DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register
December 17, 2018
By Shelby Fleig
Up to 45 states, including Iowa, have sought assistance from Pennsylvania authorities regarding alleged misconduct by Catholic priests in the months since a bombshell grand jury report was made public.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, in an interview with USA TODAY, said there’s been a surge of inquiries since the August report found that at least 300 priests are accused of abusing more than 1,000 children since the 1940s.
The result of a two-year grand jury investigation, the report is one of the most comprehensive looks into such abuse by the Catholic church in history.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller “considers this an important issue, and we want to learn from Pennsylvania and other states,” said Lynn Hicks, the attorney general’s communications director.
The Iowa attorney general’s office has participated in “several” briefings, hosted by Shapiro, to ask questions regarding the investigation in that state, Hicks said in an email.
He said he was unsure whether other Iowa law enforcement agencies have contacted Pennsylvania authorities.
Shapiro ordered the grand jury investigation that led to the historic report, which also accuses the church of a “systematic cover-up’’ by moving abusive priests from one parish to another.
More than a dozen attorneys general have since publicly acknowledged that they have launched separate clergy abuse inquiries. The U.S. Justice Department is also conducting a wide-ranging review, disclosed in October by church officials who said they received demand for documents.
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