PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
Editorial
Charges against three retired superiors of a Franciscan order reveal an alleged sexual abuse conspiracy and an all-too-familiar code of silence. Sadly, that enabled a predatory monster under the guise of religious trappings to abuse dozens of children as a Johnstown high school athletic trainer.
Giles A. Schinelli, 73, Robert J. D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, allegedly provided cover for Brother Stephen Baker to abuse students of Bishop McCort Catholic High School, where Rev. Baker was assigned from 1992 to 2010. He committed suicide in 2013 — a coward’s exit amid allegations of sexually abusing children in Ohio dating back to 1986.
The Franciscan case follows this month’s grand jury report that accused two former bishops of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese of covering for more than 50 priests who abused hundreds of children over many decades. But this time the alleged enablers haven’t slipped away.
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