Stirred by Sexual Abuse Report, States Take On Catholic Church

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Article Title

Stirred by Sexual Abuse Report, States Take On Catholic Church

Link to Article:      https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/06/nyregion/catholic-sex-abuse.html

Source:  New York Times

Author(s):  Sharon Otterman and Laurie Goodstein

Date:  September 6, 2018 

Synopsis of Article 

In the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse [40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report 1 Interim — Redacted], multiple state attorneys general have launched probes and inquiries into the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in their own states. 

This wide-ranging article delves into a number of issues, among which are the following:  

  • In the three weeks following the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, the attorneys general of the following states have announced investigations into child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy:  Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and New Mexico. 
  • New York State Attorney General (Barbara Underwood) has indicated the following (according to the article):  

Her office’s criminal division wanted to work with local district attorneys to prosecute any individuals who have committed criminal offenses that fall within the applicable statutes of limitations. In New York State, the attorney general’s office cannot convene a grand jury, so it must work in concert with local district attorneys.

  • Underwood used the attorney general’s authority to oversee nonprofit organizations, including religious institutions, to issue subpoenas covering all documents related to sexual abuse and the church’s response to that abuse over decades, including information from secret or confidential church archives. 
  • The office of New Jersey State Attorney General (Gurbir Grewal) announced the following (according to the article):  

He had appointed Robert D. Laurino, the former acting prosecutor of Essex County, to lead a task force that will investigate clergy sex abuse and any effort to cover up claims of assault. The task force will have subpoena power through a grand jury in order to compel testimony and demand the production of documents. 

The article also reveals that, in at least one case, the state attorney general’s investigation may be intended to give cover to the affected dioceses.   It is worth excerpting from the article at length here:   

But the probes announced in various states were not equally independent or combative. In Missouri, Attorney General Joshua D. Hawley said last month that he will conduct an “independent review” of files that the archbishop of St. Louis, Robert J. Carlson, had just volunteered to make available to review. The two men each released letters about the arrangement on the same day, after survivors of sexual abuse by priests had organized protests calling for an investigation.

Mr. Hawley, a Republican running for the United States Senate, said in a telephone news conference that his power is limited because under Missouri law, he cannot convene a grand jury or issue subpoenas for documents.

But a lawyer for abuse victims called his claim a “half truth.” The lawyer, Nicole Gorovsky, who previously served as a federal prosecutor and an assistant attorney general in Missouri, said that Mr. Hawley could convene local district attorneys in Missouri and coordinate their efforts, as he has done on other issues. Those local district attorneys could then issue subpoenas for far more documents than those voluntarily provided by the bishops.

“He’s allowing the perpetrator to run the investigation,” Ms. Gorovsky said in an interview. “It’s exactly backwards.” 

NOTE:  Hawley won his race for the US Senate seat formerly held by Claire McCaskill and joins the Senate in 2019. 

Task Force to Investigate Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Clergy in Catholic Dioceses of New Jersey

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Press Release Title

AG Grewal Establishes Task Force to Investigate Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Clergy in Catholic Dioceses of New Jersey

Link to Release:     https://nj.gov/oag/newsreleases18/pr20180906a.html    

Source:  Office of the Attorney General, New Jersey

Author(s):  Office of the Attorney General, New Jersey

Date:  September 6, 2018 

Excerpts from Press Release:

TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today announced that he is forming a task force to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey, as well as any efforts to cover up such abuse.

Attorney General Grewal has appointed former Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino to head the task force. An experienced sex crimes prosecutor, Laurino will oversee a team of detectives and prosecutors from across the state’s County Prosecutor’s Offices and the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ), and will report directly to DCJ Director Veronica Allende. Attorney General Grewal has authorized the task force to present evidence to a state grand jury, including through the use of subpoenas to compel testimony and the production of documents, in addition to other investigative tools.

To help identify potential victims, Attorney General Grewal also has established a new dedicated hotline to report allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The hotline will be staffed by trained professionals and operate on a 24/7 basis. The toll-free number is 855-363-6548. 

