Reaction continues to come in concerning the grand jury report that named over 300 Pennsylvania clergy who were credibly accused of sexually abusing over 1000 victims.
We spoke with people who were attending church service on Wednesday, asking them what they felt when the word first came out about the grand jury report. One of the common responses that was said by Matthew Rorabaugh was that while what happened was shocking, one of the tenants of the Catholic church is to forgive.
Cathy Evanko said that she felt bad for the victims and the church institution, and said that the news wasn’t a total surprise to her, but the sheer number of those involved was what surprised her.
And Tommy Hammilton echoed a similar remark made by Bishop Edward Malesic yesterday that the grand jury report does not represent the churches of the diocese today.
Meanwhile, the Greensburg Diocese is considering removing the name of a bishop accused of covering up some of the sexual assault allegations against some members of the clergy from one of the diocese’s buildings. The Bishop Connare center in Unity Township is named for William Connare, who was bishop from 1960 to 1987. The grand jury report accused him of concealing allegations of sexual abuse by priests, moving accused priests from place to place, agreeing to admit a pedophile priest from another state and looking for bishops to accept priests that could no longer be a part of the diocese.
