| 10/6/16 | Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board | The Pennsylvania Senate can redeem itself by supporting a bill it earlier gutted that would expand both the criminal and civil statutes of limitation on child sex abuse. The legislation would allow pedophilia victims who were assaulted years ago to sue institutions that protected their abusers for decades. The House is expected […]
| HARRISBURG, Sept. 27 | State Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, today stood with advocates, survivors and members of the General Assembly and called on Republican House leadership to run H.B. 1947, a statute of limitations reform bill, with a retroactive component included. “When I ran for this office, I was on a personal mission to shake open the log jam […]
| 9/19/16 | Steve Esack | Allentown Morning Call | Pittsburgh grand jury looking at child sex abuse allegation from churches across state HARRISBURG — Four more Catholic dioceses — Erie, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton — have been swept into a grand jury investigation of clergy sex abuse and cover-up allegations in communities stretching from the Delaware River to the Monongahela. […]
| 9/16/16 | Ivey DeJesus | pennlive.com | Several of the witnesses called to testify before a grand jury investigation by the state Attorney General’s office into allegations of clergy sex abuse across dioceses in the state are warning that they expect those findings to dwarf an earlier report this year out of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. “After reading the […]
| 9/16/16 | Steve Esack, Peter Hall and Matt Assad |Allentown Morning Call | The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office is looking into allegations of abuse by priests in the Allentown Diocese as part of a bigger statewide investigation, a lawmaker who was called to testify told The Morning Call on Thursday. The Harrisburg Diocese also is under investigation. “I can […]
| 9/22/16 | Maria Panaritis | Phila. Inquirer | Freshly appointed to the helm of an office racked by tumult, Pennsylvania Attorney General Bruce Beemer is rejecting a key position taken by his predecessor, saying he believes a child sex-abuse bill in Harrisburg that would have allowed lawsuits for decades-old cases would not have violated the state constitution. In an […]
| 9/20/16 | Bradie Kessler | York Daily Record| State Rep. Mark Rozzi said he believes the high volume of reports of clergy abuse to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office spurred a statewide grand jury investigation into six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg. “After the Altoona-Johnstown (diocese grand jury report) came out, and the Attorney General put out the hotline, and […]
| 9/20/16 | Brandie Kessler| York Daily Record | Days after confirming a statewide grand jury investigation into six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg, State Rep. Mark Rozzi stood with survivors of clergy sex abuse in Philadelphia to issue a call to action. Rozzi and others spoke in support of statute of limitations reform that includes a retroactive provision to allow […]
Summer recess for our legislators (and us) is over! The PA House will be back in session this coming week, which means they will be considering HB 1947 yet once again. The history of this bill is a little complicated, but hang in with me so I can catch you up. It was passed overwhelmingly by the House 4/2016 after […]
| 9/15/2016 | Kaylee Tornay billypenn.com | On Monday, the Pennsylvania House will return to session, and arguments will pick up again over one controversial bill that could drastically alter the way sexual abuse is handled in Pennsylvania courts ― that is, if one of its supporters doesn’t intentionally kill it for lacking comprehension. HB 1947, introduced by Rep. Ronald […]
| 9/14/16 | Dave Sutor | Tribune-Democrat – Johnstown, PA | Shaun Dougherty’s father died nearly two years ago. The funeral took place at St. Clement Church on Lindberg Avenue, where the large Catholic family gathered to grieve the loss of a loved one. But Dougherty’s mind was also wracked by another emotional trauma. He claims that decades ago, when he […]
| 8/9/2016 |Brandie Kessler | York Daily Record The Diocese of Harrisburg has acknowledged by name 15 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children and who at one time worked in the diocese — including one who served in Dallastown in 1989-90. The Rev. Raymond Prybis was accused of abuse during his time at a Boston-area parish […]
| 8/2/16 | NBC 10 News | A former Philadelphia church official who made history when he faced charges of helping to shield pedophile priests is now free after a court overturned his conviction. Monsignor William Lynn had already posted 10 percent of his $250,000 bail at about 11 a.m., less than an hour after a Philadelphia judge ruled that […]
| 7/31/2016 | Editorial: Perkasie News Herald | The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is learning that while a key aspect of House Bill 1947 might be going away, its biggest booster is not. State Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-126th Dist., of Berks County, the man who authored the controversial language in the bill that would have retroactively extended the window for victims of […]
| 7/26/16 | Ivey DeJesus | PennLive | A former employee of a high school in the Altoona‑Johnstown Diocese has been criminally charged with sexually assaulting a student. The Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday released the criminal complaint against John Bowman Thornberry, 28, a former employee of Bishop Carroll Catholic High School in Ebensburg, Cambria County. Thornberry is accused of […]