BishopAccountability.org
	Pedophile Clergy Saga Continues on Friday By David Gambacorta Philadelphia Daily News [Philadelphia PA] October 12, 2006 http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15737752.htm It's been a year since a local grand jury slammed the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for covering up decades of depravity by protecting pedophile priests. In the resulting fallout from the scathing three-year grand jury investigation, the archdiocese cried foul over the report while prosecutors complained about a lack of meaningful justice for victims. Last month, two victims of clergy abuse and the mother of two abused boys told their heart-wrenching tales to Cardinal Justin Rigali and more than 300 priests at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood. The saga will continue on Friday, when District Attorney Lynne Abraham and a panel of experts and activists will gather for a three-hour forum at Temple University to push for stronger laws to protect kids from child molesters. The Forum on Child Abuse Legislation will take place at Temple's Beasley School of Law from 9 a.m. to noon. Joining Abraham will be John Salveson, the president of the Citizens Crime Commission of Delaware Valley and Rev. Thomas Doyle, a priest who sounded the warning bell on the abuse scandal more than a decade ago. Mariana Sorensen, who worked as a prosecutor on the epic grand jury investigation, said the gathering will push for the passage of tougher criminal laws and also seek to abolish a statute of limitations for sex crimes against children. A DVD of abuse victims will also be shown. A similar forum was held in Harrisburg in April. "We're trying desperately to get these bills voted on," Sorensen said. "We want to see this legislation through." Sorensen left the district attorney's office in June but continues to work with victims groups. "I don't know many people who can get it out of their systems once they've talked to these victims and seen the devastation," she said. "The victims can't move on." She said last month's meeting between victims and priests was a step in the right direction, "but [the archdiocese] needs to say more than words."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.