LA church adds priests to abuse list

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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is not releasing any further information after adding 24 priests and brothers to its list of clergy accused of child molestation.

The Los Angeles Times said Wednesday the archdiocese will not provide information about the number of accusers, the dates of the abuse or where the clergy worked.

The names were disclosed in a two-page report posted on the archdiocese's website last month, with 12,000 pages of records related to the internal handling of abuse claims.

None of the named men is currently working as a minister in the archdiocese, according to the report.

A lawyer for the archdiocese, J. Michael Hennigan, denied the church was attempting to bury the list by including it in the 12,000 pages of records, and said the two dozen men accused have never been sued in court.

Hennigan said the disclosure of the information was completely voluntary.

In the mid-2000s, during a similar scandal, the archdiocese released much more information, including the names of 236 priests and the dates the abuse allegedly occurred, as well as the number of accusers.

Prosecutors said they are reviewing the information.