For the past two years, a Pennsylvania State grand jury has been conducting an investigation into Clergy sex abuse in six Roman Catholic Dioceses across Pennsylvania, including that of Harrisburg.
The findings of that investigation will be announced within the next several weeks and are shaping up to be the most damning to date against the Catholic Church.
State Representative, Mark Rozzi, said the findings out of the grand jury will likely prove to be worse than those out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.
"It will encapsulate the six remaining dioceses and show a pattern across all of them," Rozzi told PennLive.
"There has never been another grand jury like this in history as far as it pertains to child sex abuse. This is going to be the worst report ever. I think we are going to see a pattern of collusion and hopefully we can do right by the victims here and pass the right legislation that can gain victims justice and close out a chapter in our lives. That's what we are looking for, closure."
Sources close to the investigation stated that the grand jury has been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information and the number of victims requesting to testify.
Impaneled in 2016, the grand jury has been investigating allegations of sexual abuse by priests in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. In addition to Harrisburg, the panel has been investigating the dioceses of Allentown, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Erie and Scranton.
The Catholic Diocese of Erie issued a press release stating that planned within weeks to release a list of names of Diocesan Priests who face similar accusations.
Over the years, at least 15 Priests who had at one time served in the Harrisburg Diocese have been identified in allegations of child sex abuse - several of which were deemed credible. The Diocese of Harrisburg comprises 15 counties, including all the counties across central Pennsylvania.
Joe Aponick, spokesman for the Harrisburg Diocese, said the Diocese "is and has been cooperating fully with the Office of Attorney General's investigation. We have no further comment at this time."
This latest investigation comes several years after the release of two other grand jury reports in Pennsylvania: that out of the state's largest diocese, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and the other out of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.
Investigators in Philadelphia in 2011 found widespread clergy sexual abuse and concealment by church officials.
In addition to the removal of a number of priests deemed unsuitable for the priesthood, the Philadelphia report resulted in the conviction and sentencing of Monsignor William Lynn, the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic Church official convicted in a child sex abuse scandal. He served nearly three years of a three- to six-year sentence when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed his conviction over trial errors.
In March 2017, a judge ruled in favor of prosecutors seeking to retry Monsignor Lynn in connection with his handling of sex abuse complaints involving children and priests. Because of an unresolved defense defense appeal, that retrial for the Monsignor was not expected to take place until later this year.
In 2016, Investigators in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese released a scathing report on the systemic abuse children over decades by Priests and Church leaders in the Diocese.
The Pennsylvania state legislature is awaiting release of the grand jury findings as it prepares passage of legislation that would reform the state’s statute of limitations.
House Bill 612 - dubbed the "real deal" - contains the three major components sought by advocates and recommended by the previous grand jury panels: elimination of civil and criminal statute of limitations; and a retroactive window.
Jennifer Storm, the Pennsylvania’s Victim Advocate, sounded hopeful that the impending report will further fortify the efforts to reform state laws that extend legal recourse to victims of past abuse.
The Body of Christ continues to suffer the wound of this terrible scandal of the sexual abuse of children and young people by Clergy.
The faith of so many in the Church and in the Priesthood has been crushed.
I lament the suffering of so many innocent victims and suffer the scandal to the Church itself.
But, I also applaud those who seek to address these horrific charges of abuse and attempt to provide justice for those who have been victimized.
Catholic leadership has yet to confront this scandal honestly. The sexual abuse of young people by Clergy has never really been about pedophilia but rather about the rape of young men by homosexual Priests.
Recently, the Holy Father himself warned the Italian Bishops’ Conference about the admission of homosexuals into seminaries. Pope Francis, as are all the Bishops fully aware that homosexuals, not pedophiles, are responsible for the criminal abuse of youngsters.
To the extent that the Bishops remain dishonest in addressing the real basis of these scandals, they themselves remain the villains and are obstacles to the real protection of children against future crimes against them.
Our Church has been battered by this awful scandal.
May the Holy Spirit forgive the sins which the Church has committed against its children. May the same Spirit guide us and inspire us to create an environment in which our youngsters can be assured of protection against predators of any kind.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
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