The accused are spread across 14 Texas dioceses.
Texas Catholic leaders have identified a total of 286 priests and a few others accused of abusing children[/tweetit] through sexual means. The report is arguably the biggest collection of names released since the grand jury report in Pennsylvania in 2018. A total of 14 Texas dioceses released the names of accused clergy. The Dallas diocese and a few others are relying on retired federal and police investigators to review all materials including church files to shore up abuse claims.
TX Catholic Leaders Release 286 Names of Clergy Accused of Sexually Abusing Children[/tweetthis]
One other exception to not release names was the Laredo diocese. James Tamayo, its bishop, said church staff had already gone through the records from the time it was created. As per Bishop Tamayo, the church discovered no credible allegations. Records, however, state names of a few accused priests. One of them was Domingo De Llano. He was ordained in 1966 in Laredo for Diocese of Corpus Christi. De Llano retired from the priesthood in 1999. He died in 2013. Two more Laredo priests, Armando Escobedo and Frank Gomez, both of the Brownsville diocese, were also named. Both did their assignments at the St. Francis Xavier Cabrini Church. Both had several assignments at various South Texas churches.
This action by Texas church leaders comes months after a mind-numbing Pennsylvania report documenting about 70 years weight of horrific child abuse came to light. The children were tortured by approximately 300 priests who were attached to about 50 dioceses. A total of about 1,250 priest names and related accused were released. About 60 percent of the accused have already died. Law enforcement officers are now looking into the records of 30 other dioceses which have pledged to release names of other priests whose names came up in the credibly accused list in the next couple of months.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, who heads the Galveston-Houston Archdioceses, is anticipated to attend the Pope Francis-called February summit to sensitize leaders of churches under the Vatican to victims’ pains. Church leaders will be instructed on how to create general protocols and investigate cases for use by the church hierarchy.