The list of priests is the latest in a flood of names that have poured from dioceses and religious orders across the country in recent months as the church grapples with a scandal over its handling of abuse.
The disclosures have aided in illuminating the scope of an epidemic of sex abuse in the Catholic Church that has spurred investigations by law enforcement officials and inflamed a crisis in confidence among many of its followers.
Bishops have used the lists as a way to acknowledge their failures and take a step toward transparency as they try to placate Catholics who have been outraged by the scandal.
The archdiocese in New York is one of the largest Catholic communities in the United States, encompassing Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and several counties north of the city. The list of names covers decades of allegations, but unlike many other dioceses, church officials in New York did not include information detailing the assignments the priests had.
In a letter accompanying the list on Friday, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop, sought to strike a conciliatory tone.
“I write today as someone who himself realizes the shame that has come upon our Church due to the sexual abuse of minors,” Dolan said in the letter. “I write to ask forgiveness again for the failings of those clergy and bishops who should have provided for the safety of our young people but instead betrayed the trust placed in them by God and by the faithful.”
Advocates for abuse victims had urged the archdiocese to name suspected abusers as dozens of bishops in the United States published their lists after an explosive grand jury report in Pennsylvania last summer that detailed seven decades of accusations. The New York archdiocese comes after its counterparts in Newark, New Jersey; Hartford, Connecticut; and Brooklyn made their own disclosures. The Brooklyn diocese named more than 100 accused priests in February.
“What I will say is that we are grateful that the archdiocese is finally taking this step, belated though it may be,” said Zach Hiner, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.
The New York archdiocese’s list included 53 priests who were credibly accused of abuse, admitted to it, were convicted of a crime related to it, or were involved in a civil settlement. Most of them were either defrocked or have died. Included in that list is Theodore E. McCarrick, the former cardinal who was one of the highest-profile leaders in the church to be accused of abuse and was recently expelled from the priesthood.
Nearly 60 other priests named had died or left the ministry before being accused in cases that led to financial settlements from the archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program. The list also included eight priests who have been removed from ministry and are awaiting final canonical or archdiocesan disposition of allegations against them.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.