Retired bishop withdraws challenge to report

Sex-abuse findings to be released soon

Erie Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman has ended an effort to block references to him in a forthcoming grand jury report on sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania.

The agreement came after the office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro agreed to stipulate that several of the blistering criticisms in the report — into how the Catholic hierarchy handled predator priests in general — didn’t apply to Bishop Trautman specifically.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday granted the bishop’s request to withdraw his petition.

The roughly two dozen petitioners to the court who are challenging their depictions in the report have not been named. Friday’s filing confirms Bishop Trautman was one of them, a petitioner previously identified only as “D.T.”

In the joint stipulation, Bishop Trautman said he withdrew the petition even though he continues to dispute many of the report’s findings.

But he said he decided to drop his appeal after the Supreme Court recently ordered the release report, while heard. referring of blacking their a redacted case to the out was petitioners grand all the being jury sections

the Erie The section would result have on was the been that Diocese much blacked of of out indefinitely, role as bishop. given his overarching

“Because doing so could further injure victims of abuse and because his goal was never to halt publication of the entirety of the Diocese of Erie section of the Report,” the bishop dropped