BishopAccountability.org
	Diocese Will Give DA Abuse Reports Past and Future Incidents Are Covered in Agreement By Bill Dries Commercial Appeal [Memphis TN] January 6, 2005 Memphis Catholic officials Wednesday agreed to report all past and future allegations of child sexual abuse by priests and other clergy or employees to authorities for possible criminal investigation. The agreement came after a 90-minute meeting Downtown between officials of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis and the District Attorney General's office. The closed-door session was arranged by Bishop J. Terry Steib, who did not attend, to talk about why the diocese hasn't reported abuse allegations it has known about for years. "Any case that is currently known by the diocese is going to be turned over to the district attorney's office," said Father John Geaney, communications adviser for the diocese. That doesn't necessarily mean there will be criminal charges or that the names of the accused priests will be made public if they aren't charged. Kevin Rardin, chief prosecutor of child sexual abuse cases for the DA's office, expressed optimism after the meeting. "It's probably the best meeting I've attended in 20 years of being a prosecutor. We have a common goal, and we are going to work together to meet that goal" of protecting children, he said. In two of the three cases made public, either by lawsuits or by a diocesan review board, church officials concluded the priests had probably sexually abused teenagers. They suspended one priest and transferred the other to a medical facility, but they did not report either allegation to the DA's office, which is required by state law. Diocesan officials told The Commercial Appeal in December they didn't believe they had to report the cases because of the way they interpreted the law. Geaney said the public allegations of abuse were "unreportable crimes" because the accusers weren't minors when they reported the abuse and the priests accused weren't the custodians of the children they allegedly abused. "There was an admission that there is confusion about the law," Geaney said Wednesday. "Nevertheless, we are all hopeful that people ... realize the importance of reporting any alleged crimes that they see, that they are aware of, that need to be taken care of." The past allegations to be turned over to prosecutors include one made by a 14-year-old boy in 2000 against Father Juan Carlos Duran, a priest assigned to St. Peter's Catholic Church who said Mass at Church of the Ascension. Duran's victim filed a John Doe civil suit in July against Duran -- who is no longer a priest -- the diocese and the Dominican order. The case is pending; church officials have said in court documents that Duran admitted to them he abused the teenager. Attorney Gary K. Smith, who represents the victim, called the agreement an "important development" that should "bring the predators to justice and will discourage future sexual abuse." "It is unfortunate that that was not the church's policy from the beginning of this problem," Smith said. "... And it is unfortunate that it took intervention from the DA's office, if not the civil suits, for the church to recognize an obvious duty under the law."
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