EXPOSED: 4,333 Catholic Priests in the U.S. Accused of Sexually Abusing Children and/or Possessing Child Pornography

According to the National Federation of Priests’ Councils (NFPC) as of 2016 there was, “a total of 37,192 priests in the United States (25,760 diocesan priests and 11,432 religious priests).” The NFPC reported that 590 priests were ordained in 2017.

According to the United States Conference of Bishops, Priestly Life and Ministry website:

The Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations (CCLV) serves the bishops’ committee on CCLV which provides leadership regarding priestly life and ministry and to respond to the needs and concerns of priests.

[ … ]

The Secretariat also assists the Bishops’ Committee on Child and Youth Protection which develops projects and resources to assist bishops in dealing with the problem of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and religious. [Emphasis added]

The featured image (above) is of Fr. James Martin, S.J. introducing the rock band Metallica with the devil horns sign (Screenshot: The Colbert Report, 09/24/13). According to TFP Student Action, media reports found that Fr. Martin:

Supports transgenderism for children

Said that Catholics should “reverence” homosexual unions

Favors homosexual kissing during Mass (sacrilege against God)

Tweeted a blasphemous photo of Our Lady of Guadalupe to 169,000 followers (Dec. 12, 2017)

Received an award from New Ways Ministry, a group condemned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Lucia I. Suarez Sang in a January 18th, 2018 Fox News article titled “Pope Francis defends bishop accused of sexual abuse cover up: ‘Bring me proof’” reported:

Pope Francis appeared to strongly defend a Chilean bishop accused of covering up a priest’s sexual abuse of young boys just days after meeting and weeping with survivors.

“The day they bring me proof against Bishop [Juan] Barros, then I will speak,” Francis said when a journalist asked about the 61-year-old bishop, appointed by him in 2015, despite the cover up accusations. “There is not a single piece of proof against him. This calumny [or slander]. Is this clear?”

Many Chileans are still furious at Francis’ decision to appoint Bishop Juan Barros as the bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Barros was a protégé of the country’s most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima.

Read more.

There is one organization that tracks allegations of sexual abuses by Catholic Priests in the United States. The organization is Bishop Accountability.

Bishop Accountability has a searchable database of all U.S. Catholic clergy accused of sexually abusing children and/or possessing child abuse images, commonly referred to as child pornography. According to the Bishop Accountability website:

This database provides convenient access, for law enforcement and other interested persons, to the names of all U.S. Catholic clergy accused of sexually abusing children and/or possessing child abuse images, commonly referred to as child pornography. Links are provided to the publicly filed court documents and mainstream media articles that are the sources for this database, and a factual summary of the allegations is provided for each accused person. This database continues and extends the work done by the Diocese of Tucson, which published the first diocesan list on June 21, 2002, and the approximately two dozen dioceses that have since published lists of their own. Their efforts were based on internal diocesan lists (see a sample from Boston) maintained during the 1990s. Our list also has other precursors, as described in our overview.

The Database of Publicly Accused Priests does not state or imply that individuals facing allegations are guilty of a crime or liable for civil claims. The reports contained in the database are merely allegations. The U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

To search the Bishop Accountability Database by priest’s name, Diocese or state please click here.

A quick search of the five largest states by population found the following numbers of Catholic priests accused of of sexually abusing children and/or possessing child pornography: