Other Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Pennsylvania, USA · 2018

Pennsylvania Grand Jury: 301 'predator priests', 1,000+ child victims across six dioceses

Record class

Institutional event

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

clergy of six Pennsylvania dioceses, bishops and diocesan officials administering concealment

Organization

Dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton

Spiritual nexus

The victims were altar boys, parochial students and parish children placed in priests' pastoral care; the report's core finding is that diocesan religious authority was used to conceal and thereby perpetuate the abuse.

Pastoral or clerical authority
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2018-08-14 · grand jury report

40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, Pennsylvania. After a two-year investigation, the grand jury identified 301 credibly accused 'predator priests' and documented more than 1,000 identified child victims across six dioceses — believing the true number ran into the thousands — together with a decades-long institutional cover-up. The jury found that bishops 'weren't just protecting the abuser's identity — they were protecting the institution.'

Documented coercion mechanisms

pastoral access to altar boys, students and parish children
a recurring institutional cover-up 'playbook'

Primary record

Sources

official grand jury report inquiry report Report of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury (Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, 14 Aug. 2018).: The grand jury report itself: 301 credibly accused priests, 1,000+ identified victims, and the cover-up findings.

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