The Chicago archdiocese of the Catholic Church turned some 6,000 pages of documents related to clergy sexual abuse over to victims' attorneys Wednesday.
Attorneys for the dozens of alleged victims said they planned to make the documents available to the public.
“I want to offer apologies to all victims affected by these sins and crimes,” Auxiliary Bishop Francis Kane said.
Kane said the documents reveal that some accused clergy were returned to the pulpit despite the archdiocese knowing of the allegations of abuse and determined they were fit to serve.
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"We found out that isn't true," Kane said. "That was a mistake. We made a terrible mistake."
According to John O'Malley, an attorney for the archdiocese, the documents detail incidents involving 30 priests, 14 of whom have died. All but two are no longer priests, he said, and 95 percent of the incidents occurred before 1988, and none after 1996.
"The information is painful,” O'Malley said. “It's difficult to read even without the benefit of hindsight. We believe, however, that this step is an important step in the process of transparency.”
He said the files on former priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack have been left out of the released documents because a judge has sealed them pending upcoming trials.
The following are the priests named in the documents.
Robert Becker*
Joseph Bennett
Kenneth Brigham*
William Cloutier*
Robert Craig
John William Curran*
Joseph Fitzharris
James Hagan
Daniel Mark Holihan
Thomas Job
Thomas Kelly*
Joseph Kissane*
Norbert Maday
Robert Mayer
Vincent McCaffrey
William O'Brien
Joseph Owens
Emmanuel Pallakunnen*
Russell Romano
Kenneth Ruge*
Raymond Skriba*
Marion Snieg*
James Steel
Victor Stewart*
Ralph Strand*
Thomas Swade
Henry Swider*
Walter Turlo
Donald Ulatowski*
Michael Weston
*Deceased
[Chicago Tribune]
