“Archbishop Cordileone’s response to survivors’ complaints is stubborn and dangerous.”
(San Francisco, CA) – On January 6th, two brave survivors of clergy sexual abuse filed formal Vos Estis Complaints to the Vatican against the Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone for his refusal to release a list of credibly accused clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and failure to remove known perpetrators from ministry.
Following the filing of the complaints, on January 10, attorneys representing the Archdiocese of San Francisco threatened to seek sanctions against attorney Jeff Anderson if he pursued further prosecution of the complaints. The Archdiocese’s attorneys accused Jeff Anderson of filing the complaints on behalf of survivors to derail the mediation of the Archdiocese’s bankruptcy case.
“It is unfortunate that the Vatican and the San Francisco Archdiocese refuse to move ahead in getting justice for the survivors of priest and church abuses. How many decades must victims such as myself wait for the church to acknowledge that it bears responsibility for negatively impacting people’s lives? We all hope they will someday soon “man up”, take responsibility, admit they are fallible, and make amends so we can all move forward.” – Sandra Oldfield, survivor & advocate
On April 11, Jeff Anderson & Associates received a letter from the Archbishop of San Francisco on behalf of the Holy See stating that the complaints brought forth on January 6th do not fall under Vos estis lux mundi and referred the survivors to a list of priests in good standing on the Archdiocese’s website – a list that no longer contains the names of Fr. Daniel Carter and Fr. Lawrence Finegan because of these courageous survivors.
“The response and persistence of the archbishop is stubborn and is a deviation from all the other bishops in California,” said Jeff Anderson. “This response from Archbishop Cordileone is unsurprising, but is upsetting. I urge Archbishop Cordileone to comply with the common practice of publicly disclosing credibly accused priests instead of hiding and protecting offenders.”