ProPublica on Tuesday published the first and only interactive nationwide database that lets users search for Catholic clergy who have been officially disclosed as credibly accused of sexual abuse. The database includes more than 6,700 names, more than 5,800 of which are unique, from reports released as of Jan. 20 by 178 bishops, archbishops, and religious community leaders across the U.S. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the religious leaders’ national membership organization, has not made public a centralized list of clergy members nationwide who have been credibly accused of sexual assault. According to ProPublica, 41 dioceses and eparchies serving nine million American Catholics have not released lists—including over 1.5 million in Florida. ProPublica reporters are said to have spent months collecting lists originally released by more than 100 dioceses and religious orders, prompted by a 900-page-report published in 2018 by a Pennsylvania grand jury. That report revealed abuse by more than 300 priests and detailed a systematic cover-up by church leaders.
