Editorial | Statute of limitations continues to impede justice for abuse victims

The Tribune-Democrat
October 6, 2019

https://bit.ly/35bfdoU

Will this be the time the Pennsylvania Senate responds to voices of sexual abuse victims seeking justice?

State law says individuals who have turned 30 have no right to file lawsuits against their abusers.

On Wednesday, the Senate judiciary committee heard testimony from many who were violated as children but who have passed the age limit.

Twice, the Pennsylvania House has passed bills that would have opened windows in the statute, and twice the bills were ignored in the Senate, where the Republican leadership has opposed any movement on behalf of the victims.

Perhaps those Senate leaders are hoping victims and those who have taken up their cause will grow frustrated and fade away.

That’s not going to happen.

An Associated Press report out this weekend shows that nearly 1,700 priests and other clergy members that the church says have been named in credible allegations of child sexual abuse are living among us with no supervision – some of them continuing to work around children. Clearly we have much work to do on this issue – in protecting potential victims as well as supporting those who suffered in the past.

The voices of sexual abuse victims have been building since the Sandusky-Penn State scandal in 2011, and grew stronger in 2016, when a grand jury report said 50 priests had abused at least 300 children across Altoona-

Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese – an investigation launched in the wake of the Brother Stephen Baker case in Johnstown.

In its 2018 report into six more Pennsylvania dioceses, the grand jury called for lawmakers to take action and provide a window for priest-abuse victims – now numbering more than 1,000.

Late last year, the voices of victims rose again, as Johnstown pediatrician Johnny Barto was sentenced to prison for abusing children in his care over three decades.

One of Barto’s victims was Jennifer Goetz, who was abused a young girl in the 1990s and who came forward to support others once new allegations were announced against Barto in 2018.

Goetz was not permitted to confront Barto at his sentencing because her case was beyond the statute of limitations. She told the Senate committee Wednesday that “there was no justice for me.”

More than 50 victims contacted the state’s victim advocate, Jennifer Storm, who represented them in testifying before the judiciary committee, noting that Wednesday’s gathering represented the first time victims could take their plea directly to lawmakers.

That’s an encouraging sign in this marathon march toward justice.

It also is encouraging that some senators – including Cambria County’s Wayne Langerholc, a Republican – seem ready to act on behalf of the victims.

Langerholc, the judiciary committee’s vice chairman, said hearing from victims outside the church scandal was important – even as most Pennsylvania dioceses have been using compensation funds to appease those who were violated.

Could Langerholc’s sudden prominence as a Republican senator who supports taking action on behalf of victims be another sign that the wall of defiance is cracking?

Johnstown and Cambria County have been at the center of this storm, and Langerholc’s constituents have paid a high price in this saga.

The Baker case at Bishop McCort led to the Altoona-Johnstown grand jury report, which set the stage for the sweeping 2018 statewide presentment.

Now the Barto case provides a tragic example of how the system is unfair to those who have reached age 30, as Goetz and others see the gate of justice slammed in their faces.

Shaun Dougherty, abused by a Johnstown priest as a child, attended Wednesday’s hearing in Harrisburg and voiced doubts that the Senate is ready to act on behalf of victims.

“If they had the spine to do it, they’d have done it by now,” he told reporter John Finnerty.

Pennsylvania has been at the forefront in shining a light into the dark corners on this issue and exposing both abusers and those covering up their vile acts.

Our state should also lead the way in supporting victims of abuse – including those who were preyed upon as children but who are now past the statute of limitations.