The head of the United States bishops’ conference has promised resolve in the face of what he termed “a moral catastrophe”, after the publication in Pennsylvania of a grand jury report detailing hundreds of cases of sexual abuse by priests against children in six dioceses over more than seven decades.
Following a two-year investigation, led by Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, the 884-page report reveals 301 credible cases of clergy sex abuse of children and comes in the wake of a series of revelations about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
The President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, had called on the Holy See to conduct an Apostolic Visitation into all matters pertaining to the McCarrick case.
Now DiNardo is calling for new mechanisms for reporting allegations against bishops, not only in the case of sexual abuse of minors, but other types of sexual misconduct as well. DiNardo said that the conference would insist on the “substantial involvement of the laity” in the implementation of all new policies.
Last week, flanked by victims, Shapiro began a press conference to launch the report with videotaped comments from survivors who discussed both their abuse and the damage done to their psycho-sexual and emotional development. He then detailed both instances of abuse and of the cover-up of that abuse by Church leaders.
According to Shapiro, the grand jury examined half a million Church documents. More than 1,000 child victims were identified. He alleged that Church authorities had showed “a complete disdain for victims”.
The report named some 41 priests in Erie, 37 in Allentown, 20 in Greensburg, 45 in Harrisburg, 59 in Scranton, and 99 in Pittsburgh.
For each diocese, Shapiro gave a horrific example of the abuse that was suffered, including a young woman in Scranton who was raped by a priest, who then offered to pay for an abortion. Shapiro read out a letter of sympathy from Bishop James Timlin – which was not sent to the victim but to the rapist.
The report did not include the Archdiocese of Philadelphia or the Diocese of Altoona-Johns-town, which were the subjects of earlier grand jury reports.
Angela Liddle, president of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, said after the report’s release: “The grand jury’s findings confirm a deeply disturbing pattern of behaviour both by the perpetrator priests and the Catholic Church hierarchy.
“The serial sexual abuse of children took place in an environment that enabled and protected the offenders and, even when their crimes were discovered, put the protection of the institution ahead of the needs of these innocent children.”
The report criticised Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who served as the Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 until 2006, for continuing to provide health insurance and sustenance payments to defrocked priests, as required by canon law.
Cardinal Wuerl also reassigned priests who had been accused of boundary violations, after psychiatrists had assured him that they no longer posed a threat to children. The priests did commit subsequent acts of sex abuse and were removed from ministry.
Shapiro has recommended lifting the statute of limitations on sex abuse charges. He has also called for the loosening of the restrictions on civil lawsuits against the Catholic Church.
The grand jury also called for new laws that clarify the necessity of informing police about allegations of child sex abuse.
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