By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The Archdiocese of St. Louis is suing to keep church documents over alleged clergy sex abuse confidential.
The suit against the law firm Chackes, Carlson, Spritzer, and Ghio was filed in St. Louis two weeks ago. But Ken Chackes says there were no restrictions in the mediation agreements or settlements that required the documents in eight cases to remain confidential.
"I'm confident that we didn't violate any court order or any agreement about what would be done with the documents," Chackes said Tuesday, in an interview.
An Archdiocesan spokesman says there was an agreement that documents would remain confidential until all mediation was completed. Monseignor John Shamleffer says other victims might not come forward if the information is already public.
"Some people might think 'I don't want to do this if everything's going to be made public about my past,' says Shamleffer. "And we don't want to re-victimize people. We want them to do this, and maybe they might not want everything to be known."
A St. Louis judge has denied the Archdiocese's motion for a temporary restraining order to keep the documents private.