Media Statements

We want to give a big thank you to the Senate Judiciary Committee for advancing HB951. The bill will now move on to the Appropriations Committee, and then hopefully to a vote on the Senate floor succeeded by concurrence with the General Assembly. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R) spoke during the committee hearing with compassion for child sex abuse victims and cited the years of pain and trauma endured. Similar supportive comments by the Judiciary Chair, Senator Lisa Baker (R), and Senators Steve Santesiero (D) and Art Haywood (D) followed. 

In what has become almost commonplace within Catholic Universities, Colleges, and even parishes, priests or religious invent groups designed to attract the vulnerable. It may at first seem innocent or nurturing for the individuals participating. However, history tells us that even the most prestigious institutions are no longer the minority when it comes to employing sexual perpetrators. Often, the so-called trusted servants are allowed full access to create their den of deceit and deviousness, with one intent, to groom and sexually assault an unsuspecting victim. 

"Bidding war" and "bankruptcy" do not normally go hand in hand, but they do in the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

In a win for transparency, a federal judge has refused to allow a New York Catholic diocese to hide the names of abusers identified in its bankruptcy proceeding. We are grateful for this ruling and hope that other bankruptcies around the nation are handled similarly.

A priest from a parish in Baltimore has been removed following allegations of child sexual abuse,  and we now call on Catholic officials in Baltimore to do outreach ensuring parishioners at every parish where this man worked are informed of the allegations and survivors and witnesses are encouraged to come forward and make a report to local law enforcement.

Another Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago has been removed following allegations of clergy sexual abuse. We call on Church officials to use all resources at their disposal to ensure parishioners at every parish where this man worked are informed of the allegations, and that survivors and witnesses are encouraged to come forward and make a report to local law enforcement.

As a judge in Guam weighs what assets should be included in an ongoing bankruptcy reorganization for the Archdiocese of Agana, we hope that she will elect to include all of the Archdiocesan assets in the bankruptcy.

Once again, a news story has broken about a serially abusive Church staffer who has been left off lists of perpetrators in multiple states, replete with weak excuses from Catholic officials attempting to explain away their lack of transparency. This is yet another example of why the only openness we can truly count on in cases of clergy sex crimes is that afforded to the public through grand jury investigations, interventions by attorneys general, and reports to police and prosecutors.

Colorado’s governor has signed SB 73 into law, an important piece of legislation that will protect future children from abuse and provide more current victims with a pathway to justice. We applaud this development and appreciate the many survivors who shared their stories, testified in support of this reform, and worked tirelessly with their legislative allies to get this needed bill passed.

A former Catholic priest from Los Angeles County has been arrested on charges that he sexually abused multiple children in the late 1990s. We applaud the police and prosecutors for charging this dangerous man and we hope that this news encourages others who may have been hurt by this clergyman or any other clerics to come forward.