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Feds, bishop announce reform plan to address child sex abuse
Source: Associated Press
Feds, bishop announce reform plan to address child sex abuse
By JOE MANDAK
Mar. 6, 2017 5:38 PM EST
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese accused of a decadeslong cover-up of child sex abuse by clergy has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors on reforms to prevent future abuse and to provide better help for victims, including new reporting requirements and the creation of an independent oversight board.
The reforms announced Monday by Acting U.S. Attorney Soo Song and Bishop Mark Bartchak of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese also requires the church to hire an outside expert to develop a new sex abuse prevention program for its priests, which it already has done.
Former U.S. Attorney David Hickton, who retired in November, had threatened to pursue a possible racketeering lawsuit against the eight-county central Pennsylvania diocese that is home to nearly 100,000 Catholics.
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A year ago, Pennsylvania's attorney general issued a scathing grand jury report that detailed abuse by more than 50 priests and other clergy against hundreds of children going back decades while the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was under different leadership. The grand jury did not accuse Bartchak of wrongdoing, but said it was "concerned the purge of predators is taking too long."
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By JOE MANDAK
Mar. 6, 2017 5:38 PM EST
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese accused of a decadeslong cover-up of child sex abuse by clergy has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors on reforms to prevent future abuse and to provide better help for victims, including new reporting requirements and the creation of an independent oversight board.
The reforms announced Monday by Acting U.S. Attorney Soo Song and Bishop Mark Bartchak of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese also requires the church to hire an outside expert to develop a new sex abuse prevention program for its priests, which it already has done.
Former U.S. Attorney David Hickton, who retired in November, had threatened to pursue a possible racketeering lawsuit against the eight-county central Pennsylvania diocese that is home to nearly 100,000 Catholics.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
A year ago, Pennsylvania's attorney general issued a scathing grand jury report that detailed abuse by more than 50 priests and other clergy against hundreds of children going back decades while the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was under different leadership. The grand jury did not accuse Bartchak of wrongdoing, but said it was "concerned the purge of predators is taking too long."
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Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/751f15966c8e4f48bfad3c3e0d1632d4/feds-bishop-announce-reform-plan-address-child-sex-abuse
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