CHESTER (PA)
Daily Local
MICHA FRAZIER, Staff Writer 09/23/2005
Some Catholics in Chester County are uncomfortable when talking about an issue that has recently confronted them -- the systematic cover-up of sex abuse by priests from the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
But despite the revelation that priests participated in an alleged cover-up of abuses since 1967, Chester County’s faithful remained devoted with some displeased with the church’s actions.
On Wednesday, a Philadelphia grand jury, brought together under the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, released a report that criticized leaders of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, including two archbishops, for hiding alleged sexual abuse for decades.
Gaile Polhlaus is thenational secretary of Voice of the Faithful, an organization that seeks changes in church hierarchy and procedures for alleged sexual-abuse scandals. She said she was not surprised when she heard the news about the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
"I was waiting for the shoe to drop," she said.