Archdiocese of San Francisco Accused Priests

Children throughout the world have been sexually abused within the Roman Catholic Churches for decades. Many times, when victims came forward, the church leaders would silence them, telling them that they would conduct their own investigations. However, these internal investigations led the officials to simply transferring the abusers to different dioceses throughout the world rather than exposing them. The abuser would then continue to prey on children in the new diocese. Within the Archdiocese of San Francisco, many victims of child sexual abuse have come forward in recent years, exposing the cover-up that the diocese conducted and the abusers that were allowed to abuse for years.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco includes the city and county of San Francisco as well as Marin and San Mateo counties. As of November 2018, the archdiocese was reported to have paid out about $87 million in child sexual abuse settlements within the previous 15 years. The archdiocese has come under fire for failing to release a list of priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. Although the archdiocese promised to release its list in November 2018, it failed to do so, and as of June 2021, it had still not released a list. The church claimed that it was commissioning an independent review of more than 4,000 clergy personnel files going back to the 1950s in order to compile its list. The archdiocese is one of only a handful of dioceses that have still not released a list of credibly accused priests. However, outside firms and church watchdog groups have compiled their own lists and posted them on the Internet.

In 2019, a former parishioner of the St. Finn Barr School in San Francisco filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese, seeking to force the archdiocese to release the names of priests accused of sexual abuse. The plaintiff in the case, 53-year-old Genero Licea, claims that former priest John Kavanaugh molested Licea over a three-year period. Licea alleges that he was only seven years old when the abuse started. According to Licea, he reported the abuse to two nuns and a teacher at the school, but they did nothing to report or stop the abuse.

A second lawsuit filed in 2019 also sought to force the archdiocese to release the names of abuser priests. Additionally, in 2018, a federal lawsuit filed in San Francisco, accusing the Vatican of engaging in a massive cover-up of abusive priests, also sought to require the Catholic Church to name all of the alleged perpetrators.

In 2019, California passed a law opening up a three-year window for child sexual abuse survivors to bring civil lawsuits against their abusers and the church, no matter how long ago the abuse happened. The law also states that people who suffered from childhood sexual abuse may bring claims up until they turn 40 years old—up from 26 years old under the previous law. Additionally, the law provides for triple damages if it can be shown that the church or other organization engaged in a cover-up of the abuse. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against clergy and the church since the law went into effect. The San Francisco Bay area lawsuits have been assigned to Alameda Superior Court judge Winifred Y. Smith. In April 2021, Judge Smith ruled that the triple damages part of the law is constitutional.

The Catholic Church in California is fighting the new law. In 2021, Roman Catholic bishops filed lawsuits on behalf of numerous California dioceses—including the Archdiocese of San Francisco—asking the courts to find the new California law unconstitutional.

However, so far, victims are still able to bring claims against the dioceses throughout California and their abusers. If you or someone you love experienced sex abuse at the Archdiocese of San Francisco, our legal team at Herman Law can help explain your legal rights and determine whether you can file a claim. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.