Harrisburg Catholic diocese names priests who have been accused of sexual abuse

HARRISBURG (PA)
York Daily Record

August 1, 2018

By Brandie Kessler

A Roman Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania released a list Wednesday of more than 70 of its clergy members accused of sexually abusing children in cases dating back decades.

Bishop Ronald Gainer, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, also announced sweeping changes to confidentiality policies and said the names of any men accused of such crimes would be removed from any place of honor in the diocese.

These changes pertain only to the Harrisburg diocese, which covers much of central Pennsylvania.

Gainer apologized profusely for abuses that occurred over many years. He said the church was releasing a list of every allegation made in recent decades against clergy in the diocese that had not been proven false.

Gainer said that when he became bishop in 2014, the diocese began working to verify the status of priests going back to the 1940s. He said the diocese wanted to release this list before, but the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office asked them not to, so as not to interfere with its investigation of Catholic clergy abuses across the state.

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