United States: Franciscan province of Santa Barbara's own investigation finds 34 boys abused by a dozen priests at St Anthony's Seminary

Proceedings

1. 1993-11-29 · official province-commissioned investigation and report

   Franciscan Friars, Province of St Barbara (independent panel commissioned by the province, published). An independent panel commissioned by the Franciscan Province of St Barbara found that 34 boys had been sexually abused by a dozen priests at St Anthony's Seminary between 1964 and 1987. The province later expanded its own disclosure to identify 50 priests accused of abusing children across its ministries since 1950, 26 of whom had been assigned to St Anthony's Seminary or Old Mission Santa Barbara — in more than half of those cases, after already having been accused of molestation elsewhere. Of an estimated 76 Santa Barbara children abused by Catholic clergy since 1958, 54 were abused by friars assigned to those two institutions. A related civil settlement in 2006 awarded plaintiffs $28 million.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• residential seminary authority over boys being formed for the priesthood
• the province's own later admission that accused priests were repeatedly reassigned to St Anthony's after allegations elsewhere rather than removed from ministry