Judge rejects effort by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson to get records from Catholic church

SEATTLE — A Washington state judge said Friday that Attorney General Bob Ferguson is not entitled to enforce a subpoena seeking decades of records from the Seattle Archdiocese, despite his assertion that the records are needed to learn whether the Catholic church used charitable trust funds to cover up sexual abuse by priests.

Judge Michael Scott sided with the archdiocese, which argued that under the state's law governing charitable trusts, Ferguson did not have authority to enforce the subpoena. The law contains an exemption designed to ensure the state does not meddle in religious practices.

Nevertheless, Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne said in a written statement after Friday's decision that the church is willing to provide the state with relevant records and collaborate with Ferguson on the investigation ''in a lawful manner.''

''Sexual abuse in the Church is a heart-wrenching part of our history, and I am deeply sorry for the pain caused to victim survivors, their families and all Catholics,'' Etienne said. ''We remain focused on the need for healing and proper governance in these matters. ... Because we are committed to preventing abuse, promoting transparency and continuously improving our processes, my offer to collaborate with the attorney general still stands.''

Ferguson, himself a Catholic, said his office would appeal. The state argued that the exemption in the law does protect religious practices — but that using charitable trust money to conceal or facilitate sex abuse was not a religious practice.

''Our fight for survivors of clergy abuse is not over,'' Ferguson said in a news release. ''Washingtonians deserve a full public accounting of the Church's involvement in and responsibility for the child sexual abuse crisis."

Ferguson filed the case in May, saying the church was stonewalling its investigation by refusing to comply with the subpoena.

Church officials said the records sought by the state were excessive and irrelevant — including every receipt going back to 1940, in an archdiocese with more than 170 pastoral locations and 72 schools.

Some 23 states have conducted investigations of the Catholic church, and so far at least nine have issued reports detailing their findings. In some cases, those findings have gone far beyond what church officials had voluntarily disclosed.

For example, the six Catholic dioceses in Illinois had reported publicly that there had been 103 clerics and religious brothers credibly accused of child sex abuse. But in a scathing report last year, the Illinois attorney general's office said it had uncovered detailed information on 451 who had sexually abused at least 1,997 children.

Similarly, Maryland last year reported staggering evidence of just how widespread the abuse was: More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability. In 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury found that more than 300 Catholic clerics had abused more than 1,000 children in that state over the prior 70 years.