Pittsburgh Diocese receives about 50 new abuse claims after grand jury report

[DonViejo]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



ADAM SMELTZ
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
[e-mail]

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has fielded about 50 allegations of abuse over the past week, after a grand jury report drew international attention to child sexual abuse by Pennsylvania priests, the diocese said Tuesday.

The claims appear to be new and came “from people who had not previously contacted us,” delivered through an abuse hotline established by the church and via email, said the Rev. Nicholas S. Vaskov, a diocese spokesman.

“All of the allegations are from prior to 1990 and go back as far as the 1940s,” Father Vaskov said in a statement. “We are taking all of them seriously and following our regular process for responding to them.”

That protocol includes pulling accused clergy from ministry if they’re still on the job. The diocese didn’t immediately say whether the new reports involve active clergy, but each allegation will be turned over to prosecutors in the county where the abuse is alleged, Father Vaskov said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/08/22/Pittsburgh-diocese-sexual-abuse-claims-David-Zubik-Zappala-josh-Shapiro/stories/201808210258

[dlk]

1. It's Not Limited to Pennsylvania-This is a Global, Pervasive Issue

If nothing changes, then nothing changes.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Many of the other big and medium U.S. city dioceses have already settled their cases

over the past decade or so... one of the most notorious being the Archdiocese of Los Angeles that had a $600 million settlement back in 2007. This is just a continuation of many investigations here in PA. There is a retrial of a priest dubbed "the highest ranking Catholic official to be charged in the U.S." (William Lynn) due to happen next year after his previous conviction was vacated by the PA state Supreme Court.

But agree that this is global, although it is sadly something that has gone on for centuries unfortunately.