A new report from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) shows that nationwide, from mid-2022 to mid-2023, just over 1,300 allegations of clerical abuse came to light , while compensation to victims reached $284 million, tens of millions more than the previous year.
The 1,300 complaints is a lower figure than the 2,704 filed the previous year, according to the report, while in 2019 some 4,434 lawsuits were filed.
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Of those accusations, the dioceses and eparchies considered 229 to be credible; 71% of those reports concerned incidents that occurred or began in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The total number of new reports of victims who were minors in the year studied remained similar to the previous year, at 17.
“These figures are not just numbers. “Statistics are the many stories and tales of the betrayal of trust and the lifelong journey to recovery,” wrote Bishop Timothy Broglio, Military Archbishop of the United States and president of the USCCB, in the introduction to the report.
“I am very grateful to the surviving victims for reporting the abuse they suffered, for holding us all accountable and for allowing us to accompany them on their path,” he said.
The 2024 report, released May 27, was produced in collaboration with an accounting firm by the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, a lay advisory body to the bishops established in 2002 for the protection of children and young people. .
The report covers the period between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. All 196 Catholic dioceses and eparchies participated in collecting data for the audit, but not all 196 dioceses and eparchies participated in an audit on sitethe report noted.
However, the document cited a “very high percentage of clergy, educators, seminarians and employees receiving training in the area of child safety and abuse prevention, along with equally high numbers of those participating in background checks.”
“No other institution can easily provide and publish the body of knowledge and statistics like the Catholic Church does. The abuse crisis in the Church is part of a broader social problem of abuse,” Bishop Broglio continued.
Furthermore, he noted: “What are we learning as a Church due to the abuse crisis? By acknowledging evil and communicating repentance and pain, the Church is taking responsibility for its failure to protect. We are emphasizing the core value of relationships and encounters. We are implementing steps and measures for safe environments and following up on close cases. The child or vulnerable person is at the center of these conversations.”
The numbers
The number of clergy accused of sexual abuse of a minor during the audit period totaled 842. Of this total, 548 were diocesan priests, 122 belonged to a religious order, 34 were incardinated elsewhere, and 51 were deacons. Of the clergy identified, 45% had been accused in previous audit periods. Since 2019, the majority—two-thirds—of abuse allegations have been made known to a diocese, eparchy, or religious community through a lawyer.
Of the 1,308 complaints identified in this report, 17 involved people who were minors when they filed the complaints: four males, 11 females, and two were unknown due to a lack of detailed information.
Taking a broader view, the report notes that, considering all reports of abuse received in the US from 2004 to 2023, 55% of all credible reports occurred or began before 1975, 41% occurred or began between 1975 and 1999, and 4% began or occurred since 2000.
Of those allegations, three were corroborated, seven were under investigation, four were not corroborated, two were categorized as unverifiable and one was categorized as other, according to the report. There were 44 reports of child abuse filed in 2021, of which only four were corroborated.
Of those accused, the report says that nine out of ten (91%) are dead, already retired from ministry, expelled from the clerical state or missing. An additional 5% of those identified during 2023 were permanently removed from ministry during that time; a handful were temporarily removed from the ministry while the allegations were investigated. None were returned to the ministry nor remain in active ministry pending investigation, according to the report.
Separately, the report identified 113 credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor committed by priests, brothers and deacons of religious orders, made by 111 people against 69 individuals. The alleged victims in this case were 80% men; However, only 63% of religious institutes provided information for the report.
As with the diocesan clergy, a high percentage, 91%, of the accused religious are dead, already retired from ministry, expelled from the clerical state or missing.
Costs
The report found that the dioceses and eparchies that responded to the survey paid $260,509,528 million to victims between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, a figure 66% higher than that reported for the year 2022. In the last decade, only the years 2020 and 2019 respectively saw higher total payment amounts. The 2023 payment figure includes payments for complaints reported in previous years, the report notes.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Jonah McKeown
Jonah McKeown is a writer and podcast producer for Catholic News Agency. He has a master’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has worked as a writer, radio producer and videographer.