Pittsburgh Diocese receives about 50 new abuse claims after grand jury report

By Adam Smeltz
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
August 22, 2018

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/08/22/Pittsburgh-diocese-sexual-abuse-claims-David-Zubik-Zappala-josh-Shapiro/stories/201808210258

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has fielded about 50 allegations of abuse over the past week, after a grand jury report drew international attention to child sexual abuse by Pennsylvania priests, the diocese said Tuesday.

The claims appear to be new and came “from people who had not previously contacted us,” delivered through an abuse hotline established by the church and via email, said the Rev. Nicholas S. Vaskov, a diocese spokesman.

“All of the allegations are from prior to 1990 and go back as far as the 1940s,” Father Vaskov said in a statement. “We are taking all of them seriously and following our regular process for responding to them.”

That protocol includes pulling accused clergy from ministry if they’re still on the job. The diocese didn’t immediately say whether the new reports involve active clergy, but each allegation will be turned over to prosecutors in the county where the abuse is alleged, Father Vaskov said.

Mike Manko, spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said he wasn’t aware of new referrals from the diocese. “Nor would our office discuss the details of such referrals,” he said.

At the state level, a separate clergy abuse hotline maintained by the Office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro has received more than 485 calls since the grand jury report’s release Aug. 14, spokesman Joe Grace said.

“A sizable number do concern allegations of sexual abuse by priests and clergy. We are not breaking that out in any way by diocese,” Mr. Grace said. He was not aware of the tally in the Pittsburgh Diocese, he said.

Expected for months, the grand jury report alleges seven decades of child sexual abuse perpetrated by 301 “predator priests” across six Pennsylvania dioceses. The report notes 99 offenders in the Pittsburgh Diocese — many of them deceased — and “wholesale institutional failure that endangered the welfare of children” and concealed abuse.

Grand jurors identified more than 1,000 child victims but expects there are many more, they wrote. In nearly every instance documented, the abuse is too far removed to permit criminal charges, according to the report.

It sets out four recommendations, such as ending a Pennsylvania statute of limitations on bringing criminal charges against suspected abusers. Another suggestion: Give survivors a limited “civil window” — perhaps two months — when they could sue attackers, even if prior statutes of limitations on civil action had expired.

“We don’t want prayer. We want justice,” said Frances Samber, of North Huntingdon, appearing at a survivors’ press conference this week outside the Pittsburgh Diocese offices, Downtown.

“If you care, get the statute-of-limitations [changes] put through” the Legislature, Ms. Samber said, addressing the church.

Her brother, Michael Unglo, 39, who identified as a victim of clergy abuse, committed suicide in 2010 after the Pittsburgh Diocese halted payments for his mental health treatments. A subsequent lawsuit against the diocese was thrown out.

In an interview Tuesday, Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik said the diocese is largely “in line” with recommendations in the grand jury report. But any window for retroactive civil litigation should apply not only to the church — it should apply across all entities statewide, he said.

“If we’re going to be serious about people who are victims, then we better be able to make sure we’re working as an entire society to say that we need to be able to support them on the one hand — or help them — and then, on the other side, to protect children across the board,” Bishop Zubik said.

Meanwhile, he said the diocese is listening carefully to any new allegations. Its clergy office handles those reports. The accused — if they’re still alive — are interviewed, and those in active ministry are pulled from that function, Bishop Zubik said.

The diocese refers claims to independent review boards in addition to local prosecutors, he said. Last week, he cited statistics indicating 90 percent of child sexual abuse claims brought before the diocese involved alleged behavior before 1990.

Declines recorded since then reflect better diocesan efforts to root out and prevent misconduct, Bishop Zubik said.

“We’ve continued to build on ways in which we want to help victims who come forward,” he said.