Creditors’ Committee Identifies 46 Additional Names in Supplemental Release
(Long Island, NY) – On April 15, 2021, a list of clergy accused of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Rockville Centre was included in a group of documents filed in United States Bankruptcy Court. Until last week, the Diocese of Rockville Centre was the only Catholic Diocese in New York to refuse to release a list of accused clergy.
The “List of Accused Clergy,” as identified in the bankruptcy court filings, contains the names of 101 priests and deacons that the Diocese (Debtor) “knows have been the subject of an adverse determination by the Diocesan Review Board of the Debtor that an allegation of clergy abuse against such priest or deacon was credible or against whom an allegation clergy abuse was made through the Debtor’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (“IRCP”) and the Debtor made a payment in settlement of such allegation through the IRCP.”
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditor’s list, also released a supplemental list of 46 names. The names contained in this list consist of “people who have served within the territorial limits of the Diocese of Rockville Centre” and were “accused of committing sexual abuse.” Additionally, the list includes names that “a religious order and/or diocese outside the Diocese of Rockville Centre found sexual abuse accusations against these people to be credible or lawsuits have been filed against the alleged perpetrator.”
“The Diocese of Rockville Centre has fiercely defended these dangerous secrets for years at the peril of the community,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, whose law firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates, released a database earlier this month identifying 144 alleged perpetrators in lawsuits filed under the New York Child Victims Act involving the Diocese of Rockville Centre. “It is thanks to the courageous survivors who have exposed those who harmed them that these predators can no longer hide in the shadows. Every survivor’s story has immense power to break through the wall of secrecy held up by the Diocese of Rockville Centre.”
Notable alleged perpetrators who are not included in the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s “List of Accused Clergy” but who were named on the Creditors’ Committee list and have at least one lawsuit filed (8/14/19-12/31/20) identifying them as an alleged abuser include:
- Harold Cox – 11 lawsuits filed
- Romano J. Ferraro – 21 lawsuits filed, including two involving the Diocese of Rockville Centre
- Bishop John R. McGann – 1 lawsuit filed
- Alan Placa – 2 lawsuits filed, both involving the Diocese of Rockville Centre