Neil Hall/Reuters
A Pennsylvania state grand jury ruled in a Tuesday report that hundreds of children were molested or raped by at least fifty priests and religious officials associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown over the past half-century. None of the accused clergymen will be charged, the report added, because of the statute of limitations for such accusations, and because of the potential for trauma among witnesses.
The two-year grand jury also found that the two previous bishops of the diocese actively worked to cover up the sexual abuse, in conjunction with law enforcement officials controlled by the church. According to the report, James Hogan, who served as bishop from 1966 to 1986 and died in 2005, and Joseph Adamec, who retired after serving from 1987 until 2011, both “took actions that further endangered children as they placed their desire to avoid public scandal over the wellbeing of innocent children."