PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review
December 11, 2018
By Deb Erdley
As the Pittsburgh Diocese prepares to unveil details of a fund for adult survivors of clergy child sexual abuse, the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese this week revealed it has paid $21.5 million related to such costs over the last 19 years.
In a special message to parishioners dated Monday, Altoona-Johnstown Bishop Mark Bartchak said the church there sold its diocesan center in 2016 and bishop’s residence in 2014 and used those proceeds as well as insurance funds and financial reserves to pay $15.7 million to survivors, $514,422 in counseling and support services, $4.3 million in legal costs and just under $907,389 in support of priests accused of child sexual abuse.
The diocese with a Catholic population of about 84,000 — the smallest in the state— was the subject of a 2016 state grand jury investigation. It concluded about 50 predator priests prowled its small town and rural parishes and schools over decades, often transferred from place to place by their bishops as allegations of sexual abuse surfaced.
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