Diocese of Scranton Won't Block Release of Grand Jury Report

The Times-Tribune
May 18, 2018

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/diocese-of-scranton-won-t-block-release-of-grand-jury-report-1.2338779


The Diocese of Scranton, along with two other Roman Catholic dioceses in the state, won’t stand in the way of a grand jury report expected to detail decades of sex abuse by members of the clergy.

“The Diocese of Scranton continues to cooperate fully with the grand jury and has informed the Attorney General’s office that it will not challenge the release of the report,” Diocese of Scranton spokesman Bill Genello said in an emailed statement Thursday. Genello would not comment further. Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera could not be reached for comment.

The dioceses of Erie and Allentown issued similar statements.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and his office are finishing the report, according to a story in The Morning Call of Allentown. The report is expected to outline a grand jury investigation, started in 2016, into six of eight Catholic dioceses that serve communities in nearly every part of the state.

Since 1950, more than 25 priests from the Diocese of Scranton have been accused of having sexual contact with minors, according to Times-Tribune archives.

The grand jury probed how the six Catholic dioceses handled allegations of clergy sex abuse. Meeting in Pittsburgh, the grand jury investigation included testimony and subpoenas involving alleged victims and officials and records in all six dioceses. Its term ended April 30, suggesting that the release of the report could be forthcoming.

Diocese of Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico met in Erie on Wednesday with Shapiro.

In a statement released Wednesday night, Persico said he met with Shapiro to discuss the report, and Persico said he will accept its findings and will not block its release.

“I realize that the grand jury report will contain information that will be difficult for all of us to hear, but in order for us to focus on the future, we have to have a solid knowledge of the past,” Persico said in a statement published by the Erie Times-News. “The grand jury investigation and its report will provide a voice for the victims. We must listen to that voice and learn from it as we move forward.”

According to The Morning Call, the Diocese of Pittsburgh said it would not comment on “something we have not seen” and the Diocese of Greensburg said it “supports the release of the grand jury report with due process.” The Diocese of Harrisburg has not issued a statement.

The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was not part of the investigation because the attorney general’s office had already released its grand jury report of that region. Likewise, the Philadelphia Archdiocese, the state’s largest Catholic division, is not part of the new probe.

Shapiro inherited the investigation when he took office in 2017.

His predecessor, Kathleen Kane of Waverly Twp., started it as a follow-up probe to a March 2016 grand jury report that detailed allegations of abuse by about 50 priests and other religious leaders in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and an alleged cover-up by church officials.