New Orleans archdiocese agrees to release secret files on clergy accused of child sexual abuse

In a gesture of reconciliation to victims of its decades-old clergy molestation scandal, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans has tentatively agreed to publicly release the confidential personnel files of priests and deacons faced with substantial allegations of child sexual abuse.

Church officials on Thursday announced the plan to disclose clergy files as one of several non-monetary commitments in the US's second-oldest Catholic archdiocese efforts to settle a costly federal bankruptcy reorganization first filed in 2020.

The church and more than 500 clergy abuse survivors remain miles apart on the monetary terms of a potential bankruptcy settlement. In September, the church's attorneys proposed that the archdiocese and its affiliates – but not their insurers – should pay about $125,000 to each sexual abuse claimant. A committee of survivors countered that the church, its affiliates and its insurers should pony up $2m to each claimant.

The federal bankruptcy judge directed them to reach an agreement by late January, with the church already having spent more than $40m in fees for attorneys and professional advisers.

A statement from the chair of a committee representing the interests of survivors in the bankruptcy said her group's goal was "to ensure that no child is ever harmed again".

"We all have family and friends who need protection, and I will not be deterred from that goal," chairperson Patricia Moody said.

Moody's fellow survivor James Adams, who preceded Moody as committee chair for a time, hailed the release of abusive clergy files as "huge" – but said the archdiocese should have long ago implemented most of the steps unveiled on Thursday.

"The fact that it's taken our church four and a half years and more than $40m to get to this point – well, I guess better late than never," he said.

New Orleans' archbishop, Gregory Aymond, said in a statement: "The church is committed to protecting children and preventing the evil of child sexual abuse from occurring in our Catholic parishes, schools and ministries. I welcome this progress in our reorganization, but more importantly, I welcome the new means to strengthen our existing, effective programs for the safety and security of our children in all of our ministries.

He added: "It is my prayer that our work with the committee will continue to be collaborative, keeping the survivors at the forefront of decisions."

Thursday's announcement echoed promises that Aymond publicly made in an interview with New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper published in July.

He told the paper he would make archdiocesan files detailing the local church's clergy abuse scandal publicly accessible once the bankruptcy was resolved. He also said he was willing to meet privately with small groups of abuse survivors to hear their stories, and the proposed non-monetary agreement commits to hold those meetings within 18 months of a final settlement.

Further, the proposal would require the church to apologize for the clergy abuse scandal – something the archdiocese in its statement on Thursday made a point to say it had already done but is "once again" doing.

The church and survivors presented the non-monetary settlement terms jointly on Thursday in a 37-page filing in US bankruptcy court. In addition to the disclosure of files, the church also committed to report all claims of child molestation to secular law-enforcement authorities within 90 days of a final settlement agreement.

Since at least April, the New Orleans archdiocese has been under a Louisiana state police investigation for suspected child sex trafficking. A state police search warrant alleges "widespread sexual abuse of minors dating back decades" was "covered up and not reported to law enforcement".

The church also agreed to make changes to the independent review board it has been using to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse and recommend punishment to the archbishop since 2002.

Under the proposed agreement, the church would, for at least 10 years, commit to placing on the board at least two abuse survivors, one child sexual abuse prevention expert and a current or former prosecutor or investigator.

It would also agree to regular child-protection audits, to be published on the archdiocese's website by an independent auditor, for at least 15 years.

Until now, the church always kept secret the members of the independent review board and their investigative findings. Recently, the Guardian and WWL Louisiana revealed documents showing cases in which the review board determined abuse and recommended punishing the accused priests, only to be overruled by Aymond or his predecessor, Alfred Hughes, without explanation.

Other measures the church would take under the agreement reiterate some promises it has made repeatedly – without always following through – in earlier phases of the clergy abuse scandal. They include:

Removing "all plaques, pictures, statues or other public recognition" of clergy molesters from archdiocesan properties;

Posting plaques on all church properties stating the archdiocese has "zero tolerance" for abuse and advising anyone who knows about abuse to report it to police;

Publishing survivors' stories on an archdiocesan website for four years;

Updating the current list of 78 credibly accused clergy with any additional names and with the number of claims filed against each clergy member in the bankruptcy proceedings;

Hiring a child-protection consultant to review the church's policies for protecting children and publishing a public assessment of those policies;

Appointing a youth-protection adviser and hiring a youth-protection executive to focus on preventing future abuse;

Regular reporting of all clergy abuse claims, whether they have been verified or not, to the youth-protection adviser, youth-protection executive and independent review board;

Improved collection of sexual abuse complaints and broader promotion of how complaints can be made, both online and over the phone;

Mental health treatment and related services.

The church's previous failures with collecting and maintaining records of abuse complaints were on full display in 2020, when WWL investigated multiple child molestation allegations against a then living priest named Brian Highfill.

After the station questioned the archdiocese about why it had reviewed only a single complaint among several documented claims against Highfill, Aymond agreed to add Highfill to the church's official list of credibly accused clergy, which did not include any accompanying personnel files when it was first released in 2018. The archdiocese initially told WWL it had no record of a 2002 complaint made against Highfill on the church's dedicated abuse reporting hotline. But moments after Aymond blamed a "clerical error" during an on-camera interview, church officials produced a typed record of that 2002 complaint, saying they had just found it.

Whether any of the non-monetary relief comes to fruition depends on the church and abuse survivors' being able to agree to financial compensation. Recent bankruptcy cases involving Catholic dioceses elsewhere have cost more than $600,000 for each abuse claim.

The archdiocese would have 30 days from any agreement to select a university to archive the previously secret clergy personnel files. A website would then offer access to the archive. And any clergymen who were omitted from the credibly accused list but had at least three abuse claims naming them in the bankruptcy would have their personnel file archived.

The proposal mirrors action taken by John Wester, the Catholic archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wester settled his organization's bankruptcy case in December 2022, in part by agreeing – and then arranging – to deposit files outlining the careers of 150 clergy predators in a public archive at the University of New Mexico. His church also agreed to pay roughly 400 claimants about $320,000 each.

Thursday's proposal does not broaden the definition of adults who are vulnerable to abuse, as some survivor advocates had hoped. Vulnerable adults are now defined as people with mental disabilities. But some adults who claim they were abused while under the spiritual sway of a clergyman have pointed out that some states, including Texas, have laws that make it a crime for clergy members to have sex with adults who emotionally depend on their religious guidance.

Within months of a Guardian investigation published in February, police in Texas filed criminal charges against a priest accused of preying on women whom he met through his work in that state as well as in the New Orleans area.