Louisiana state police went into the office of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans on Thursday to begin the process of collecting records from the organization spanning the history of its decades-old clerical abuse scandal, as troopers investigate whether the local church hierarchy illegally covered up systemic child molestation.
Troopers arrived at the archdiocese’s headquarters at about 9.45am local time three days after a state court judge signed a search warrant authorizing them to take the entirety of the documents in question.
The troopers left after meeting with church officials and their lawyers for about 45 minutes. An archdiocesan spokesperson said the church did not immediately turn over any documents, with troopers treating the warrant in a manner more like a subpoena, which gives the targets of investigation a chance to gather and return targeted material.
In a sworn statement that they provided to the judge who signed the warrant, state troopers said their investigation into a retired local priest faced with charges of child rape and kidnapping had led them to suspect high-ranking archdiocesan officials knew of widespread abuse within the church but failed to properly report it to law enforcement.
State police issued a statement assuring the public that the archdiocese was cooperating with the search warrant after the Guardian, in collaboration with New Orleans’ CBS TV affiliate WWL Louisiana, broke news of the order on Wednesday.
The warrant seeks files that would identify every priest and deacon accused of abusing children while working in the US’s second-oldest archdiocese – not just those whom the church itself has deemed credibly accused, which has been its practice. The warrant also seeks files that would determine when those complaints were first made and whether the church turned those cases over to police.
The warrant also demands copies of all communications among New Orleans’ current archbishop, Gregory Aymond, his aides and their superiors at the Vatican.
It is believed to be the first time that authorities investigating the New Orleans archdiocese’s role in the long and ongoing worldwide Catholic clerical child molestation scandal have sought the full set of abuse-related documents held by the church.
A small handful of New Orleans-area clergymen have been prosecuted – and even convicted – of child molestation or rape. But investigators in those cases have mostly narrowed their focus on the individual defendants and the mid-level church bureaucrats directly in charge of them.
The wide scope of the warrant that preceded the troopers’ visit to the archdiocese offices attached to Notre Dame seminary – a beaux-arts-style clergy training campus in the heart of the Fontainebleau neighborhood – could reveal what leaders at the Vatican knew of the breadth of abuse, potentially dating as far back as the mid-20th century, in and around a metropolitan area that is home to about a half-million Catholics.
The warrant was signed by a New Orleans criminal court magistrate on Monday. It avoided singling out any individual church officials who may be part of this criminal investigation for covering up child rape and other abuse by rank-and-file clergymen within an archdiocese now under the command of Aymond, who has been its archbishop since 2009.
However, in the summer of 2023, the Guardian obtained a 48-page memorandum summarizing secret internal archdiocesan records that were handed over after the church sought federal bankruptcy protection in 2020 in order to shield itself from a steadily growing collection of abuse-related litigation.
That memo established that Aymond repeatedly ignored his own advisers who suggested he publicly reveal the identities of priests and deacons facing substantial, credible accusations of abuse. Managing those clergymen in that manner ensured that the public – and law enforcement – largely did not learn of the accusations until they were reported by the media many years later.
Attorneys for victims of clerical sexual abuse gained access to the documents mentioned in that memo because their clients’ cases became part of the church’s bankruptcy proceedings. They handed the resulting memo to law enforcement in 2022.
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State police troopers to whom the memo was provided subsequently helped secure rape and kidnapping charges against the retired priest Lawrence Hecker, 92, an acknowledged serial child molester. In a case that remains open, he has pleaded not guilty in connection with allegations that he strangled a teenaged boy unconscious and then sodomized him in one instance in 1975.
That same state police unit applied for the sweeping warrant that Lombard signed and was then seen going in and out of the archdiocese’s headquarters in plainclothes and sunglasses on Thursday.
On Wednesday, James Adams, a former member of a committee representing the interests of clergy molestation victims in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy, expressed a sense of gratitude and relief in response to troopers’ efforts.
“The state is doing what our own Catholic leaders have refused to do,” Adams said. “Sadly, our bishops have repeatedly chosen to protect their predatory brother priests rather than the most vulnerable of their flock.
“Today we are one step closer to justice. Praise God.”
Vatican officials including Pope Francis have not commented on the metastasizing scandal of clerical sexual abusers in New Orleans.
David Hammer of WWL Louisiana contributed reporting
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In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit its website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International