Clergy sex abuse hotline in Pennsylvania 'lit up'

By Joe Sterling
CNN
August 17, 2018

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/us/pennsylvania-clergy-abuse-complaints/index.html

The clergy sex abuse allegations in Pennsylvania have prompted robust feedback from survivors, the state attorney general's office says.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a tweet earlier this week that the hotline for clergy sex abuse has been "lit up."

Since Tuesday afternoon, after a grand jury report was released detailing the abuse allegations, Shapiro said Wednesday that more than 150 calls and e-mails poured in.

And since then, the office said Friday, "the hotline remains, live, active and is receiving calls."

Survivors "are now surfacing to tell their stories and seek justice."

The hotline number is 888-538-8541.

Internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania show that more than 300 "predator priests" have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children, a grand jury report said.

"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted."

The grand jury described the church's methods as "a playbook for concealing the truth" after FBI agents identified a series of practices they found in diocese files.

The report investigates clergy sexual abuse dating to 1947 in the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

Pennsylvania's two other dioceses, Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown, have been the subjects of earlier grand jury reports, which found similarly damaging information about clergy and bishops in those dioceses.