In 2002, NAFUSA Foundation President Mike McKay was appointed to serve on a committee to advise the Seattle Catholic archbishop how to deal with the child sex abuse allegations made against Catholic priests.  The committee reviewed the files and made recommendations on particular cases.  In 2003, it issued a report that included a series of recommendations which, if followed, would decrease the number of cases occurring in the future. The archbishop rejected the report and fired the committee.

A new archbishop arrived in 2010 and appears to now be implementing, however imperfectly, some of the committee’s recommendations.  This includes the release of names of 77 priests accused of child sex abuse. See Seattle Times, January 15, 2016.

But the release of names is not enough, McKay argues, so he and other prominent Catholics are pressing the church to release the underlying files so that church members and the general public will understand the serious nature of these sexual assaults, including where they occurred. See Seattle Times, January 30, 2016.

Last week, the Seattle Times editorial board weighed in to support McKay’s position: The Archdiocese of Seattle should open its secret files on priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

Former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Mike McKay, left, and former King Co. Judge Terry Carroll, right, discuss their recommendations to the Seattle Archdiocese from 2004 about the Catholic priest abuse cases that went largely ignored, Tues., Jan. 19, 2016, in Seattle. (Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times)