In just four weeks since its release, Pennsylvania’s gut-wrenching grand jury report on widespread child sexual abuse by Catholic priests has reverberated around the country with attorneys general in 10 states announcing investigations of their own. It has even reached the Vatican, where the pope has called for a summit of Catholic leaders to rethink their complicity in vile acts against the innocent.
But will anything be done to help the victims here in Pennsylvania?
Later this month, two powerful institutions have a chance to help them.
On Sept. 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear arguments on naming all of the priests accused of abusing children. About two dozen had their names redacted from the grand jury report, arguing that they deserved due process and wanted to rebut its findings. They already can do that, but now they’re attacking the state’s tough grand jury law. The court should protect the law, especially elements that allow prosecutors to use grand juries to conduct sweeping investigations like this one and make strong policy recommendations.
On Sept. 24, the legislature is set to return to Harrisburg, and it should quickly pass bills that make it easier for district attorneys to prosecute predators and for victims to sue their abusers as well as the institutions that enable wrongdoing.
The House seems ready to open a two-year civil window so victims can sue their abusers and the institutions that cover for them. Current law only allows victims to file civil suits for 12 years after they turn 18. Once they reach 30, they’re out of luck; that’s wrong. This is one of four recommendations from the grand jury that the legislature should heed.
The Senate, where similar initiatives to uncap the statutes of limitations have failed, has been resistant to fixing the laws. Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R., Elk) should not listen to powerful forces telling him to turn his back on those deeply wounded by child sexual abuse.
Others are paying attention to the victims. With 10 states launching investigations and 20 more contemplating probes, it is likely that the Pennsylvania story will be told over and over again. In fact, since the report’s release, over 1,000 more victims have called Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s abuse hotline. Those calls have come from around the country, underscoring the fact that because abusive priests were transferred to other states, their destructive acts were not contained by geographic boundaries.
In fact, because this is a national issue, the Justice Department should consider stepping in. At the very least, it could make sure the church’s secret archives, which contain detailed documents of the abuse and the cover-ups, are preserved.
One institution, the Catholic Church, has failed these children. Others, including Pennsylvania’s legislature, should not.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Claims of appalling misconduct by Catholic priests have roared back into the news in recent weeks with new reports from around the world. Now the Diocese of San Diego is also offering revelations, adding eight priests to the list of 48 put out in 2007 that are believed to have engaged in sexual abuse. That year saw the diocese settle 144 claims of sexual crimes against children for $198.1 million.
Bishop Robert McElroy acknowledged these revelations have “caused a tumult of anger, grief, upset, incomprehension, disillusionment,” for which the church was “truly sorry.” He announced a “listening tour” of the diocese, in which he will visit eight parishes from Oct. 1 to Nov. 5.
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and other activists can be quick to dismiss claims of contrition as public-relations ploys or attempts to limit legal exposure. But based on what’s known, McElroy deserves the benefit of the doubt. He seems to want to do the right things.
Yet as an institution, the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. There are decades of evidence that church leaders want only to do the minimum necessary to address scandals — if the church has to acknowledge them at all. This is why it was depressing but unsurprising to hear Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s recent allegations that Pope Francis and other high-ranking Vatican officials knew of but chose to ignore the sexual crimes of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
The seeming moral vacuum at the top of the church’s hierarchy is a betrayal of 1.2 billion Catholics. It is sure to inspire despair among true believers — and corrosive cynicism among everyone else.
—The San Diego Union-Tribune
