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Report: Over 300 Catholic Clergy Accused Of Sex Abuse In Pennsylvania

Abuse victims Jim Robertson and Rita Milla are joined by supporters holding quilts bearing the portraits of abused children while gathered outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on February 1, 2013, one day after the release of personnel files of priests accused of sexual misconduct.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
Abuse victims Jim Robertson and Rita Milla are joined by supporters holding quilts bearing the portraits of abused children while gathered outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles on February 1, 2013, one day after the release of personnel files of priests accused of sexual misconduct.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has released a new report revealing shocking levels of sex abuse in the Catholic Church across six dioceses.

The report lists over 300 clergy members accused of abusing more than 1,000 children.

Read the report in full here

The Washington Post reports “the investigation is the most comprehensive yet on Catholic Church sex abuse in the United States.”

Justice for these survivors might be unattainable. “Almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be

prosecuted,” the report says.

After the abuse was catalyzed by reporting from The Boston Globe in 2002, abuse allegations and cover-ups were revealed worldwide.

In the United States, the report follows the resignation of the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., Theodore McCarrick, after allegations that he sexually abuse of adults and minors for decades. Cardinal McCarrick, 88, is the first cardinal in the church’s hierarchy to resign over sex abuse allegations.

One of the survivors of the abuse spoke to the jury in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

From The Post:

Todd Frey, 50, who says he was abused when he was 13 by a priest in Lancaster County, spoke to the grand jury. He said he told church and law enforcement officials over the years, but nothing was done. The report will be his first opportunity to see if the priest is accused of abusing others, and who in the church knew.

“Who else did he pick?” Frey said Monday.

Why has the Catholic Church struggled to deal with these allegations? What would justice look like for these survivors?

GUESTS

Father Thomas Reese, Author of “Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church” and senior analyst for Religion News; @ThomasReeseSJ

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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