Catholic Church loses key battle to keep state probe of clergy sex abuse secret
After a Pennsylvania grand jury in 2018 found hundreds of Catholic priests had sexually abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades, New Jersey’s then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal launched an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within Catholic dioceses here.
Prosecutors wanted a grand jury empaneled to consider evidence in the case, but Camden’s diocesan leaders successfully squashed it, persuading trial and appellate judges that a state grand jury had no authority to issue a presentment against a private religious entity — and that all court records in the matter should be sealed.
Wednesday, the state snagged a win in the long-fought battle, when the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the records to be unsealed and agreed to hear arguments in the case next month.
Mark Crawford, the New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he’s thrilled the Supreme Court unsealed the court records and plans to attend the arguments.
“The victims here have a right to know what’s been going on after six dark years of silence,” Crawford said. “Look, the Camden bishop’s actions did not just impact the victims of the Camden diocese, but every victim in this state. The other Catholic dioceses all stood by in silence and said nothing — nothing! — when they knew that these items were being litigated in court to prevent the presentment by a grand jury.”
He called the Camden diocese’s actions to stifle the state investigation “the same old playbook.”
“It’s ‘let’s suppress what we know, prevent it from getting to the public’ while publicly saying ‘we’re going to cooperate, we’re going to be open and transparent,’” Crawford said. “What does that say about their care or compassion for the victims, who simply want to be validated, who want a voice, who want their stories told, who want to be heard?”
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/03/06/...se-secret/
After a Pennsylvania grand jury in 2018 found hundreds of Catholic priests had sexually abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades, New Jersey’s then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal launched an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within Catholic dioceses here.
Prosecutors wanted a grand jury empaneled to consider evidence in the case, but Camden’s diocesan leaders successfully squashed it, persuading trial and appellate judges that a state grand jury had no authority to issue a presentment against a private religious entity — and that all court records in the matter should be sealed.
Wednesday, the state snagged a win in the long-fought battle, when the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the records to be unsealed and agreed to hear arguments in the case next month.
Mark Crawford, the New Jersey director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he’s thrilled the Supreme Court unsealed the court records and plans to attend the arguments.
“The victims here have a right to know what’s been going on after six dark years of silence,” Crawford said. “Look, the Camden bishop’s actions did not just impact the victims of the Camden diocese, but every victim in this state. The other Catholic dioceses all stood by in silence and said nothing — nothing! — when they knew that these items were being litigated in court to prevent the presentment by a grand jury.”
He called the Camden diocese’s actions to stifle the state investigation “the same old playbook.”
“It’s ‘let’s suppress what we know, prevent it from getting to the public’ while publicly saying ‘we’re going to cooperate, we’re going to be open and transparent,’” Crawford said. “What does that say about their care or compassion for the victims, who simply want to be validated, who want a voice, who want their stories told, who want to be heard?”
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/03/06/...se-secret/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
