A Pennsylvania bishop named in a grand jury report on rampant sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy says he has "profound remorse" and offers his "heartfelt apology" to the victims.
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Speaking at a mass of forgiveness on Friday, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer opened by reading the first paragraph of this week's stunning report that said more than 300 predator priests had abused more than 1000 children in six Pennsylvania dioceses. Forty-five of the priests named in the report served in the Harrisburg diocese.
The first paragraph of the nearly 900-page report said the grand jury knows the truth: that child sex abuse within the Catholic church happened everywhere.
"In the name of our global church, I voice again my heartfelt sorrow and sincere apology to all survivors of clergy sexual abuse," Gainer said.
While acknowledging the church is faced with a "spiritual crisis", Gainer said most of the abuse happened long ago. The diocese has taken "significant and effective measures to protect our children and remove any person who intends to do harm to them", he said.
The grand jury report criticised Gainer for failing to advocate the defrocking of an abusive priest. The diocese defended Gainer, saying he took swift action against that priest and another abusive priest after becoming bishop in 2014.
In early August, the diocese released the names of 71 priests and other members of the church who had been accused of child sex abuse and said it was holding accountable all Harrisburg bishops of the past 70 years, announcing their names would be stripped from church properties.
Friday's Mass attracted an unusually large turnout of about 350 worshippers. They included Irene Youngman, a retired social worker from Hershey.
Youngman said she was so angry when the grand jury's report came out on Tuesday that she stayed home from Mass that day.
"There's such a sense of betrayal. And an anger I have that the hierarchy isn't responding," she said. "I hope they will do more than they've done already. Hold the bishops accountable."
The grand jury report faulted Gainer over his handling of the case of the Joseph Pease, an abusive priest who retired in 2003 after admitting to sexual misconduct with a minor. In a 2014 letter to the Vatican, Gainer said he didn't want to kick Pease out of the priesthood altogether, asking that he instead live the rest of his life "in prayer and penance, without adding further anxiety or suffering to his situation, and without risking public knowledge of crimes".
The report cited another 2014 case in which Gainer failed to call for the defrocking of a priest who'd admitted that he'd sexually abused seven young girls, raping one of them over a period of years. James Beeman had been suspended from ministry since 1991; he died in 2016.
Australian Associated Press