Nine Survivors Come Forward to File Suit against the Diocese of Pittsburgh

SNAP
June 11, 2020

https://www.snapnetwork.org/nine_survivors_file_suit_against_diocese_pittsburgh_jun20

A new lawsuit has been filed on behalf of nine brave survivors (eight living, one deceased) who allege abuse at the hands of seven different priests from the Diocese of Pittsburgh. We applaud these brave survivors for coming forward and hope that they are finding support and comfort on their healing journey.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of these nine victims accuse seven different priests – all of whom were named in the 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report – of abuse. Each of these survivors deserves praise for coming forward and sharing their painful stories in an effort to secure justice and help prevent future cases of abuse. We are grateful to them.

This lawsuit would have never been able to be filed due to Pennsylvania’s archaic statute of limitations laws, but a decision against the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown that is currently in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has made an opening for these nine survivors.

We hope that anyone else who had been bared by the statute of limitations will be inspired by these cases to come forward, make a report to police and prosecutors, file a lawsuit, and start healing.

CONTACT: Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Regional Leader, (636-433-2511, snapjudy@gmail.com), Zach Hiner, Executive Director (517-974-9009, zhiner@snapnetwork.org)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)