BishopAccountability.org
 
  Grand Jury Report on Predator Priests
... And Those Who Have Survived Abuse

Philadelpia Inquirer [Philadelphia PA]
August 4, 2005

The kids are not all right. And it's the grown-ups' fault.

In the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, many children were abused by predators into whose pastoral care they were placed.

Then the children were failed by church higher-ups who ignored and, in some instances, helped hide reports of abuse by moving clergy without alerting authorities.

Now it appears that these victims have been failed by the legal system.

That's the disheartening disclosure from a Philadelphia grand jury investigating sex abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.

As reported yesterday by The Inquirer, the grand jury - following nearly three long years of work - will detail abuses by more than 50 priests. Out of all those cases, though, not one new criminal charge will be pursued.

The grand jury report by District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's staff won't be out for some weeks. It's important to reserve judgment until then on whether the decision to file no charges was sound.

To the extent that the grand jury report may document how church officials shielded abusers, and blast them for that, it could provide some justice for sex-abuse victims. Goodness knows, those victims are due at least that vindication.

Even in adulthood, victims say their assaults are seared in memory. But the hurt is almost palpable when they describe how shabbily they were treated when they came forward to report their victimization. As John Salveson of the local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) wrote recently in an Inquirer commentary, the experience of too many was to be "lied to, berated and abandoned" by church officials.

Why are there no criminal charges?

After all, were this saga scripted for an episode of Law & Order: SVU, the list of crimes might include sexual assault and endangering minors; in the case of church officials who stayed mum, obstructing justice or violating child welfare laws.

Instead, it appears the panel ran into numerous legal roadblocks, including long-expired time limits for reporting the alleged crimes. Clergy-abuse probes in other cities have been hampered similarly.

While Pennsylvania statutes on sexual abuse were amended in 2002 to lengthen the period for timely reports - a good thing - that's no help to victims abused in earlier years. That's why the grand jury's suggested legal reforms should prompt Harrisburg lawmakers to review these issues.

One legal adviser to abuse victims, law professor and author Marci Hamilton of Bucks County, notes in a letter to the editor today that two states opened a legal window for statute-expired civil suits on abuse allegations.

Hamilton also suggests a way to target an emerging problem: that is, providing a check on defrocked priests who have molested but have not been prosecuted. As these ex-clergy enter civilian life, some will need oversight - either from the church or, as Hamilton suggests, perhaps via a civil registry that would list anyone "found liable in any lawsuit alleging childhood sexual abuse."

If it indeed avoids criminal charges, the Philadelphia Archdiocese should focus renewed energies on safeguarding its young parishioners.