Grand Jury Rebukes Church on Sex Abuse

A grand jury issued a scathing attack Tuesday on the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse complaints, urging new legislation to make it a felony whenever church officials fail to immediately report child molestation claims.

The 13-page report by a Westchester County grand jury, the result of a two-month investigation into sexual abuse of children by priests in the county, calls on the New York Legislature to pass sweeping measures to root out molesters and punish church officials who cover up their crimes.

The church’s treatment of complaints amounted to “an orchestrated effort to protect abusing clergy members from investigation, arrest and prosecution,” the report charges.

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, called the report “unbalanced, unfair and inaccurate.”

“The archdiocese will continue to do all that we can to protect children and young people in accord with our policy,” he said.

The grand jury reviewed tens of thousands of pages of documents and heard from eight alleged victims of abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

The grand jury also recommended removing the statute of limitations when the victim of a sex crime is a minor, making it a crime for any individual or organization to allow a known sex offender access to children and barring confidentiality clauses when settling civil lawsuits in pedophilia cases.

The panel said it found a disturbing pattern of abusers plying their young victims with alcohol and cigarettes to gain their trust.

Zwilling said the church requested a Friday hearing before a judge to discuss the report.

Cardinal Edward M. Egan has already agreed to notify area prosecutors of sex abuse allegations before conducting an internal review.

The archdiocese has given prosecutors files on 35 years worth of sex abuse cases and has suspended several priests pending further investigations.

Nationwide, at least 250 priests have either been dismissed from their duties or have resigned since the sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston early this year.

Meanwhile, church officials in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Minnesota estimated up to 10 priests would be dismissed under a new, restrictive policy adopted last week by U.S. bishops concerning sex abuse.