The Archdiocese of Mobile has released the names of 28 former priests, deacons and members of religious orders who were credibly accused of sexually abusing children over a span of roughly seven decades, making good on a pledge Archbishop Thomas Rodi made last month to publish the records amid a wave of similar disclosures by Catholic dioceses across the country.
The list, issued in two parts, names priests and a deacon who served within the Archdiocese of Mobile alongside a separate roster of priests and brothers belonging to religious orders who worked in local parishes, schools and institutions. Of the 28 individuals named, 16 are deceased. The accusations span from the 1950s through the 2010s and touch parishes, schools and other Catholic institutions throughout Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia and Montgomery counties, among other areas.
Archbishop Rodi said in a statement accompanying the release that the archdiocese has shared the list with both the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office. He wrote that he hoped the disclosure would aid survivors without causing further harm. “It is my prayer that this will not re-traumatize anyone but will assist in the healing for which victims desperately long,” Rodi wrote. “I also pray that it will help all the people of the Church, and of the broader community, to know that the Archdiocese of Mobile is not allowing anyone to minister in our archdiocese who has credible accusations of sexual misconduct with minors.”
Rodi noted that the accusations involve roughly 2 percent of the 457 priests who have served in the archdiocese since 1950, and he closed his statement with an apology, asking forgiveness for what he called the “devastating harm done by clerics and religious who have abused the little ones.”
The released materials do not detail how individual allegations were investigated, whether any administrative penalties were imposed, or what steps, if any, were taken to keep the accused from having further contact with children after accusations were made. The archdiocese’s note accompanying the list also does not describe any cooperation with civil authorities on cases predating 2003, the year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ national policies on reporting abuse allegations took full effect locally. Rodi’s statement acknowledges only that “there were a variety of ways in which accusations were received and investigated” prior to that point.
Because 16 of the named individuals are deceased and the remaining accused men have already been removed or barred from ministry, the practical effect of the release on ongoing law enforcement action is likely to be limited. Local law enforcement officials have previously indicated that, absent new victims coming forward, they are generally positioned only to investigate fresh allegations rather than reopen decades-old cases.
Among those named are several priests with long histories of assignments across the archdiocese, including multiple stints at McGill-Toolen High School and Little Flower Parish in Mobile, St. Margaret Parish in Bayou La Batre, and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Chickasaw. One entry, Archdiocesan Deacon Robert L. Nouwen, is noted as having been convicted of possession of child pornography, with misconduct dated to 2012. Another case, involving a man identified as Cordell Lang, carries a special note explaining that a civil court jury found in his favor despite accusations that led to his removal from ministry.
The Archdiocese of Mobile’s release follows a 2004 report, issued two years after the clergy abuse scandal broke in Boston, in which the archdiocese acknowledged that 13 of its priests had been accused of abusing minors since 1950 and disclosed more than $700,000 in related legal settlements, fees and victim assistance costs. Since then, the archdiocese has maintained a written child protection policy requiring background checks and training for employees and volunteers who work with minors, along with annual instruction for children in Catholic schools and parish programs on recognizing and reporting misconduct.
The Mobile release is part of a broader reckoning among Catholic dioceses nationwide that intensified after an August grand jury report in Pennsylvania documented more than 1,000 child victims of roughly 300 priests over several decades. In the months since, dioceses in Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, New York and elsewhere have released or been ordered to release similar lists. The Archdiocese of Mobile’s disclosure was coordinated with the release of comparable lists from the other Catholic dioceses covering Alabama and Mississippi.
Advocates for survivors of clergy abuse have said that while the lists represent an important step toward transparency, the absence of investigative detail in many diocesan disclosures, including Mobile’s, leaves open questions about how thoroughly past allegations were examined and what happened to accused clergy after complaints were substantiated internally.