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Trautman Releases Response to Grand Jury Report

By John Last
Erie News Now
August 14, 2018

http://www.erienewsnow.com/story/38885125/trautman-releases-response-to-grand-jury-report

Bishop Emeritus Trautman says he will stand on his record of addressing clergy abuse and helping victims.

Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman

Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman has released a lengthy written statement in response to the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sex abuse. In the statement, Trautman said he stands on his record of addressing such abuse.

Earlier this month. The Office of Attorney General and Trautman reached an agreement in which Trautman would allow the grand jury investigation of the Erie Catholic Diocese to be released without redaction. The attorney general would stipulate that specific questionable actions taken by some bishops across Pennsylvania were not employed by Trautman. The agreement apparently did not cover some allegations against Trautman that Attorney General Josh Shapiro mentioned during his news conference today.

In the case of former priest Chester Gawronski, Shapiro outlined incidents where Gawronski reportedly gave children what Gawronski called "cancer checks." Those incidents occurred in the 1980s and earlier. Shapiro said Gawronski remained in the priesthood under various assignments.



Trautman,in his statement, said Gawronski was serving an assignment given to him by Trautman's predecessor, Bishop Michael Murphy when Trautman became bishop in 1990. The assignment was at a nursing home and included no contact with children. His later assignments were also at nursing homes. Trautman says he kept Gawronski at the nursing homes in deference to Bishop Murphy, but in hindsight, probably would have acted differently.



Trautman removed Gawronski from active ministry in 2002 after pressure from a victim and the news media began to surface. Trautman says Gawronski had no reports of abuse under his watch.

Shapiro also said Trautman intentionally waited out the statute of limitations in reporting sexual abuse by former priest William Presley.



Trautman says a series of allegations against Presley were made in 2002 that reportedly occurred in the 60s and 70s. Trautman says Presley was retired in 2002, but Trautman quickly acted to remove him from all priestly qualifications. Trautman said the statute of limitations had expired long before that.

Trautman says his record shows that he removed 16 priests for sexual abuse during his tenure as bishop. He says he has personally met and counseled victims, and has thank you letters from some of those victims. Trautman says the grand jury report does not mention any of those things.

 

 

 

 

 




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