Experts say Wuerl, Zubik could have legal exposure

hold institutions like the church accountable,” said Mr. Shubin, who represents survivors of child sexual abuse.

Pending state legislation could open that window. Under current law, a survivor in Pennsylvania can be no more than 30 years old before suing an attacker. The same time limit applies to certain parties who failed to report the abuse or endangered the victim, Mr. Shubin said.

Clergy are among those required to tell public authorities about known or suspected child abuse. But the mandate wasn’t as explicit before amendments made in 2012 to a state law, said Jonathan Kurland, an attorney adviser with AEquitas, a legal advisory group in Washington, D.C.

Depending on how legislation takes shape, the General Assembly could grant survivors a twoyear window to bring civil litigation against attackers and their enablers, no matter when the abuse happened. Lawmakers also are weighing whether to scrub the statute of limitations on criminal charges, which now must be filed by the time a victim is 50 years old.

Grand jurors advocated both changes in their report, released Aug. 14. In an interview last week, Bishop Zubik said the Pittsburgh diocese supports the recommendations — provided the civil window is open to abuse claimants across society, not only those specific to the church.

Asked about his own legal exposure, he signaled an absence of guilt. Both Bishop Zubik and Cardinal Wuerl “consistently strengthened diocesan child protection policies that removed offending priests from ministry,” Washington archdioc e s e spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said in a statement Saturday. The policies addressed survivor needs and led to reporting allegations to law enforcement, she said.

Bishop Zubik said the diocese began reporting every credible abuse allegation to local prosecutors in 2002, then started reporting every allegation — regardless of credibility — under his watch in 2007. Pressed on why the practice didn’t start sooner, he said he could speak with authority only to his tenure as bishop.

“Obviously, I’m not in denial about the findings of the grand jury. I don’t know how much more forthright I can be in terms of addressing the issues there. I’m out there talking with you” and other media, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

He knows of no deliberate attempts to hide abuse information under his watch or Cardinal Wuerl’s, he said. Bishop Zubik has defended the cardinal as an early adopter of policies and practices to prevent, disclose and stop abuse, including the addition of an assistance coordinator to help victims.

“We’ve continued to build on ways in which we want to help victims who come forward,” he said.