Grand Jury reports 300 accused priests, 1,000+ child victims, 70-year coverup by the Catholic Church

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/08/14/pennsylvania-grand-jury-report-on-sex-abuse-in-catholic-church-will-list-hundreds-of-accused-predator-priests/?utm_term=.460e7e4eedb6

[Anonymous]

Whoops, hit submit too soon. I’m flabbergasted that there’s no thread on this already.

One priest sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl in her hospital bed recovering from surgery.

Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman lied to law enforcement and the diocese intentionally curbed its own investigation in order to wait out PA statute of limitations
“to avoid finding additional victims.”

[Anonymous]

One Pennsylvania priest abused five sisters from the same family over a 10-year period, including one who was 18 months old.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/predator-priests-identified-grand-jury-report-pennsylvania-priest-abuse/?__twitter_impression=true

“Significantly, the report faulted Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the former longtime bishop of Pittsburgh who now leads the Washington archdiocese, for what it said was his part in the concealment of clergy sexual abuse.”

[Anonymous]

Law enforcement also involved in coverup along with the Church:

DIstrict Attorney Robert Masters of Beaver County
covered up abuse for political reasons and wanted campaign money from the diocese.

Allentown police officers told victims to go to confession.

[Anonymous]

The Pennsylvania attorney general now has a toll free hotline number for victims of clergy abuse: 1-888-538-8541

“We subpoenaed, and reviewed, half a million pages of internal diocesan documents. They contained credible allegations against over three hundred predator priests. Over one thousand child victims were identifiable, from the church's own records. We believe that the real number - of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward - is in the thousands," the report states.”

https://www.wgal.com/article/deadline-day-for-release-of-report-into-child-sex-abuse-at-catholic-churches/22722865

[Anonymous]

Heartbreaking. Lifelong Catholic and send my kids to Catholic school with a split heart. Love my fellow Catholics - hate the disgusting leadership culture.

[Anonymous]

^^ as in the people I sit with in the pews

[Anonymous]

I wish every district would do a similar investigation.

[Anonymous]

It's terrible. I was raised Catholic and no longer practice.

I was never molested by a priest but I've been around men who have done some crazy and inappropriate things.

I don't know how much of it is a Catholic problem and how much of it is just, well, men.

I do think that when men have weird rules about sex (or abstinence in the case of Catholics) that it's indicative of an underlying sexual problem.

[Anonymous]

I lived through the Boston Globe Spotlight reports in Massachusetts. The conduct of the church was so incredibly horrible that I haven't been back to church since.

I swear that the conduct of the some of the priests was an open secret. My grandmother said something like "oh, I remember that one, they caught him on top of a boy"

[Anonymous]

The church -- the institution -- needs to be burned to the ground. It's a men's club of criminality.

[Anonymous]

Lifelong Catholic here. And I think I’ve now reached my breaking point. I feel like it’s a betrayal of my family and culture and history to leave my faith but... I am so disgusted every time this happens. I’m not sure I can reconcile this all in my mind “one more time”. Heartbreaking for these children ...

[Anonymous]

Is this new information? I thought we knew this about catholic priests and the church.

[Anonymous]

I am Catholic and so disgusted by this. Have not been back to church since the news about Cardinals Wuerhl came out earlier this summer.

I went to Georgetown and was raised in the church- I know many, many amazing priests including a few whom I consider dear friends. But I am so disgusted by the institutional complicity and inability to fix these problems. Feeling hopeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this new information? I thought we knew this about catholic priests and the church.

This is a wide-ranging grand jury investigation covering all the diosceses in Pennsylvania which had not already been investigated. The grand jury released their findings today.