charitable trust money to conceal or facilitate **** ****** was not a religious practice.

“Our ****** for survivors of clergy ****** is not over,” Ferguson said in a news release. “Washingtonians deserve a full public accounting of the *******’s involvement in and responsibility for the child ******* ****** crisis.”

Ferguson filed the case in May, saying the ******* was stonewalling its investigation by refusing to comply with the subpoena.

At the time, the archdiocese called his allegations a surprise, saying it welcomed the investigation and shares the state’s goals — “preventing ****** and helping victim survivors on their path to healing and peace.”

******* officials said the records sought by the state were excessive and irrelevant — including every receipt going back to 1940, in an archdiocese with more than 170 pastoral locations and 72 schools.

Some 23 states have conducted investigations of the ********* *******, and so far at least nine have issued reports detailing their findings. In some cases, those findings have gone far beyond what ******* officials had voluntarily disclosed.

For example, the six ********* dioceses in Illinois had reported publicly that there had been 103 clerics and religious brothers credibly accused of child **** ******. But in

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, the Illinois attorney general’s office said it had uncovered detailed information on 451 who had ********* abused at least 1,997 children.

Similarly, Maryland last year

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of just how widespread the ****** was: More than 150 ********* priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore ********* abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability. In 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury found that more than 300 ********* clerics had abused more than 1,000 children in that state over the prior 70 years.

The Seattle Archdiocese has published a list of 83 clerics it says were credibly accused, and it says that beginning in the 1980s it was one of the first in the nation to begin adopting policies to address and prevent ******* ****** by priests. ******* ****** by ******* personnel peaked in 1975, and there have been no reports since 2007, the archdiocese said.

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#Judge #rejects #effort #Washington #Attorney #General #Bob #Ferguson #records #********* #*******

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