'Heinous' Pa. priest sex abuse report: Lawmakers support statute of limitations changes

Several legislators in York County support abolishing the statute of limitations for sex crimes committed against children and creating a two-year window for older survivors to bring lawsuits, recommendations that are contained in a sweeping grand jury report about abuse in the Catholic church in Pennsylvania.

Survivors, some of the lawmakers said, deserve justice and the legal tools to begin the healing process. They expect that the Legislature will address the grand jury report in some form when members return in the fall.

“I’m totally in full support,” said state Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township, who added that it’s in line with what he’s done in the past, including pushing for increased penalties for those in positions of authority who engage in grooming.

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State Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York Township, said she’s read the section of the report related to York County and twice watched Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s news conference. She described the actions detailed in the document as “absolutely heinous” and “shameful.”

Phillips-Hill noted that she’s previously supported this type of legislation — and looks forward to doing so again. 

“I agree with the attorney general,” she said. “The days of protecting abusers has to come to an end.”

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Meanwhile, state Rep. Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township, said he’d “definitely be in favor” of eliminating the statute of limitations if that was in a "clean bill."

Saylor said he wouldn’t necessarily oppose a bill that contained other measures. But he said he’d have to see what’s contained in the legislation and review how it would affect York County.

“I think everyone has been appalled,” Saylor said. “The amount of individuals involved in this is just unbelievable.”

He said he's in favor of creating a two-year window for older survivors to bring lawsuits but would have to make sure that's constitutional.

READ:Pope on Pa. priest abuse: 'We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them'

In a statement, the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, which speaks on behalf of all the dioceses in the state, said it was “devastated and outraged by the revelations of terrible sexual abuse crimes committed in the Catholic Church.”

The time to discuss legislation, the conference said, “will come later.”

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If a two-year window to bring lawsuits was created, there’d be a “tidal wave” of people coming forward in an attempt to heal and gain a degree of closure, said Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney in Boston who’s represented thousands of survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

“Each clergy sexual abuse victim is looking to be transformed from a victim to a survivor,” he said. 

“They’re trying to heal through validation,” Garabedian added. “Validation that the sexual abuse was not his or her fault.

Fifteen dioceses and three religious orders have declared bankruptcy to take care of lawsuits.

But Garabedian described the Catholic church as the richest financial institution in the world. He said it would survive any change to the statute of limitations.

Every client whom he’s represented would give back all the money they’ve ever received, Garabedian said, in exchange for not having been being sexually abused.

—The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.

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