Catholic priests raise 5 main objections against grand jury report

By Ivey Dejesus
PennLive
July 17, 2018

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/07/here_are_5_objections_catholic.html

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday is expected to release the response from state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to petitions by priests to revise a grand jury report into clergy sex abuse. Photo by Patrick Semansky

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday is expected to release the latest salvo in a last-ditch effort to amend what is expected to be a blistering report on the Catholic Church statewide.

The court is slated to release the response of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to efforts by at least two dozen priests seeking to revise the report from the 40th Statewide Grand Jury. The priests, current and former, whose names have been redacted from the report, have petitioned the court seeking to revise or block the release of the forthcoming 800-plus page report.

At the very least, the priests argue they should be granted an opportunity to respond to allegations in the report that connect them to child sex crimes.

The report, which represents the findings of an 18-month long investigation by the state Office of Attorney General into clergy sex abuse across six dioceses in Pennsylvania, does not recommend charges against these unnamed priests. However, the priests argue that the report - as currently written - violates their constitutional right to due process and the right to protect their reputation.

The state Supreme Court late in June issued a temporary stay blocking the release of the report. Shapiro, who has appealed to the court to lift a temporary block and release the report, last week submitted his response to the legal efforts on the part of the priests to curtail the report in some way.

Grand jury reports are processed away from the scrutiny of the public, and all documents remain under seal until otherwise ruled by the court. The state Supreme Court has been unsealing certain documents - almost all redacted, and is expected to release the attorney general's redacted response today.

To date, the priests have argued to the court that:

• They should be granted a series of evidentiary hearings in order to present their cases and afterwards be allowed to edit the report before its release.

• The report is not supported by the preponderance of evidence.

• The report makes accusations against them without adequate evidence.

• The report is marred by demonstrable errors of fact and interpretation.

• The report violates medical confidentiality and breeches ethical medical standards of protecting confidential medical and psychological evaluations.

One petition makes reference to a list of 90 offenders named in the report. The document is redacted; no identifying information on those individuals is provided in the document.

Cambria County Court of Common Appeals Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III, who supervised the grand jury investigation, has ruled that the petitioning priests were afforded their due process rights adequately when they were given the opportunity to respond to the portions of the report pertaining to them.

In addition to a common petition, a number of priests have also filed individual petitions laying out specific arguments pertaining to allegations leveled against them.

The grand jury was empaneled in 2016 to investigate allegations of clergy sex abuse across the dioceses of Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Allentown, Scranton, Erie and Greensburg.

All six respective bishops, the heads of the dioceses, have expressed support for the report and its release.

The unnamed priests have broadly discredited the merits of news media outlets appealing to the court to release the report.

The current delay in the release of the long-awaited report has engendered outcry from victims many of whom charge that powerful forces, including the church, are trying to block the release of the report. 

The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are not included in the report as both have already been the target of similar investigations.

To date, two priests have been arrested as a result of the investigation.