Regarding Pennsylvania Grand Jury Interim Report
on Child Sexual Abuse by Roman Catholic Clergy
“The credible allegations of more than 1,000 victims of child sexual assault by Roman Catholic clergy throughout Pennsylvania are revolting. Over the course of 80 years, 300 predator priests were permitted to prey on their parishioners and their parishioners’ children, creating a scale of abuse never before documented.
We cannot tolerate a society that allows any institution, including religious institutions, to shield criminals. Instead of being held accountable for their actions, these predators were protected, even promoted, and their crimes hidden. The Roman Catholic Church harbored the predators they knew to be in their midst further perpetuating cycles of abuse. They simply moved these priests around where they were left to victimize a whole new set of children. The Roman Catholic Church is complicit in these crimes.
A blind eye was turned while one thousand – possibly many more – faceless victims were left to languish in their own personal purgatories with no voice, no justice and no help.
As one of 42 million survivors of child sexual abuse in America, I demand that justice is finally served to these priests and to the Roman Catholic Church for its role facilitating these crimes. If the Roman Catholic Church is interested in helping survivors heal and protecting the innocent, they will use their money and resources to establish a fund that will provide counseling to the victims and create programs that prevent child sexual abuse.”
