PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror
MAR 2, 2017
RUSS O’REILLY
Staff Writer
roreilly@altoonamirror.com
Survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of local Roman Catholic clergy don’t believe much has changed since last year when a statewide grand jury revealed that about 50 religious leaders abused hundreds of children over the past 40 years in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese.
About 10 members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests gathered Wednesday for a demonstration in front of the diocese administration building on Logan Boulevard.
Mark Dougherty, who said he was sexually molested as a minor by a diocesan priest, said local legislators as well as church leadership are failing victims who deal with pain from past abuse.
“A year has gone by since the grand jury report. … and actions of the Republican state Senate are suffocating yesterday’s victims and jeopardizing today’s children,” Dougherty, of Johnstown, said.
Last year, the state attorney general recommended that the Legislature abolish criminal and civil statute of limitations on child sexual abuse completely.
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