San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone responded Friday to what he heard in hours of testimony this week in bankruptcy court from survivors of Catholic clergy abuse.
More than a year into the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case, the court, for the first time, spent two days this week hearing directly from alleged victims, with Cordileone and church lawyers in the room.
Cordileone has repeatedly declined interview requests from NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit over the past few years to discuss more than 500 child sexual abuse lawsuits that recently hit the archdiocese. Cordileone, however, released a statement Friday apologizing for “the sins of some Church ministers.”
“I attended two in-court listening sessions for survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests and lay people exercising ministry in the Catholic Church,” Cordileone said in the statement. “Sadly, the sexual abuse of children and young people remains horrifically rampant in society today, and hearing such powerful testimonies, which required great courage on the part of those who survived this horror in their life, leaves no doubt as to the depth of the evil of such iniquity.”
The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy last year in response to the wave of lawsuits, made possible by a recent law opening a three-year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue their alleged abusers, or those who enabled abuse, in court, no matter how far back the claims go.
The lawsuits are now on hold in state court, however, as the archdiocese seeks resolution in federal bankruptcy court. Outraged survivors who spoke at this week’s hearings said the move deprived them of a chance to be heard by a jury and put church officials on the witness stand.
“This opportunity was ripped from us,” one speaker said. “When I think about what we seek, and what I seek, it is simply justice.”
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Multiple survivors pressed Cordileone for more transparency from the church and a speedy resolution to the bankruptcy case, which the archbishop responded to in his statement.
“Several survivors in these listening sessions asked that we do everything in our power to accelerate the Chapter 11 process to help them achieve some level of closure,” Cordileone wrote. “I agree with their perspective. We have worked diligently toward transparency and a timely resolution in collaboration with the other parties involved in this bankruptcy process, and I hope that by doing so we will be able to fulfill this desire of theirs.”
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Plaintiffs’ attorney Rick Simons said, however, he wants to see more action and fewer statements from Cordileone.
“If they want to accelerate the process, if they want to see justice for survivors, they have all the tools and the power to do that,” Simons said. “They don’t need to issue a statement; they just need to do it. It’s time for action, not press releases.
Survivors say they expect a long road ahead in the bankruptcy case and worry that many among them won’t live to see closure.
“Some of our ranks have died without knowing justice,” one survivor said.
NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit will continue following this story.
