‘Heartbreaking and infuriating’: Conklin proposes legislation after church abuse scandal

STATE COLLEGE (PA)
Centre Daily

August 27, 2018

By Sarah Rafacz

State Rep. Scott Conklin announced at a press conference Monday that he plans to introduce two pieces of legislation in response to the grand jury report, released Aug. 14, on child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

According to the grand jury report, more than 300 “predator priests” sexually abused more than 1,000 children, and “we believe that the real number — of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward — is in the thousands.”

The grand jury investigated abuse in six of Pennsylvania’s dioceses (the Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown dioceses were the subject of previous grand juries).

According to the grand jury report, church leaders covered up the abuse, and, as a result of that, almost all of the cases are “too old to be prosecuted.”

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