Feds, bishop to spell out abuse plan in troubled diocese

By Joe Mandak
Philly.com
March 6, 2017

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20170306_ap_751f15966c8e4f48bfad3c3e0d1632d4.html

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Western Pennsylvania's top federal prosecutor and a Catholic bishop who heads a diocese where investigators say two former bishops helped cover up child-sex abuse by dozens of priests are scheduled to announce a plan to prevent future abuse.

Acting U.S. Attorney Soo Song and Altoona-Johnstown Bishop Mark Bartchak have called a news conference for Monday afternoon in Johnstown.

They'll "announced a collaborative framework to protect the children of the diocese from sexual abuse," according to a media advisory.

A year ago, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane released a 147-page report based on secret diocesan records and other evidence that detailed abuse by more than 50 priests and clergy against hundreds of children. The report criticized Bartchak's predecessors, James Hogan, who headed the diocese from 1966 to 1986 and died in 2005, and Joseph Adamec, who succeeded Hogan and retired in 2005.