“If a state cannot regulate religions,” said Sharon Huling, representing the Clergy Accountability Coalition, “then they should not be able to provide religions with exemptions either.”

As a survivor, Mary [Dispenza] said she knows the fear that comes with coming forward. "I want to assure you that we all were afraid at one time to speak out, to take back our power. I can also assure you that in doing that, there's a sense of power that you regain."

“They jumped into action, “ said Sarah Pearson, another founding member of the Catholic Accountability Project. “They provided over 7,500 pages of whistleblower documents and evidence to our organization.”

“What I heard in there was wildly inconsistent with what I understand Catholicism to be. What I saw in there was shameful,” said Ferguson. “We can go all the way to the state supreme court.”

“It’s unfortunate that we have to go to these lengths to simply get these documents to see what’s going on,” said Ferguson, who is Catholic and currently running for governor. “But if that means we have to go all the way up to the state Supreme Court, that’s absolutely what we’re going to do.”

The letter sent to the Catholic Church’s top brass on Friday was signed by members of the Catholic Accountability Project, a consortium of advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse. At a press conference Thursday, advocates said they want full transparency from Church leadership.

“I was actually surprised and shocked because it's wrong. It's just wrong to have that kind of power where you are above the law,” said Mary Dispenza.

“Catholics have a right to know what’s going on in a church that they’ve pledged money to and support,” Dispenza said. “There are people who are buried in Catholic cemeteries who would be turning over in their graves if they knew that there is money being used to protect the ‘sins of our fathers,’ so to speak.” 

In a statement, Washington-based nonprofit Catholic Accountability Project called for…Ferguson’s office to work with the Vatican to obtain documents in its archive as well.

Tim Law, a co-founder of the Washington-based Catholic Accountability Project, told KUOW it's been an uphill battle to get the details of these sexual abuse investigations from both the Seattle Archdiocese and the Attorney General's Office.

CAP "welcomes the Attorney General’s announcement of the commencement of a civil investigation into clergy sexual abuse and cover-up within the three dioceses of Washington state…The group expects that Ferguson’s investigation will extend to Catholic religious orders.”

“It saddens me that the archdiocese isn't being a leader in child protection. They should be in the forefront of this issue, not backpedaling all the time,” Law said.

Mary Dispenza spent years as a nun and working in the church before her buried memories rose to the surface. It was the start of her long journey towards justice and peace.

One woman said she was raped by a priest who went on to sexually assault dozens of other girls, calling the compromise a “loophole that protects abusers, not children.”

“People are really concerned about kids and don’t want to give anyone a pass,” said Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, the committee’s chair. “We had an honest discussion of issues in our caucus and with the other side and we didn’t have the votes to get it out of the committee.”