Washington can seek additional info in child sex abuse probe into Catholic church, court rules

OLYMPIA – The Washington attorney general’s office can continue to probe whether the Catholic church misused funds to cover up alleged child abuse, a state court ruled Monday.

The ruling is the latest development in a nearly three-year investigation initiated by then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

The Washington state appeals court ruled the state attorney general’s office can continue to seek information from the Catholic church in Washington in an investigation of whether the church used charitable funding to cover up allegations of child sex abuse.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Seattle did not respond to a request for comment Monday. A spokesperson for the Diocese of Spokane did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The ruling directs the King County Superior Court to determine what scope of information the attorney general’s office can subpoena without infringing on the church’s protections under state and federal law.

The investigation centers around allegations the church “facilitated and attempted to cover up decades of pervasive sexual abuse of children” in Washington by repeatedly moving clergy suspected of abuse. The attorney general’s office opened an investigation into whether the church misused charitable donations in this effort, which it alleges would be “an abuse of the protections afforded by state law for legitimate religious and charitable enterprises and trusts.”

Ferguson initiated the lawsuit in May 2024 after he alleged the church did not cooperate with subpoenas in the investigation. A trial court initially ruled against the attorney general’s office, which appealed the decision to the state court of appeals.

“As a Catholic, the church must do the right thing and engage in a public accounting of how the church handles allegations of child sex abuse,” Ferguson, now Washington’s governor, said in a statement Monday. “That’s why I started this investigation when I was Attorney General. This ruling is an important win for transparency. I am asking church leaders to reflect and pray about this unanimous court decision and stop fighting this investigation.”

According to the attorney general’s office, it first subpoenaed the Seattle, Spokane and Yakima dioceses in July 2023, and they responded with information that was already publicly available.

The office sent a second round of subpoenas in April 2024 requesting additional information, including accounting and financial records. The attorney general’s office subsequently filed the lawsuit after the Seattle Archdiocese did not respond to the request for additional information.

The attorney general’s office has cited the authority to the church’s use of charitable funds under the Charitable Trusts Act.

Last year, the Catholic bishops of Washington, including Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly, alleged in a lawsuit that the state targeted the church “in a brazen act of religious discrimination” following the passage of law that required members of clergy to report suspected child abuse or neglect, even when the information was learned through confession.

The law, passed in the 2025 legislative session, also prompted an investigation by the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

The church and the state reached a settlement in October that exempts confessions or privileged communication from the requirement.