List of Priests

In early 2018, a team of former state and federal law enforcement experts began to review diocesan personnel files to identify credible allegations of the sexual abuse of minors within the Diocese. In August 2018, this group’s mandate expanded to include the review of the files of all active and former priests in the Diocese dating back to 1950 to identify any allegations of the sexual abuse of minors. When the review team identified an allegation of the sexual abuse of a minor by a priest in the Diocese of Dallas, that allegation was forwarded to the Diocesan Review Board. The Diocesan Review Board then evaluated the allegation and other available information, and made a recommendation to Bishop Burns as to whether the allegation was credible. Bishop Burns accepted the Board’s recommendations and, as Chief Pastor of the Diocese, communicated the list released on January 31, 2019 to the Catholic faithful of the Diocese.

In doing so, he joins the bishops of the 14 other Catholic Dioceses in Texas and the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in taking this step. The Texas Bishops made the decision to release the lists of names in the context of their ongoing work to protect children from sexual abuse, and their efforts to promote healing and a restoration of trust in the Catholic Church.