PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times
By Patti Mengers, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 05/17/16
Nearly 24 hours after priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia convened for meetings with Archbishop Charles Chaput, a state representative who claims he was abused as a child by a priest is hosting a panel for legislators on a bill that would expand the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits against suspected abusers and institutions that allegedly protected them.
Phil Saviano, whose efforts to help Boston Globe reporters expose suspected child sex abuse by nearly 90 priests in 2002 were included in the Academy Award-winning film, “Spotlight,” will be among five panelists featured in East Wing Senate Hearing Room 8 A at 12:30 this afternoon. Host is state Rep. Mark Rozzi of Berks County, D-126, who has identified himself as a survivor of Catholic clergy abuse.
“I think the panel is important because it puts a human face on an issue which can be discussed in legalese endlessly,” John Salveson, president and founder of the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, said on Tuesday.
The 60-year-old Radnor resident, who claims he was abused as an adolescent by a Long Island priest but was ignored when he brought it to the attention of the Diocese of Rockville Centre bishop in 1980, has called the passage of House Bill 1947 “a major step forward in our battle to find justice for the victims of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania.”
Tuesday, Chaput called all priests who serve the approximately 2.5 million Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to attend meetings at St. Helena’s Church in Montgomery County. It was rumored he would be talking with them about House Bill 1947 proposed last month by state Rep. Ron Marsico, R-105, of Dauphin County that would expand from age 30 to 50 the statute of limitations for the filing of lawsuits against alleged abusers and institutions entrusted with the victims’ protection.
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