PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Daily Times
Confronted finally on Wednesday with the unspeakable results of a three-year-long grand jury investigation into the sexual exploitation of children, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia responded like anyone trapped in a corner: It came out swinging. While Cardinal Justin Rigali’s public statements in response to the grand jury’s 418-page report were measured, an 80-page document drafted by church lawyers was filled with wild evasions, feeble justifications and statements that are just flatly contradicted by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.
D.A. Lynne Abraham empanelled the grand jury because of the archdiocese’s unwillingness to respond with candor to the burgeoning Catholic Church sexual-abuse scandal in the late 1990s.Its investigation found credible evidence that at least 63 priests despoiled children and minors in their charge since 1967 and detailed some nightmarish instances of abuse:
A priest raped an 11-year-old girl, who became pregnant. The priest made sure she got an abortion.
A 12-year-old boy, raped repeatedly by a priest, who told him that his mother approved of the abuse.
A fifth-grader molested in the confessional.
They’re tales of childhoods ruined and adult lives scarred, all aided and abetted by the conscious decision by the leadership of the archdiocese to cover up the offenses by doing whatever it took. Many times, the report states, it took transferring abusive priests out of their rectories and sending them to other parishes, where they were free to begin their abuse anew.