The
Washington Post reported yesterday that the office of the District of Columbia Attorney General has opened a civil investigation into charges of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Washington. Earlier this month, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Diocese's Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl after controversy over his handling of abuse claims as head of the Pittsburgh (PA) Diocese. (See
prior posting.) According to yesterday's Post report:
D.C. statutes allow the attorney general to subpoena documents and seek penalties against a nonprofit — up to and including dissolving it — if it “has exceeded or abused and is continuing to exceed or abuse the authority conferred upon it by law” or if it “has continued to act contrary to its nonprofit purposes.”
[Attorney General Karl] Racine said that any felony crimes his office discovers in the course of its probe would be forwarded to the U.S. attorney. Racine’s staff could also prosecute any violations of the District’s mandated reporting requirements — which would be misdemeanors — separately from the civil investigation.
