Types of Sexual Abuse | Sokolove Law

How the Church Handles Catholic Priest Sex Abuse

For decades, the Church has been accused of hiding Catholic clergy abuse instead of reporting it to members of law enforcement.

In 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury’s report revealed a “playbook” used by dioceses to manage and hide abuse allegations.

Tactics used by the Church to hide child abuse included:

Conducting biased or insufficient internal investigations that often protected the accused and avoided accountability
Failing to inform the public or parishioners about known abusers, which allowed them to continue accessing children
Sending abusive priests to treatment centers instead of reporting them to law enforcement
Transferring the priests to new parishes once they were deemed “rehabilitated”
Using language in internal documents like “boundary issues” or “inappropriate” to downplay abuse

“The bishops weren’t just aware of what was going on; they were immersed in it. And they went to great lengths to keep it secret. The secrecy helped spread the disease.”
– Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report

Even when internal investigations found allegations credible, many priests were allowed to continue working. While some were formally defrocked or removed from the priesthood, this often meant little in practice.

It’s estimated that nearly 2,000 former clergy members live unsupervised, sometimes near schools or playgrounds. Others sought new roles in education, counseling, ministry, or as foster parents. With the truth hidden, known abusers are often free to offend again.

Call (866) 418-2146 now to see if you may qualify for a Catholic Church sexual abuse settlement. It costs nothing to speak with us.

Catholic Priest Sexual Abuse List

The Catholic Church has released the names of hundreds of priests and clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Many served in parishes across the country for years, sometimes even after Church leaders were aware of the allegations.

The list below includes priests and parishes tied to abuse claims, based on Church disclosures, legal filings, and media investigations:

Archdiocese of Baltimore: A statewide investigation launched by the Maryland Attorney General in 2018 revealed that more than 150 clergy members had abused over 600 children within the Archdiocese. This number has continued to grow as more survivors come forward.
Gilbert Gauthe: One of the first widely publicized cases of clergy abuse in the U.S., Gauthe, a priest with the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana, was accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting children. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1985 and served 10 years before being released.
John Geoghan: At the center of the 2002 Boston clergy abuse scandal, Geoghan was accused of abusing more than 130 children and was convicted that same year. Investigative reporting by The Boston Globe and the release of thousands of Church documents revealed a widespread pattern of moving accused priests between parishes.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick: In 2018, McCarrick was accused of sexually abusing a teenager and multiple seminary students, becoming the first U.S. cardinal forced to resign due to sexual abuse allegations. He later faced criminal charges in Massachusetts and Wisconsin, but he was deemed not competent to stand trial in either case.
Daniel McCormack: Once a Chicago priest, McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing 5 boys and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. In 2023, he was committed indefinitely to a state facility after being deemed a sexually violent person.
Arthur Perrault: A former priest who fled the U.S., Perrault was sentenced in 2019 to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing an altar boy at a veterans’ cemetery and military base in New Mexico. The judge called it the worst child sex abuse case she had seen in 26 years on the bench.
Paul Shanley: A former Boston priest and one of the first to be imprisoned during the Catholic Church abuse scandal, Shanley was convicted in 2005 of repeatedly raping a boy in the 1980s.
Michael Zacharias: In 2023, the Ohio priest was sentenced to life in prison after a federal jury convicted him on 5 counts of sex trafficking.

This list represents only a small number of the priests and parishes named in clergy sexual abuse allegations. In many cases, abusers have yet to be publicly identified.

Where Does Roman Catholic Church Abuse Occur?

Sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church has been reported nationwide and in a wide range of settings. Abuse often occurred in places where clergy members had unsupervised access to children, sometimes under the pretense of religious instruction.

Roman Catholic abuse has taken place in:

Catholic schools and classrooms
Parish churches and rectories
Private residences and businesses
Summer camps and youth retreats

Investigations and civil sexual abuse lawsuits have revealed abuse in dioceses across the country, including in California, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, among many others.

Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Statistics

While the Catholic Church has publicly released thousands of names of credibly accused clergy, the actual scope of abuse may be far greater than these lists reveal.

Decades of cover-ups, underreporting, and institutional silence have hidden the full extent of the crisis, often preventing survivors from coming forward until years or even decades later.