In addition to investigating allegations of sexual abuse by clergy, the task force will conduct a comprehensive review of existing agreements between the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey and state law enforcement. In 2002, each of the state’s dioceses entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Attorney General’s Office and various County Prosecutors’ Offices. These MOUs mandated that the dioceses establish policies and procedures to ensure that their leaders and employees report information to prosecutors about potential cases of sexual abuse within their churches and cooperate in any resulting law enforcement investigations. As part of the efforts announced today, the task force will determine whether the dioceses complied with the MOUs’ mandatory reporting requirements and whether any additional action is necessary.

NY attorney general subpoenas every Catholic diocese in the state

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Article Title

NY attorney general subpoenas every Catholic diocese in the state

Link to Article:       https://abcnews.go.com/US/ny-attorney-general-subpoenas-catholic-diocese-state/story?id=57649082

Source:  ABC News

Author(s):  Aaron Katersky

Date:  September 6, 2018 

Synopsis of Article 

New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood has launched an investigation into child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the state and into possible coverup of such abuse by the Catholic hierarchy. Underwood’s office has issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state. Any crimes uncovered by the probe will be referred to local district attorneys for prosecution. 

After Pennsylvania report on alleged church abuses, Missouri launches investigation. What will other states do?

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Article Title

After Pennsylvania report on alleged church abuses, Missouri launches investigation. What will other states do?

Link to Article:      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/08/25/missouri-becomes-first-state-to-announce-investigation-into-church-abuses-after-pennsylvania-report/?utm_term=.367fddf471b1

Source:  Washington Post

Author(s):  Mark Berman

Date:  August 25, 2018 

Synopsis of Article 

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley has instructed his office to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the St. Louis region. The Archdiocese of St. Louis claimed the probe was being launched at its request.   

According to the article: 

He [Hawley] said this team would review documents as well as interview  alleged victims and people who may have witnessed alleged abuses. Hawley’s office had told The Post before announcing the review that it lacked the ability to investigate “allegations of this kind of criminal activity,” saying that was the jurisdiction of the local prosecutor. On Friday, his office said that it will release a public report when its review has been completed and that anything deemed a potential criminal violation will be sent to local prosecutors.

 

Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal: 7 Excerpts From the Grand Jury Report

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 Article Title 

Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Scandal: 7 Excerpts From the Grand Jury Report

Link to Article:        https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-priests-pennsylvania-church-jury.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer
Link to Grand Jury Report:         PA 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report 1 Interim Redacted __ 2018-08-14

Source:  New York Times

Author(s):  By the New York Times

Date:  August 14, 2018 

Synopsis of Article 

“We…need you to hear this,” say the members of the Pennsylvania 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, regarding their 900-page report, which documents the findings of their two-year long investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and cover up of that abuse by Catholic hierarchy, in six of Pennsylvania’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses. Some 300 abusive priests preyed upon at least 1000 identifiable victims (probably many times that number, in fact).

Case after case was disturbing and tragic — even bizarre.

The report did not spare the Catholic hierarchy, heretofore comparatively unscathed by the abuse scandal. 

Church authorities often protected abusers, sympathizing with them instead of the victims.  

The report details the unholy career of Edrward R. Graff, 45 years a priest, who raped scores of children.

Church authorities documented numerous reports about abuse committed by Graff over the years. But when his abusive record was revealed to the public, the diocese down played and denied its knowledge of the sordid details. 

Some priests preyed upon multiple members of the same family. 

The grand jury reported that it had uncovered a ring of predatory priests in the Pittsburgh diocese who “shared intelligence or information regarding victims,” created pornography using the victims, and exchanged victims among themselves. “This group of priests used whips, violence and sadism in raping their victims,” the report states.

Catholic Priests Abused 1,000 Children in Pennsylvania, Report Says

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Article Title 
Victims of childhood sexual abuse and family members react at press conference held by PA Attorney General on August 14, 2018. (Matt Rourke/ Associated Press)

Catholic Priests Abused 1,000 Children in Pennsylvania, Report Says

Link to Article:      https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/catholic-church-sex-abuse-pennsylvania.html  
Link to Grand Jury Report:         PA 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report 1 Interim Redacted __ 2018-08-14

Source:  New York Times

Author(s):  Laurie Goodstein and Sharon Otterman

Date:  August 14, 2018 

Synopsis of Article 

Over 300 abusive priests, over a thousand identifiable victims abused while they were still minors (many of them young children), over 70 years of manipulating victims and their families to not report abuse and persuading civil authorities and law enforcement not to investigate it. That is the bottom line in the Pennsylvania grand jury report (40th Statewide Investigative Grand Jury, Report 1, Interim-Redacted) released in Harrisburg on August 14, 2018. The grand jury worked for two years to compile the evidence and write the report, which covers six of Pennsylvania’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses. 

