PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Christian Alexandersen | calexandersen@pennlive.com

Allegations of rape, abuse and coverups have trickled out of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown for decades.

On Tuesday, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced that a statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of 40 years. At least 50 priests or religious leaders had been involved in sexual abuses, she said.

Evidence and testimony gathered by the grand jury revealed a history of diocese superiors taking action to conceal the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the institution’s image.

Bishop-Accountability.org collects news reports of priests and religious leaders that have been suspended from duty, named in a lawsuit or investigated on allegations of sexual abuse.

The nonprofit organization has a list of dozens of priests and religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown that have…