PENNSYLVANIA
The Courier-Express
Joy Norwood Apr 2, 2016
The fact that 250 calls have been made to a child-abuse hotline since the recent report of decades-long sexual crimes across the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown is tragic, but not surprising.
On March 1, the Office of Attorney General said priests and others associated with the diocese had been abusing children for decades across eight counties. The AG’s report directly named 35 alleged abusers, and said their crimes had been hidden by bishops who chose to move the priests from parish to parish rather than involve legal authorities.
A subsequent grand jury presentment on March 15 accused three former leaders of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception, of allowing Brother Stephen Baker to work among local children knowing he had been accused of sexual assault previously in Ohio and Michigan.
As many as 100 former Bishop McCort High School students have said Baker abused them when they were students.
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