The report said there are likely thousands more victims whose records were lost or who were too afraid to come forward.

The instances of abuse cataloged in the report are horrific:  “a priest who raped a young girl in the hospital after she had her tonsils out; a victim tied up and whipped with leather straps by a priest; and another priest who was allowed to stay in ministry after impregnating a young girl and arranging for her to have an abortion.” 

The report’s criticism of the Catholic hierarchy is scathing:  

“Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability,” the grand jury wrote. “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.” 

The grand jury said that while some accused priests were removed from ministry, the church officials who protected them remained in office or even got promotions. 

The report is unlikely to lead to new criminal charges or civil lawsuits under the current law because the statute of limitations has expired. Only two of the cases in the report so far have led to criminal charges.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office initiated the investigation, said in a news conference, “They protected their institution at all costs. As the grand jury found, the church showed a complete disdain for victims.” He said that the cover-up by senior church officials “stretched in some cases all the way up to the Vatican.”

The utter depravity documented in the report is shocking:

Mr. Shapiro was surrounded on Tuesday by about 20 abuse victims and their family members, who gasped and wept when he revealed that one priest had abused five sisters in the same family, including one girl beginning when she was 18 months old.

The New York Times article provides the following additional details:

The Pennsylvania grand jury met for two years, reviewed 500,000 documents from dioceses’ secret archives, and heard testimony from dozens of victims and the bishop of Erie. The report covers the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Two of the dioceses — Greensburg and Harrisburg — tried to quash the grand jury investigation last year, but later backed off that stance.

The report lists each of the accused priests and documents how they were sent from parish to parish, and even sometimes out of state. The grand jury said that while the list is long, “we don’t think we got them all.” The report added, “We feel certain that many victims never came forward, and that the dioceses did not create written records every single time they heard something about abuse.”

Pennsylvania Grand Jury Says Church Had a ‘Playbook for Concealing the Truth’

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 Article Title 

Pennsylvania Grand Jury Says Church Had a ‘Playbook for Concealing the Truth’

Link to Article:      https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/us/pennsylvania-child-abuse-catholic-church.html
Link to Grand Jury Report:         PA 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury Report 1 Interim Redacted __ 2018-08-14

Source:  New York Times

Author(s):  Scott Dodd

Date:  August 14, 2018 

Synopsis of Article 

Evidence amassed by the Pennsylvania 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, Report 1, Interim-Redacted was reviewed by FBI agents from the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. They identified repeating patterns of similar practices that were regularly used, by the six dioceses investigated, to cover up clerical sex abuse. The grand jury referred to these patterns and practices as a “playbook for concealing the truth.” 

According to the grand jury, the playbook effectively reads as follows:  

First, make sure to use euphemisms rather than real words to describe the sexual assaults in diocese documents. Never say “rape”; say “inappropriate contact” or “boundary issues.”

Second, don’t conduct genuine investigations with properly trained personnel. Instead, assign fellow clergy members to ask inadequate questions and then make credibility determinations about the colleagues with whom they live and work.

Third, for an appearance of integrity, send priests for “evaluation” at church-run psychiatric treatment centers. Allow these experts to “diagnose” whether the priest was a pedophile, based largely on the priest’s “self-reports,” and regardless of whether the priest had actually engaged in sexual contact with a child.

Fourth, when a priest does have to be removed, don’t say why. Tell his parishioners that he is on “sick leave,” or suffering from “nervous exhaustion.” Or say nothing at all.

Fifth, even if a priest is raping children, keep providing him housing and living expenses, although he may be using these resources to facilitate more sexual assaults.

Sixth, if a predator’s conduct becomes known to the community, don’t remove him from the priesthood to ensure that no more children will be victimized. Instead, transfer him to a new location where no one will know he is a child abuser.

Finally and above all, don’t tell the police. Child sexual abuse, even short of actual penetration, is and has for all relevant times been a crime. But don’t treat it that way; handle it like a personnel matter, “in house.”