WILKES BARRE (PA)
The Citizen’s Voice
May 24, 2018
Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera and bishops of five other Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania will not attempt to block the impending public release of a statewide grand jury’s report on an investigation into sexual abuse among clergy and their dioceses’ handling of it.
The grand jury, which met in Pittsburgh and has been investigating since former Attorney General Kathleen Kane launched it in 2016, ended its term in April. Its report could be released in June. It subpoenaed records and interviewed witnesses from all of the dioceses — Scranton, Erie, Allentown, Harrisburg, Greensburg and Pittsburgh. Investigations of the two other dioceses in the state, Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown, were handled individually.
According to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Greensburg Bishop Edward Malesic and Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer recently changed their minds about filing legal challenges to the report’s release. The other bishops already had agreed.
The report will not be a purely historical document.
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