PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive
By Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
I have said it before and I will say it again:
Accountability and transparency for the crimes of childhood sexual abuse today and in the future absolves no one from the accountability and transparency for the sexual crimes committed against children in the past.
Deep pockets denied the rights of all those who were sexually abused as children.
Their right to access justice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was denied them by groups that had much to lose; the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese along with the other Pennsylvania dioceses as well as the insurance industry and and several business lobby groups.
Survivors of clergy sex abuse are pointing to the fact that Brian Gergely, who was sexually abused for years by his priest, came just days after the defeat of a “look-back” measure in reform legislation.
Mostly, however, the opposition to the retroactive measure, statute of limitation reform, was led by Archbishop Charles Chaput, by way of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference which he leads, and the heads of the Pennsylvania dioceses who dutifully follow orders.
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