Find out about Catholic Church abuse statistics in the United States:

Approximately 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have been formally reported in America from 1950 to 2002, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The abuse allegations involve nearly 4,500 perpetrators, with 95% identified as priests, 4% as religious brothers, and 1% as deacons.
Dioceses and religious orders received 16,276 credible allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests, deacons, or religious brothers over a 20-year period, as reported by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
A Pennsylvania grand jury report identified more than 300 priests who abused over 1,000 children during a 70-year period.
At least 20 other states have opened investigations into Roman Catholic dioceses, uncovering thousands of additional victims. Despite widespread abuse, few cases have led to criminal prosecutions.
Around 62% of U.S. Catholics believe clergy sexual abuse remains an ongoing issue, while only 31% consider it a problem of the past, according to Pew Research Center.
Between 2004 and 2024, the Church paid out over $5 Billion in Catholic abuse settlements and legal fees.

Catholic Church sex abuse statistics likely reflect only part of the truth. Many survivors have never reported what happened to them due to trauma, fear, shame, or lack of support. As more victims step forward, the full scope of this crisis continues to emerge.

The Latest Catholic Church Sex Abuse News

The Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis continues to unfold, with new lawsuits, investigations, and settlements making headlines across the country. These recent developments reflect both the lasting harm survivors have endured and the growing demand for accountability.

Here are the latest Catholic Church abuse lawsuit updates and news:

September 9, 2026: The Diocese of Winona-Rochester’s largest insurer agreed to pay $30 Million to 145 survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and staff, resolving claims involving abuse dating back to the early 1960s.
August 26, 2026: A committee advocating for clergy sexual abuse survivors claims Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington transferred $405 Million in parish real estate into trusts to hide the assets from survivors pursuing compensation.
August 20, 2026: A Catholic high school in New Orleans allegedly agreed to a confidential settlement to resolve allegations of child abuse by a janitor. Jesuit High School, a private Roman Catholic college prep school for boys, previously settled a similar lawsuit involving the same janitor and one of his colleagues for more than $2.4 Million, according to reports.
August 14, 2026: A recent Arizona Supreme Court ruling found that clergy members in the state may not be required to report child sexual abuse disclosed through confession or other confidential religious communications.
August 3, 2026: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence was hit with over 50 sexual abuse lawsuits in the 3 weeks since a new Rhode Island law reopened the window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims. The law, which took effect July 1, 2026, allows claims going back as far as 35 years to be filed.
July 1, 2026: The Archdiocese of San Francisco reached a proposed $395 Million settlement to resolve approximately 530 clergy sexual abuse lawsuits filed after California temporarily revived expired claims. If approved, the agreement would compensate survivors and help conclude the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
June 25, 2026: A judge ruled that the Archdiocese of New York must turn over documents related to their global child sexual abuse settlement efforts to Chubb Insurance. The ruling is part of an ongoing dispute over coverage for clergy sexual abuse claims and could affect how abuse settlements are funded.
June 5, 2026: Rhode Island senators voted 37-0 to approve legislation creating a 2-year revival window for previously time-barred childhood sexual abuse claims against institutions, including the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
May 20, 2026: The Diocese of Ogdensburg has agreed to a $45 Million sex abuse settlement to resolve about 125 claims filed by survivors.
April 21, 2026: The Archdiocese of New York has proposed an $800 Million sexual abuse settlement to resolve about 1,300 claims made possible by the state’s lookback laws.
March 18, 2026: At least 75 Catholic priests in Rhode Island sexually assaulted more than 300 children dating back to 1950, according to a multiyear investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Providence. In an effort to hide allegations of abuse, the Diocese reportedly kept a “secret archive” of internal investigations, settlement records, and more.
February 11, 2026: Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Gregory Aymond, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans, as approximately 600 sexual abuse survivors await their share of compensation from a $305 Million Louisiana Catholic Church abuse settlement.
January 15, 2026: Prosecutors in Bexar County, Texas dismissed charges against George Ndungu, a priest who is accused of sexually assaulting an employee of St. Roma Lima Catholic Church and a parishioner in her 70s. The Archdiocese of San Antonio expressed disappointment and noted that they’re in the process of removing Ndungu’s titles and duties as a Catholic priest.
December 30, 2025: A New Jersey judge denied Delbarton School’s request for a new trial, upholding a $5 Million verdict for a former student who alleged sexual assault by a monk at the all-boys Catholic school nearly 50 years ago.
December 17, 2025: The Archdiocese of New York plans to create a $300 Million settlement fund to resolve about 1,300 sexual abuse claims. If approved, the payout would be one of the largest ever by an Archdiocese in the U.S.
November 2025: A lawsuit alleges the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph ignored years of warnings about Father John Tulipana, a now-deceased priest. The anonymous plaintiff says Tulipana groomed and abused him in the 1970s and that the Diocese discouraged his mother from filing a formal report.
October 27, 2025: In New York, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany settled a priest sexual abuse lawsuit for $8 Million. The lawsuit claims Father Edward Charles Pratt sexually abused a boy starting when he was just 11 years old.
October 10, 2025: In New Jersey, a jury awarded a former student $5 Million in a clergy sex abuse case against Delbarton School, finding that the school negligently supervised Rev. Richard Edward Lott.
October 1, 2025: More than 2 years after the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy, survivors have sent letters to the court accusing the Archdiocese and lawyers of dragging out the process. They claim over $11 Million has been spent on legal fees, but survivors have yet to receive any payment.
September 2025: The Archdiocese of New Orleans has agreed to increase their Catholic Church sexual abuse settlement fund to $230 Million. The increase follows pushback from survivors and attorneys who said the original offer of nearly $180 Million was insufficient.
August 2025: In Washington, a federal judge temporarily blocked part of a new state law that would have required Catholic priests to report child sexual abuse disclosed during confession. This provision will remain on hold while legal challenges over its constitutionality play out in court.
July 2025: Eight Catholic Church sex abuse lawsuits alleged that priests in New Mexico sexually abused children between 1956 and 1990. Meanwhile, in New York, the Diocese of Rochester agreed to a $246 Million abuse settlement.
June 2025: The Diocese of Buffalo finalized a $150 Million bankruptcy settlement to resolve nearly 900 clergy abuse claims, one of the largest case totals in the U.S.
May 2025: The Archdiocese of New Orleans agreed to contribute nearly $180 Million into a trust for over 500 survivors as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
April 2025: Washington state passed a bill requiring clergy to report child abuse or neglect, even when disclosed during confession.
March 2025: The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that previously sealed court records in a clergy sexual abuse investigation must be made public, marking a major win for prosecutors.
January 2025: Catholic dioceses and men’s religious orders have spent over $5 Billion on clergy sexual abuse claims involving minors over the past two decades, according to a report from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
December 2024: A New York bankruptcy judge approved the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s $320 Million settlement with 600 childhood sex abuse survivors.
October 2024: The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to a nearly $900 Million settlement with more than 1,300 survivors of Catholic Church sexual abuse, one of the largest settlements of its kind in U.S. history.
April 2024: New York Attorney General Letitia James announced an agreement with the Diocese of Brooklyn after an investigation found the Diocese had mismanaged clergy sexual abuse cases for years.

These events suggest that the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis is far from over. As more survivors come forward and states take action to expose decades of misconduct, court rulings and settlements continue to provide survivors with a path toward justice.

Ending Clergy Abuse

In August 2018, a Pennsylvania Grand Jury released a report detailing over 1,000 abuse allegations dating back 70 years. The grand jury report, which rocked the Catholic Church, involved over 300 Pennsylvania priests who were all credibly linked to cases of clergy sex abuse.

Shortly after the release of Pennsylvania’s report, other state attorneys general started following in their footsteps, setting up statewide investigations into the Catholic dioceses of their own.

Evidence is mounting against the Catholic Church as investigations continue and dioceses around the country release lists of credibly accused clergy.

Information from various dioceses details:

Names of known sexual abusers
Locations at which they worked
When allegations of sexual abuse were made against them

While releasing the lists of abusers may seem like a step in the right direction, many survivors and advocacy groups believe this is nothing more than an empty gesture. In other words, the Church may want the public to believe they are releasing such information to be proactive against Catholic sexual abuse when in reality this does very little.

Advocates are also skeptical that the Catholic Church will comply with law enforcement investigations. High-profile religious leaders are being investigated, and the Catholic Church has a long history of protecting these individuals in the face of legal trouble.