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Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Catholic church's secret quest to quash clergy abuse investigation
A slew of recently unsealed court documents by New Jersey's Supreme Court reveals the secret quest of the Catholic Church to quash the state's grand jury investigation of decades of clergy sexual abuse. The court has scheduled a hearing next month which pits the state Attorney General's Office against the Catholic Diocese of Camden over the issue of whether the state can go forward with its grand jury investigation of clergy abuse. After a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report found that hundreds of Catholic priests had sexually abused at least 1,000 children, New Jersey's Attorney General launched its own investigation into clergy abuse in 2019. For nearly seven years, New Jersey's clergy abuse victims and their advocates have been waiting for the state to issue a report. Many have grown frustrated by the apparent standstill and the Attorney General's office was tight lipped about its progress. Grand jury investigations are confidential and the state declined to reveal whether a grand jury had been convened. Last month, The Record and revealed the reason for the delay after it discovered a once-sealed transcript of a court hearing which showed that the Camden Diocese successfully challenged the state's effort to conduct a grand jury investigation. On Thursday, all of the court records revealing the secret battle were released by the judge. The court will also rule on whether the state can empanel a grand jury. If so, the state could move forward with its investigation and release a detailed report on clergy abusers and a coverup by the church. The hearing is scheduled for the court's April 28-29 session. First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay Ruotolo said that the commitment of the Attorney General's Clergy Abuse Task Force to the investigation "has never wavered.""For years, we have been seeking to convene a grand jury to present evidence collected by prosecutors across the state regarding decades of sexual abuse, the conditions that made that abuse possible, and the systematic failures to prevent it — and to allow the grand jury, as the conscience of our community, to make recommendations to ensure widespread abuse by clergy can never happen again," she said in a written statement. Michael Walsh, Director of Communications for the Camden Diocese, did not respond to calls requesting comment. Lloyd Levenson, the attorney representing the diocese, also did not immediately respond. The hundreds of pages of unsealed court filings open a window into a secret, yearslong battle by the Camden Diocese to bar New Jersey's Attorney General from investigating clergy abuse in the state. In one of the unsealed briefs filed by the Camden Diocese, diocese lawyers challenged the state's authority to convene a special grand jury by arguing that state grand juries have no authority to issue a presentment relating to decades old allegations of abuse. Unlike Pennsylvania, whose grand jury report inspired New Jersey's investigation, "the New Jersey Legislature has already effectively abolished the statutes of limitations for criminal and civil sexual abuse, obviating any need for a grand jury to recommend statutory changes." Furthermore, the five Catholic Dioceses entered into "a Memorandum of Understanding in 2002 that established reporting procedures which effectively ended clergy abuse," the diocese attorneys wrote. Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw in Mercer County sided with Camden, saying that a grand jury presentment does not apply to religious organizations. In addition, he noted that a report by a special grand jury castigates an individual "without giving him the slightest opportunity to defend himself" and that many of the accused priests "were dead or of such advanced age that speaking up for oneself would be nearly impossible." But the state urged the court to reconsider and reverse its decision, asserting that, "statewide sexual abuse by clergy, and the State's failure to prevent it, have had a tremendous impact on the public — and the full facts of how this widespread abuse went undetected and unaddressed have never been comprehensively resolved. A grand jury is empowered to investigate these harms, report on them, and offer recommendations to prevent their recurrence. There was no basis to foreclose an important, lawful presentment process that had not yet even begun." The state also said that, "This dispute concerns one of the most wrenching public harms in recent memory: decades of sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy, and the conduct that allowed it to go undetected and unaddressed for so long." Among the details revealed by the court documents is that even as a flurry of briefings were submitted to the trial court, more than 550 phone calls had come into the state's 24-hour Task Force hotline with callers "who alleged sexual, physical, verbal and mental abuse by clergy dating back to the 1940s and continuing to the recent past. The calls also detailed actions by Church officials to conceal misconduct, such as shuffling accused priests among parishes and promoting clergy who molested children," according to the state's brief. At least four clergy have been arrested. "I'm glad the Supreme Court saw fit to release this. It should never have been sealed," Clergy abuse advocate Mark Crawford said. "The victims were starting to give up hope about the truth ever coming out." Ruotolo, from the Attorney General's office, said: "We were disappointed when the trial court prevented us from even bringing this evidence to a grand jury, and we are grateful that the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to hear this case. Now that this case has been made public for the first time in this years-long dispute, victims and survivors will have an opportunity to make their voices heard — and to speak to the real harms that we have never lost sight of.' This article originally appeared on How the Catholic church tried to quash investigation into clergy abuse
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Catholic Church loses key battle to keep state probe of clergy sex abuse secret
The New Jersey Supreme Court unsealed court records in a dispute with the Camden diocese over whether a state grand jury can issue a presentment on sex abuse claims. (Getty Images) 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. The decision clears the path for prosecutors to potentially bring the case to a grand jury — if justices agree with the state's argument that grand juries are constitutionally permitted to issue presentments on matters 'of public affairs or conditions,' and clergy abuse qualifies as such. A presentment is a written accusation of a crime prepared by a grand jury. Arguments are expected to be held during the court's April 28-29 session. First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay Ruotolo said the clergy abuse task force Grewal created 'has never wavered' in its mission, and prosecutors remain committed to bringing charges when warranted and proceeding with a grand jury presentment. 'For years, we have been seeking to convene a grand jury to present evidence collected by prosecutors across the state regarding decades of sexual abuse, the conditions that made that abuse possible, and the systematic failures to prevent it — and to allow the grand jury, as the conscience of our community, to make recommendations to ensure widespread abuse by clergy can never happen again,' Ruotolo said in a statement. She said she's grateful the state Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. 'Now that this case has been made public for the first time in this years-long dispute, victims and survivors will have an opportunity to make their voices heard — and to speak to the real harms that we have never lost sight of,' she said. A spokesman for the Camden diocese and attorney Lloyd D. Levenson, who represents the diocese, did not respond to requests for comment. James King, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, declined to comment. In the unsealed briefs, prosecutors argued that trial and appellate judges erred both in entertaining a challenge to a hypothetical grand jury presentment that does not yet exist and in barring a presentment that focuses on the conduct of private individuals. 'Statewide sexual abuse by clergy, and the State's failure to prevent it, have had a tremendous impact on the public,' prosecutors wrote. 'The grand jury's presentment power is a tool to voice the public conscience, to learn from past harms, and to propose reforms.' The lower courts' rulings 'preclude the use of that tool to address one of the most wrenching harms in recent memory,' they added. But the Camden diocese argued that a presentment is unnecessary because abuse victims can get relief through civil lawsuits. Levenson also accused the state of having an 'ulterior motive … to mitigate the public relations debacle it created' by promising in press releases in 2019 that a presentment would be forthcoming. 'A grand jury is not authorized to return a presentment against the Roman Catholic Church relating to decades-old allegations of clergy abuse. A grand jury may only return a presentment that refers to public affairs or conditions which are imminent and pertinent,' Levenson wrote. 'The internal operations of the Catholic Church from long ago are not public affairs or conditions, are not imminent and pertinent, and thus are not an appropriate subject matter of a presentment.' Despite being blocked from presenting the case to a grand jury, the state task force has continued its investigation, fielding more than 550 calls on a 24-hour hotline alleging sexual, physical, and mental abuse by clergy, according to the briefs. At least four clergy have been arrested, according to the briefs. 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?' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
