PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat
By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com
Thirty years ago today – on Dec. 11, 1986 – an order was issued to seal the pretrial records in a case filed by petitioners against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, former Bishop James Hogan, Holy Name Catholic Church and Msgr. Francis McCaa.
The decision prohibited parties and attorneys from publicly disseminating any information obtained from pleadings or documents.
The seal was to remain in place “until the time of trial,” according to the decision issued by then Cambria County Judge Gerard Long – who attended Holy Name parish, where McCaa served, and who years later decided to not recuse himself in the case, in which a newspaper attempted to have the records unsealed.
McCaa had been accused of sexually abusing an unknown number of children, but never went to trial. A financial settlement was reached in 1987.
And the records remained locked away for decades, until current Cambria County President Judge Norman Krumenacker III released the information at the request of The Tribune-Democrat in the aftermath of a grand jury report that accused the diocese of carrying out a decades-long cover-up to protect religious leaders accused of child sexual abuse.
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