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- What does restricted mean? Clergy cannot exercise their ministry publicly or in the presence of the public.
- What does laicized mean? Loss of the clerical state: the removal of a bishop, priest, or deacon from clerical status. Such persons can no longer serve in ministry as clergy or publicly or privately celebrate the Church's sacraments.
- What does credibly accused mean? Refers to an allegation that could reasonably have occurred.
- Why are the majority of credibly accused clergy not held accountable in a court of law? Current law prevents prosecution due to the statute of limitations.
- How was the list of credibly accused determined? These are those accused clergy and religious meeting the standard of (3) above while in ministry or residence in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Further information can be found on the archdiocesan website, archdiosf.org, under Victims Assistance and Letter from Archbishop John C. Wester.
- What is the Independent Review Board (IRB)? The role of the IRB is to serve as a confidential consultative body to the archbishop, advising him by independent assessment of allegations of sexual abuse of minors and determination of continued suitability for ministry. The IRB meets quarterly or as needed. It is composed mainly of non-clerical professionals.
When an allegation is brought to the archdiocese's attention, the civil authorities are immediately contacted, and the priest/deacon is suspended from ministry while the case is investigated. When the civil authorities have concluded their investigation or indicated that they will not investigate, the IRB initiates its own investigation, at all times using professional investigators. Then the IRB reviews the results of all investigations and determines the credibility of the allegation. Priests/deacons deemed credibly accused are permanently suspended from ministry in keeping with the archdiocesan zero-tolerance policy. The name is then placed on the official list of credibly accused.- What is “the Charter”? The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and Essential Norms was developed in 2002 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The Charter and its Essential Norms were published as both a guideline and a mandate to each Catholic diocese of the United States to create environments and rules to deal with any allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. It includes directions on reporting as mandated by each jurisdiction's civil reporting laws.
- What is the archdiocese doing now to protect children? The archdiocese mandates all clergy, employees, and volunteers 18 years of age and over to complete a training program (currently VIRTUS; check our website) which provides information on signs and symptoms of abuse for children and vulnerable adults. Those persons must also complete a criminal background check. Also, children and young adults in religious education programs are taught to identify and maintain appropriate physical, emotional, spiritual, and sexual boundaries and to report violations of those boundaries. This is presented every year at every grade level in schools and in parish religious education classes.
- Why doesn’t the archdiocese release personnel files of credibly accused priests? For several reasons: primarily, for the security not only of priests’ personal information, which we are legally bound to keep secure, but also of victims and their families; even descriptions of events might lead to victim/family identification. Remember that the subject priests have not been found guilty but have only been credibly accused, and they have been removed from ministry out of an abundance of caution.
- Will the archdiocese publish priests’ names who have worked in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and were not credibly accused here, but are on other dioceses’ lists of credibly accused? Each diocese has its own standards for determination, and there are almost 200 dioceses in the U.S. We do not know the standards of each diocese or whether their screening-process guidelines would significantly depart from our own.
However, for the sake of openness and our desire to assist abuse victims, we will publish such names on a second list as they become known to the archdiocese.
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These FAQs are provided so that uniform information is available 24/7 for the people whom our Church serves — not only to Roman Catholics but to all within our archdiocese. The list will be amended as deemed necessary to facilitate public information and support the healing of victims.
You may send recommendations for other questions to be answered by emailing [email protected]. We will regularly group similar questions/answers and append them to the FAQ site when warranted, minimizing duplication and thereby facilitating readability. Insightful input may help us refine/improve our processes; if our answer is negative, we'll explain the reasons why — usually centered on victims' privacy rights, the accused’s legal and privacy rights, and the pursuit of what is morally just.
Our hope and desire is to serve by instilling greater comfort and assurance in the people of our Archdiocese of Santa Fe and in the world, and to affirm that we are ever seeking to improve our processes, the goal of which, of course, is to ensure the safety and security of all.