NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger
January 20, 2019
By Mark Crawford
For more than 20 years the local chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has called on the five New Jersey Catholic bishops to release the names, assignment histories and what church officials knew about all known credibly accused clergy who molested children. Years of silence was their only response.
Last summer we learned that New Jersey’s Archbishop Theodore McCarrick had not only sexually abused seminarians and fellow priests under his authority, he abused children as well. The abuse of the subordinate seminarians and clergy was a fact well known to church bishops and officials as he was promoted on up the ladder, becoming one of the most influential cardinals of the Catholic Church.
Last August, the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed allegations that more than 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children in six of the eight Catholic dioceses in that state. The report revealed in horrific detail the systemic abuse of children and church officials’ efforts to cover up such crimes to protect the institution as they abandoned the concerns of the abused.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.