By Kelly Heyboer | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A New Jersey attorney says he has a list of more than 300 priests accused of sexual misconduct in New Jersey — far more than the 188 priests the Catholic Church has said were “credibly accused” in the state’s dioceses.
Attorney Greg Gianforcaro said he will release the list Monday at an afternoon press conference where he will announce that an unnamed victim of sexual abuse is filing a lawsuit against New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses alleging they created a “public hazard” by not naming all accused priests.
Gianforcaro, who has represented multiple alleged priest abuse victims, said he will release a report with the 300 priests and their histories at a 1 p.m. press conference in Elizabeth.
“I think the public was shocked by the prior list of 188 priests and I think they should have been shocked,” Gianforcaro said. “That list was woefully inadequate.”
Last month, Gianforcaro and the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, teamed up to release the names of 52 former Boy Scout leaders from New Jersey who allegedly sexually abused boys and were included in the organization’s so-called “Perversion Files.”
In February, the Archdiocese of Newark and the state’s four other dioceses — Camden, Metuchen, Trenton and Paterson — released the names of 188 priests and deacons “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of children.
More than 100 of the named priests were dead and most of the others had been removed from ministry years ago.
