Where Are They Now?

The Associated Press has released the results of a comprehensive investigation it conducted to locate those defrocked priests who were credibly accused of child sexual abuse. AP’s investigators researched public databases and other publicly–available on–line resources to locate the almost 2,000 defrocked priests who are still alive. Here are some of what the AP’s investigation revealed:

• Almost 1,700 defrocked priests currently live unsupervised;
• 76 could not be located;
• 168 are still working in a church:
  • 43 serve as priests in the United States;
  • 33 serve as priests abroad;
  • 14 serve in lay positions;
  • 11 serve as fill–in priests;
  • 11 serve in administrative roles;
• 76 hold current professional licenses including:
  • 28 in education;
  • 24 in counseling;
  • 13 in medicine;
  • 14 in social work;
• 65 have been charged with crimes after leaving the Church. Of those:
  • 15 charged with sexual assault or abuse;
  • 13 charged with possessing, creating or distributing child pornography;
  • 5 for failing to comply with sex registry rules;
  • 3 charged with indecent exposure;

The more public attention and scrutiny that can be focused on clergy child sex abusers and those who ignored, hid or enabled them, the better protected all of society will be.