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Survivors' group: Diocese should name accused priests
York Daily Record
August 10, 2016
http://www.ydr.com/story/news/2016/08/10/survivors-group-diocese-should-name-accused-priests/88520606/
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| Susan Blum holds her First Communion veil and her maternal grandmother's rosary for a portrait Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at Blum's New Freedom home. Blum, 63, said she was sexually assaulted by a clergy member in the Archdiocese of Boston when she was 15. A New Freedom resident since 1988, Blum had attended St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for years, but left in March after clergy in the Diocese of Harrisburg read aloud a letter that opposed a Pennsylvania legislative bill that would drop a 30-year statute of limitations on when criminal sex-abuse charges can be filed. |
The director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called on Bishop Ronald W. Gainer to publish the names of Harrisburg diocese priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse.
David Clohessy said in a news release that by not doing so, the Diocese of Harrisburg is "putting kids in harm’s way." Other dioceses have done so, Clohessy said, but "Gainer refuses to take this simple, inexpensive, practical step to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth."
The Harrisburg diocese did not respond to a request for comment on Clohessy's statement.
The statement was in response to the York Daily Record's investigation that showed 15 priests with ties to the Harrisburg diocese have been accused of abuse.
In July, after multiple requests by the Daily Record, the diocese responded to each name on a list provided by the news organization, with some details on where and when they served, and how the diocese responded when the allegations were made.
But it addressed only the clergy on the YDR's list, and did not respond to a request to provide details on all accused priests with ties to the diocese, which covers 15 central Pennsylvania counties that have a Catholic population of 243,227.
Other reaction to the YDR's investigation, published online Tuesday, included:
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Judy Jones of SNAP wrote a letter to the editor to the YDR, saying the news investigation "is proof that this diocese needs to have a grand jury investigation" like one done recently in Altoona-Johnstown, which revealed hundreds of allegations against at least 50 priests. "Silence is not an option anymore," she wrote.
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The Harrisburg diocese posted the story on its Facebook page and tweeted a link to the story, encouraging "anyone having knowledge of anyone, anywhere who was hurt by any Priest, employee or volunteer of the Diocese of Harrisburg" to report it to authorities and to the diocese's hotline at 1-800-626-1608. "The Diocese of Harrisburg will support their healing no matter how long ago the abuse took place."
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PennLive summarized the YDR's investigative story and included information from its past reporting on cases of clergy sexual abuse, including a story on then-Harrisburg Bishop Joseph McFadden, who said that he had no knowledge of abuse when he was in the Philadelphia Archidocese. His comments came on the day in March 2011 that several accused Philadelphia-area priests appeared in court.
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Catholics for Change, a group that focuses on the church and child sexual abuse, posted the story on its website.
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