SF Archdiocese Quietly Removed 2 Priests Accused of Abuse From Public List, Attorneys Say

A pair of priests who have been accused of molestation have since disappeared from the San Francisco Archdiocese’s list of priests in good standing. Attorneys representing people accusing the clergy of sexual abuse when they were children say they believe the priests were quietly removed from ministry in response to the allegations against them.
“I think they’re feeling heat,” said Jennifer Stein, an attorney representing one of the alleged victims who filed a lawsuit in 2022 accusing Rev. Lawrence J. Finegan of sexual abuse. “They’re feeling the pressure of having perpetrators on their good standing list with known allegations that have been public, and publicly available, for years, and in this case, for decades.”
Stein’s client, Sandra Oldfield, notified the archdiocese of the allegation around 1990, she said. She went to the police in 2002.
But Finegan’s name was on a list called “Priests and Deacons with Faculties (approved for ministry)” the archdiocese maintains until as recently as last year. At some point after May 21, it was removed.
Attorneys said they believed the archdiocese removed Finegan from ministry at least in part because of Oldfield’s allegation.
Oldfield alleges Finegan sexually abused her over a period of eight years, beginning in the early 1980s when she was a teenager.
Her 2022 lawsuit was brought under state legislation that allowed adult survivors to sue for alleged childhood sexual abuse within a three-year window, no matter how much time had passed.
Over the summer, Stein said, she worked to coordinate an interview between Oldfield and archdiocese attorney Paul Gaspari about what had happened.
“When we discovered that he was still in ministry and listed on the good standing list, (we) made an effort to undertake action to have that status changed,” Stein said.
In October, the archdiocese informed Stein that Finegan had been removed from ministry, she said.
“We were not provided a date of his removal or the reason or basis more specifically,” Stein said.
Gaspari did not respond to requests for comment.
The name of another priest, Daniel E. Carter, also disappeared from the list of clergy in good standing at some point after Feb. 16, 2023, according to a review of recent versions of the list.
Carter faces accusations of molestation in six separate lawsuits filed in 2022.
A spokesperson for the archdiocese reiterated the church’s protocols for responding to sexual abuse allegations in response to an inquiry about the August interview with Oldfield. The archdiocese’s response did not address the case and did not say why Finegan was removed from the list. A follow-up email asking about Carter’s disappearance from the list received no response.
Attempts to reach Carter and Finegan for comment were unsuccessful.
The unexplained removal of the priests’ names from the list of priests approved for ministry comes amid calls for the San Francisco Archdiocese to release a definitive account of its clergy who have been credibly accused of abuse.
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