The grand jury investigation has been beneficial to Pennsylvania and, as a report earlier this month by the Associated Press found, it has had a salutary effect across the United States. In the five months since the grand jury findings came to light, 105 of the nation’s 187 dioceses have said that they will identify priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children. In addition, close to 20 civil or criminal investigations have been set in motion.

Alas, in some cases it is far too late for justice to be rendered. The AP found that more than 60 percent of the accused priests have died, and the statute of limitations has run out in many of the cases where priests are still alive. This largely repeats the state of play in Pennsylvania, where only two of the 301 priests identified have been charged, and some of the incidents that filled the grand jury report happened decades ago.

Still, victim advocates point to many positive outcomes, even if a guilty verdict against an abuser is not one of them. Dioceses either have set up compensation funds or will face increasing demands to do so. Priests who had been removed from the ministry but were allowed to take on other jobs where they could have contact with children could now lose those positions.

Perhaps most importantly, however, the efforts by law-enforcement officials to investigate and hear the stories of victims offer a sense of resolution and vindication for many victims, following decades of shame, silence or skepticism.

Joe McLean, a victim from St. Paul, Minn., told the AP, “This is a milestone. We are getting closer and closer to what this ought to be, the true coming to terms that would have to be at a national level.”