A new grand jury examination of internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, some of them dating back to 1947, reveals that accusations against around 300 \"predator priests\" of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims are credible.<\/p>\n
\"We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid to ever come forward is in the thousands,\" the grand jury report says.<\/p>\n
The latest inquiry, one of the broadest into church sex abuse in U.S. history, elaborates: \"Priests were raping little boys and girls. And the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades, Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals have mostly been protected. Many, including some named in this report, have been promoted.\"<\/p>\n
The 18-month investigation of six of the state\u2019s dioceses \u2014 Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton \u2014 follows other state grand jury exams of the matter throughout the U.S and the world. The Pennsylvania investigation uncovered more than two\u00a0million documents, including \u201csecret archives\u201d (which church leaders referred to) \u00a0\u201cof abuse that were actively hidden from the public for decades,\u201d said state Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a news conference which disclosed his grand jury\u2019s revelations. This investigation comes not long after sexual abuse and cover-up revelations in two other Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses.<\/p>\n
The 18-month inquiry revealed Diocese \u201cplaybooks for concealing the truth,\u201d the grand jury said. Words minimizing the abuse, such as \u201cinappropriate contact\u201d instead of \u201crape,\u201d were used. Priests who were untrained in sexual abuse cases were assigned to investigate their brother clerics. Also revealed was a practice of not informing parishioners of the real reasons behind sudden removals of these rogue priests.<\/p>\n
The report outlined a few of the offenses committed by culpable clergymen:<\/strong><\/p>\n This latest report notes that few criminal cases may arise from this massive investigation because of Pennsylvania\u2019s criminal statute of limitations. \u201cAs a consequence of the cover-up, almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n There has never been a comprehensive assessment of the full scope of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the U.S., though several have been attempted. For years, American abuse survivors have clamored for the government to carry out a comprehensive nationwide inquiry similar to the one in Australia, where a royal commission spent four years examining sexual abuse of children within a variety of religious and civic institutions \u2013 including the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n It is hard to imagine anything more destructive to a child's emotional health than being molested. Even though many victims are no longer children, it is virtually impossible for most of them to escape the scars of such betrayals by someone they trusted into their adult lives.<\/p>\n\n
Victims of These Terrible Crimes May Still Get Justice<\/h2>\n