The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is one of the largest archdioceses in the country and the only one to have been the subject of two grand jury investigations regarding the Archdiocese’s handling of the sexual abuse of children by its priests and religious. The first grand jury report was issued in 2005, after three years of exhaustive investigation into the actions of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, and issued a scathing condemnation of former bishops and archbishops…
They concluded that at least 63 Philadelphia priests had abused hundreds of young boys and girls over the past several decades.
Those choices went all the way to the top – to Cardinal Bevilacqua and Cardinal Krol personally,” the report states.
“…The behavior of Archdiocese officials was perhaps not so lurid as that of the individual priest sex abusers. But in its callous, calculating manner, the Archdiocese’s “handling” of the abuse scandal was at least as immoral as the abuse itself.”
However, as in the grand jury convened in the Diocese of Rockville Center, the 2005 Philadelphia grand jury could not move forward with criminal prosecution of the abusive priests or the Archbishops who helped the priests cover up their crimes. District Attorney Lynn Abraham cited numerous legal issues, most importantly of which was the restrictive statute of limitations.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia responded by stating the report was a “vile, mean-spirited diatribe” that unfairly targeted the Catholic Church.
Here are excerpts of the grand jury findings:
“What we found were not acts of God, but of men who acted in His name and defiled it,” the grand jury said.
The victims of the abuse included:
- An 11-year old girl who was raped by her priest and became pregnant. The priest took her in for an abortion.
- A fifth-grader who was molested inside a confessional booth.
- A 12-year-old who, raped and sodomized by his priest, tried to commit suicide and remains in a mental hospital as an adult.
- Another 12-year-old boy, repeatedly raped by his priest, was told by that priest that his mother had approved of the abuse.
However, in February 2011, the sense of grand jury futility changed. Like the previous Philadelphia grand jury, the 2011 grand jury found that priests had committed criminal acts against children by sexually abusing them. Furthermore, it found that church officials had committed criminal acts by endangering the welfare of children. While the grand jury regretted it could not pursue criminal charges against Cardinal Bevilacqua himself, it did recommend two counts of criminal child endangerment against Monsignor William Lynn who had served Bevilacqua as Secretary for the Clergy and ultimately responsible for investigating and handling priests accused of sexual abuse. The grand jury also recommended criminal charges, including for rape and indecent sexual assault, against the three priests, Edward Avery, Charles Engelhardt, and James Brennan; and the teacher, Bernard Shero. The four priests and one Catholic school teacher have been arrested and are awaiting trial on the criminal charges.
