Once-secret records show how S.F. Archdiocese handled priests accused of child sex abuse

A secretive Archdiocese of San Francisco panel tasked with reviewing child sexual abuse allegations against priests has over the past decade returned more than half of accused clergy to their ministerial duties, including a priest who faced five abuse complaints, according to documents ordered released by a federal judge.

The archdiocese has long been one of the most opaque Catholic branches in the country. But the once-confidential Independent Review Board minutes it released provide an unprecedented window into the powerful committee, while raising questions about whether its oversight — designed as a measure to prevent abuse by priests — truly protected its youngest parishioners.

The church turned over the 175 pages of records on Tuesday after a federal bankruptcy judge ordered the release against the wishes of the archdiocese.

“As a Catholic, Easter is the celebration of light and today, reading these documents, you see darkness and evil,” said Margie O’Driscoll, a 64-year-old San Francisco resident who has sued the archdiocese over allegations she was sexually abused by her former teacher at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield. “Over and over again, you see the archdiocese protecting priests more than the children.”

Peter Marlow, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, said in an email to the Chronicle on Tuesday that the members of the Independent Review Board, or IRB, were “truly independent” and represented “an essential step” in the church’s procedures for handling child sex abuse claims.

“The Archdiocese treats every accusation of sexual abuse seriously, and immediate steps are taken to protect the rights of both the alleged abuse survivor and the alleged abuser,” he said.

Never before has such a wide swath of internal decision-making of the Catholic church seen the light of day. The documents lay bare the San Francisco archdiocese’s inner workings, including candid comments from Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and frequent talk about how  decisions by the review board would be treated by the media — and potentially blow up into scandal.

The records show:

• At least three priests who by the church’s definition faced credible accusations of sexually abusing minors stayed on the San Francisco Archdiocese’s list of clergy members with full status for years, including one, David Ghiorso, who faced five credible abuse accusations and remains on the good standing list. The other two priests, Lawrence Finegan and Daniel Carter, were taken off the list in 2024 after accusations were sustained, without any public acknowledgment of the church’s findings, according to court records. 

• Another priest, Linh Tien Nguyen, remains on the good standing list despite being accused in a lawsuit of abusing a middle-school student and former altar boy between 2005 and 2008. Meeting records show the IRB discussed the case of a priest identified by the initials “LN” with virtually identical details, though the outcome of the board’s discussion was unclear. “LN” denied the accusations, according to the minutes. 

• The IRB and the Archdiocese regularly visited clergy members with sustained abuse allegations, supporting them financially through monthly pension payments, housing stipends and therapy reimbursements. IRB members discussed at length the impact that perpetrators’ punishment and “isolation” had on them and how to help them, at one point suggesting victims play a direct role in their perpetrator’s “rehabilitation” to promote “further healing.” 

• While the San Francisco Archdiocese petitioned for bankruptcy in 2023 after being named in 537 sex abuse lawsuits — many of which were filed after a state law extended statute of limitations requirements — just 49 priests were named in the IRB’s table of investigations into its clergy as of 2022, including several who are now deceased and two dozen priests it cleared of abuse.

• The board discussed publicizing the names of credibly accused clergy members but decided against it because doing so would “stir up controversy.” To this day, the board publishes only a “positive” list of priests authorized to perform ministerial duties on behalf of the archdiocese, but that list includes clergy members like Ghiorso, with multiple accusations of assaulting minors, as long as those allegations are either pending or the board has deemed them “not sustained.”

• Archbishop Cordileone has long denied the existence of lists of credibly accused priests in his organization. But in October 2023, Cordileone, at an IRB meeting, acknowledged the existence of internal lists the archdiocese kept of clergy with sustained accusations of child sexual abuse as determined by the IRB. At each meeting, which the Archbishop almost always attended, members discussed modifications to the list.

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