Yesterday the Archdiocese of Boston published the names of 159 priests and former priests who were in some way connected to the clergy sex abuse scandal. While victim rights groups were pleased with this release, they were also critical that many other names were still being withheld. These included clergy who were members of religious orders, other dioceses and those who had left the priesthood before accusations had been made.

Publication of this list certainly raises questions of due process for the accused, but given the Archdiocese’s past practice of not only ignoring evidence of abuse, but transferring abusers to new parishes without any warning to the new parishioners, it seems that erring on the side of protecting victims and potential victims should be the dominant concern.

The Boston Archdiocese website includes a database that allows users to search by cleric name, parishes where cleric served, and the city/town where the cleric served. I did a search for “Lowell” and found the following (showing cleric name, date of ordination, and dispostion):

Name – Ordination Date – Status
Birmingham, Joseph E – 1960 – Deceased (1989)
Breton, Philippe C – 1936 – Deceased (1984)
Carroll, John P – 1953 – Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Collins, Jeremiah J – 1939 – Deceased (1982)
Connelly, James E – 1943 – Deceased (1985)
Finegan, Paul J – 1970 – Laicized (2005)
Fratic, Joseph P – 1964 – Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Guthrie, Frederick L – 1962 – Pled Guilty to Criminal Charges (involving attempted solicitation of a minor over the Internet) (2004); Laicized (2010)
Hyder, Raymond L – 1929 – Deceased (1975)
Jansonis, Alphonse – 1945 – Deceased (2000)
Kenney, Joseph F – 1931 – Deceased (1992)
Lane, Bernard J – 1960 – Dismissed (2004)
Lane, John J – 1925 – Deceased (1971)
Manning, Paul F – 1967 – Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Matte, Richard O – 1964 – Laicized (2005)
McLaughlin, Paul J – 1955 – Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Mendicoa, John M – Ordained in Madrid, Spain for the Brotherhood of Diocesan Worker Priests of the Heart of Jesus in 1967; Incardinated into the Archdiocese of Boston in 1990Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Murphy, Kenneth B – 1946 – Deceased (1999)
Ouellette, Lionel P – 1957 – Deceased (2000)
Pelletier, Leonard E – 1969 – Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Roche, Allan E – 1946 – Deceased (1997)
Spagnolia, D. George – 1964 – Deceased (2008)
St. Hilaire, Bernard – 1951 – Deceased (1977)
Surette, C. Melvin – 1956 – Administrative Leave; Case in Process
Tague, Patrick J – 1963 – Dismissed (2006)
Tivnan, Paul J – 1963 – Assigned to Life of Prayer and Penance (2004)