Countdown Begins to Release of Grand Jury Report into Catholic Priest Abuse

By Ivey DeJesus
Penn Live
August 8, 2018

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/08/clergy_sex_abuse_report_grand.html

A long-awaited report of an investigating grand jury looking into allegations of child sex crimes across Catholic churches in Pennsylvania is poised to be released at any moment starting Wednesday, Aug. 8. This file photo was taken in 2010 at the installation of Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg. (PennLive File)

The worldwide clergy sex abuse crisis is poised to implode anew in this country as Pennsylvania prepares as early as Wednesday to release a long-awaited grand jury report on hundreds of predatory priests.

Members of the clergy had until Tuesday to appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to have their names redacted from the 900-page report. The court had set a deadline of Aug. 7 by which petitioners seeking such a redaction could appeal to the court.

An unspecified number of clergy on Tuesday filed challenges to the latest version of the report, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which cited sources familiar with the matter.

Under the court order, the state now has until Aug. 14 to release the report.

The final signal to release the report could rest in the hands of Senior Judge John M. Cleland, of the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County, who was appointed as the special master to hear challenges regarding the redaction of names.

The McKean County judge once presided over the Jerry Sandusky criminal case.

Cleland could defer to the office of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to release the 900-page report. Shapiro's office led the 18-month investigation.

The report, which remains under seal, is expected to be one of the most scathing and comprehensive investigations into the worldwide scandal embroiling the 1.2-billion member church.

In July, the church saw the conviction of the most senior Catholic official in the world for failure to protect children. Archbishop Philip Wilson of of Adelaide, Australia, was convicted for concealing child sexual abuse.

Wilson, 67, is widely expected to appeal his conviction, which is likely to include 12-month sentence in home detention.

Pope Francis is also dealing with a spiraling scandal in Chile involving predatory priests and complicit bishops. Francis last month accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a prominent Vatican diplomat and former archbishop of Washington, D.C. McCarrick has been credibly accused of sexually molesting a minor and seminarians.

The 88-year-old McCarrick had been removed from public ministry per orders from Francis after church officials determined that allegations he sexually abused a teenager in New York more than 40 years ago were "credible and substantiated."

Here in Pennsylvania, state investigators earlier this year wrapped up the investigation into the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Together, the dioceses are home to more than 1.7 million Catholics.

According to unsealed excerpts of the grand jury report, more than 300 "predator priests" identified by name are accused of committing criminal or morally reprehensible conduct. The vast majority of those named will be publicly identified in the report.