Acknowledging sin is a good place to start

The release of a grand jury report on six Pennsylvania dioceses hits depths the faithful could not imagine.

Same church, different pews. Back in 2005, the Philadelphia Archdiocese — and in fact the entire Catholic church — was rocked to its core by a grand jury report issued by then Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham.

The grand jury laid bare the deepest secret of the Catholic church, decades of abuse by clergy of young, vulnerable victims. And perhaps worse, a pattern of cover-ups by church officials, policies clearly devised to protect the church and its minions, not the most vulnerable members of its flock, its children.

The grand jury detailed policies that clearly indicated archdiocesan officials took pains to cover the tracks of abusive priests, even to the point of simply moving them from one parish to another – often without the benefit of alerting the faithful to the predator being dropped into their midst.

Eventually one church official faced a criminal charge – reckless endangerment. That charge has been bounced back and forth in the courts, fighting over the legalese in whether the statute used to charge Monsignor William Lynn actually was in effect at the time. Lynn is now awaiting a new trial on the charges.

It was a sad saga repeated in dioceses across the nation.

It became the focus of an Academy Award-winning film, “Spotlight,” detailing the work of an investigative team at the Boston Globe to unearth a similarly ugly, decades-long pattern of abuse by priests in Boston.

We thought it could not possibly get worse. We were wrong. Tuesday’s release of an 884page grand jury report on six Pennsylvania dioceses – in Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton – hits depths the faithful could not imagine. The report indicates more than 300 priests abused at least 1,000 children, and very likely many more. And once again, it portrays a church leadership that went to great lengths to cover up the abuse, dismiss the victims, and protect the church at all cost.

Among the cases highlighted by the grand jury:

• A group of four priests ran what amounted to a child porn ring.

• Others videotaped their encounters with kids, and still others did so while others watched.

• A boy was forced to perform oral sex on a priest, who then rinsed the child’s mouth with holy water.

• Two cases of priests are reported impregnating young girls, including an instance where the priest arranged for the girl to have an abortion.

• A church leader who upon learning of some these perverted activities wrote a letter of condolence – to the priest under his charge.

The actions stretch back decades, as far back as 1940. It specifically identifies at least 1,000 young victims, but it strongly hints of at least as many more. In all but a few, the statute of limitations for any criminal charge has long since expired.

And it underscores the same ugly, unsavory – almost unfeeling – reaction of church superiors.

The report documents how church leaders covered for their rogue collars, placing the power and reputation of the church above those innocents who had been so brutally abused and violated.

The grand jury said the men who would have had the power to stop all this, to cleanse the church’s soul, instead doubleddown on the sin by covering it all up. Their actions not only allowed abusive priests to get away with their perverted acts, but enabled them to continue, perhaps in other locations, thus allowing hundreds more children to be violated.

As in Philadelphia, problem priests were simply moved to different parishes. Police were never notified, let alone the public. The grand jury specifically described how pastors were directed to “never” talk to police and keep the matters “in house.”

The first act of contrition is the realization of how far the church strayed from its own teachings. Some church leaders have now come forward to offer words of solace, and a pledge to meet with and do what they can to help the victims.

It’s time for action, in particular by our elected officials in Harrisburg, who have the opportunity to offer a window for victims to seek legal redress.

Nearly all of the actions detailed in the grand jury report are now beyond the statute of limitations for such crimes.

For now, the church, its leaders, its prelates must take a long look in the mirror and come to grips with what has transpired. Here’s a start: “Bless me father, for I have sinned.”