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The shocking grand jury report that alleges that hundreds of Catholic priests molested thousands of children in Pennsylvania for decades comes with a sobering caution: It’s up to the church to set things right, because there’s very little the legal system can do, at least for now.
In an exhaustive report, which runs 884 pages — 1,356 with exhibits and responses — the 23-member panel alleged that over more than six decades, 301 “predator priests” in six dioceses abused more than 1,000 children whose identities it found in church records.
It said the overall number of children who were abused, including those who declined to come forward and those whose records have been lost, “is in the thousands.”
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In extensive detail, the grand jury built a case that concludes that “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.”
And “while the list of priests is long, we don’t think we got them all,” the report says.
The report addresses only six of Pennsylvania’s eight dioceses — Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton, but not Altoona-Johnstown or Philadelphia. But state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a news conference that it was clear that abuse “was pervasive to the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
We ask the Pennsylvania legislature to stop shielding child sexual predators behind the criminal statute of limitations.”
And at least for now, all the state can do about it is to name and shame, because the grand jury had no authority to indict anyone and because state law provides only a narrow window of time for alleged abusers to be prosecuted.
“We wanted to charge as many of these predators as we could, but because of our weak laws in Pennsylvania, we could only charge two of the 301 predator priests that were identified,” Shapiro told NBC News. “And so it was critically important, as the grand jurors said, to ensure that the truth be told.”
The state Supreme Court released the redacted version of the report on Tuesday after two years of investigation by the state attorney general’s office and two months of court wrangling over whether it should be released at all.
Release of the report was held up because about 25 accused priests, church leaders or their representatives challenged making their names public, arguing that they hadn’t been convicted of any crime and were entitled to protect their reputations.
Their names are blacked out in the version of the report that was released Tuesday. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments over publicizing their identities next month.
“Let me be very clear: Every redaction represents an incomplete story of abuse that deserves to be revealed,” Shapiro said. “My office is not satisfied with the release of a redacted report.”
Other avenues of recourse are blocked because many of the accused are dead — the allegations stretch back to 1947 — and because for almost all of the others, the statute of limitations has expired.
“First, we ask the Pennsylvania legislature to stop shielding child sexual predators behind the criminal statute of limitations,” the grand jury recommended.
The grand jury reported that it heard from alleged victims now in their 50s, 60s and 70s — it said one was 83 — who have carried their burdens for decades.
“We saw these victims; they are marked for life,” it said. “Many of them wind up addicted, or impaired, or dead before their time.”
But their abusers don’t, and “we want future child predators to know they should always be looking over their shoulder — no matter how long they live,” the grand jury said.
The state Senate last year passed a measure that would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations. Legislative leaders said Tuesday that they plan a vote in the state House next month.
The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference says it “does not oppose” efforts to repeal the statute of limitations for criminal cases, and as publicity about the release of the report built in recent weeks, it said it supported the new measure.
But the grand jury also called for a “civil window” law, which would allow older victims to sue for abuse they suffered as children. Current state law allows victims to sue any time between the ages of 18 to 30; victims older than 30 have only two years to sue.