PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Centre Daily
A Philadelphia grand jury yesterday drew back the confessional curtain, threw open the sacristy door, and looked inside the rectory. What it found inside these supposed sanctuaries of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia was sickening.
Sixty-three. That's how many priest predators the grand jury identified as it investigated the most unspeakable criminal acts of sexual abuse against hundreds of children. In doing so, it destroyed any notion that this region avoided the excesses of clergy abuse in the Catholic Church. It has not.
Worse, the grand jury concluded that, as these crimes and sins were committed, many church leaders looked the other way, up to and including the late Cardinal John Krol and the recently retired archbishop, Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua.
Zero. That is, sadly, how many criminal charges the grand jury lodged as a result of its efforts. Loopholes in state laws and statutes of limitation were the reason, not lack of evidence.
Church officials were quick to defend both cardinals against any claim of wrongdoing or a cover-up.
But the grand jury report documents how flimsy were the investigations of abuse claims by various church officials. It also cites instances where predators were reassigned, only to abuse other children.