Two local residents sue every diocese in state
Mandatory reporting violations alleged
Two Allegheny County residents — a man who said he survived clergy sexual abuse and the mother of a child in Catholic school — have sued every Roman Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania, alleging violations of state mandatory reporting requirements of child abuse.
Ryan O’Connor of Penn Hills, who said he was abused as a child by a priest in Johnstown, and Kristen Hancock of Mt. Lebanon, whose son attends St. Bernard School, also said they hope the suit wrests free all records about abusive priests that the state’s eight dioceses have kept secret.
In addition, the plaintiffs and their attorney, Benjamin Sweet, seek the identities of the current and former clergy members whose names were omitted from a massive grand jury report that became public last month.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Mr. Sweet is seeking class-action status.
“This needs to stop. This needs to end,” Mr. O’Connor, 46, said during a news conference at the Strip District offices of Mr. Sweet’s law firm. “We’re done being lied to. Our truth will be heard, and our children will be protected.
“This is not about money. It’s about transparency.”
Mr. O’Connor has three children — ages 7, 12 and 25 — and wants to ensure that the priests who remain unnamed in the grand jury report are not in a position to harm them or anyone else.
“We believe in the church as an institution,” he said. “I have not lost faith in my religion. I have lost faith in the men who are holding the purse strings.”
Ms. Hancock did not attend the news conference but said in a statement, “As a parent, I deserve to know the names of all child predators named in the grand jury report. It’s a shame that public safety and common sense does not prevail. It’s a shame that the Catholic Church is still driving which information becomes public. And it’s a shame that it takes a lawsuit to seek to release these names to protect our children. People deserve to know right now what additional information the church is withholding.”
Under Pennsylvania law, clergy members and other religious leaders are required to report immediately any suspected child abuse to ChildLine, the state’s 24-hour hotline. They also must file a written report within 48 hours after the phone call is made. Those requirements are the same used for teachers and physicians, among others.
Several dioceses defended their records on mandatory reporting.
“The Diocese of Pittsburgh requires all clergy, employees and volunteers to undergo criminal background checks and participate in child protection training, which has been done for more than 70,000 people who serve in its churches, schools and institutions,” the diocese said. “Anyone in our churches, schools and institutions who has regular contact with children must also participate in mandated reporter training,” according to a statement from the diocese.
“At the Diocese of Greensburg, any and every allegation, regardless of credibility, is immediately called in to Pa. ChildLine and reported to the appropriate district attorney, whether the allegation is minutes old or 70 years old,” said Jerome Zufelt, a diocesan spokesman.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said it “exceeds state mandatory reporter requirements. And it demands that all individuals working with children undergo background checks and child abuse clearances.”
The grand jury report, released Aug. 14 after two years of investigation in six dioceses, including Pittsburgh, identified 301 “predator priests” accused of abusing more than 1,000 children during the past seven decades.
A number of current and former clergy members’ names were blacked out in the grand jury report and are the subject of an ongoing dispute at the state Supreme Court.
“We think it is time for that information to become public,” Mr. Sweet said. “The days of concealment are over.”
In a footnote, the suit said, “The PA Grand Jury Report is non-exhaustive because while it details the sexual abuse and facilitation of the abuse by defendants in six Pennsylvania dioceses, the scope of the investigation did not include all church institutions and affiliates.”
Mr. O’Connor does not think that all of the abuse that occurred over the decades is documented by the grand jury and believes that the church has committed a violation of the state mandatory reporting act requiring that all acts of suspected child abuse be reported to the authorities.
By not reporting all acts, the lawsuit alleges, it constitutes a “public nuisance” and creates a clear and present threat to public safety.
“Moreover, as detailed and comprehensive as the four Pennsylvania state and county grand jury reports are, they do not provide a complete accounting of the abuse, the abusers and those who actively concealed and facilitated the abuse,” the lawsuit said.
Prior to last month’s report, the state attorney general oversaw previous investigations of clergy sexual abuse in Altoona-Johnstown and Philadelphia.
“These gaps are not due to any failing by the grand juries, but, instead, are the natural and foreseeable consequence of the Catholic Church and defendants’ decades-long cover-up of the systemic abuse of Pennsylvania children, including but not limited to, failing to properly document reports of abuse when they were made, and creating an environment that discouraged victims from reporting the abuse they suffered.”
Mr. O’Connor said he was abused when he was 9 and 10 by a priest and family friend in Johnstown. The priest, who was mentioned in the 2016 grand jury report on the Diocese of Altoona-Johnson in connection with other alleged victims, was placed on leave in 2003 while the diocese investigated allegations of sexual abuse. He retired in 2004.
Mr. Sweet said he expects the class of plaintiffs for the lawsuit will be massive and include both survivors of childhood abuse in the church as well as children and their parents who are currently involved in church activities.
“History suggests that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of additional priests,” the attorney said. “That leaves today’s kids ... in peril.”