CATHOLIC DIOCESE THROUGHOUT PENNSYLVANIA NEARING EXPLOSIVE CHARGES OF SCANDAL AND DECEPTION

An investigative grand jury report into Clergy abuse in six of the state’s eight Catholic dioceses is just days away from being made public. 

Approximately 900 pages long, it is the product of more than two years’ worth of top-secret subpoenas and testimony led by a team in the Attorney General’s Office.

Civil and criminal statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse made it virtually impossible for people to sue or press charges once a child had become a full-fledged adult.

But what’s about to come may test that.

The grand jury scrutinized the Dioceses of Greensburg, Allentown, Scranton, Erie, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese was spared because its own horrific legacy of concealment was laid bare by multiple local grand jury probes dating to 2005.

Altoona-Johnstown concealment of abuse was revealed just two years ago by former Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.

The grand jury judge, Norman A. Krumenacker III, in a ruling last week to stop unnamed individuals from blocking the report’s release, hinted that what’s to come is extensive, including findings into allegations of “endangering the welfare of children, obstruction of justice by individuals associated with the Roman Catholic Church, local public officials, and community leaders.”

And so the scandals of abuse and the corruption of concealment continue to plague the Church.

The sacred dignity and moral credibility of the Church have been dealt a death-blow around the world.  

One can only imagine how many pews have been and will be emptied by the time the evidence in Pennsylvania comes to the attention of the public.

Pope Francis certainly engaged the abuse after being publicly shamed for his cavalier remarks about a particular Bishop in Chile.  In response to the Holy Father's forceful intervention in that country, all of the Bishop's resigned.  Thus far, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of three of those who were complicit in covering up the abuse.

In the United States, where the stories of abuse and concealment first broke upon the world scene, the Bishops thus far (with the exception of Bishop Finn and Cardinal Law) have remained unscathed and untouched by the scandal.

If there be justice, many more members of the USCCB need to be brought to accountability for the culture of corruption and deception they helped perpetrate for decades, if not longer.


All of us need to pray that the Church will repent of its scandalous sins and provide justice and restitution to those who have been so wounded by those who were supposed to provide for their spiritual care.