PENNSYLVANIA
KSL
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — A grand jury report that found two former bishops helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 priests in a Pennsylvania diocese has prompted a sitting judge to resign from a Catholic school board and the current bishop to remove cathedral banners that celebrate former bishops.
Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec, who headed the diocese from 1966 until 2011, were criticized by the report. Hogan died in 2005 and Adamec’s attorney has denied he did anything wrong.
Diocesan spokesman Tony DeGol said Bishop Mark Bartchak ordered the banners removed from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament because he “feels this is a time of humility for the diocese and the focus should be on the victims of abuse.”
Meanwhile, Cambria County Judge Patrick Kiniry has resigned from the board of a Catholic high school. The grand jury report said Kiniry, a former prosecutor, helped Hogan transfer an alleged molester rather than pursue criminal charges in 1985. That priest, Francis McCaa, was described as a “monster” who fondled altar boys who were told to go without pants under their cassocks, according to the grand jury.
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