'Prepare for war': Sexual assault survivors rally for Pa. law reform, see time running out

State Rep. Mark Rozzi only has three words left for the Senate.

"Prepare for war."

He has been battling the state legislature since 2016, pushing for reforms to Pennsylvania's statute of limitations, and now he is beginning to wonder if an end is even in sight. 

Rozzi, himself abused by a priest when he was a child in the Allentown diocese, has worked on a bill that would allow sexual abuse victims to pursue lawsuits even if their abuse happened decades ago. 

Sexual abuse of children perpetrated by Catholic clergy has been in the Pennsylvania spotlight since a historic grand jury report detailing assaults on more than a thousand children by more than 300 priests was released in mid-August.

And Rozzi thought the report would finally convince lawmakers that it's time for change. 

The bill, which has moved to the state Senate for final consideration, would specifically reform the state's statute of limitations laws. 

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Currently, survivors of child sex crimes have until age 30 to file a civil claim and until age 50 to file criminal charges against their abusers. Legislation to reform the law, which has been pushed to the Senate for final consideration, would give victims until age 50 time to file lawsuits and eliminate the statute of limitation entirely for criminal prosecutions.

He has also included an amendment to the bill that would create a two-year "window to justice," during which those survivors for whom the civil window has already closed could file a retroactive civil claim.

"I want the silence to end and for assault survivors to be given back their power," Rozzi said. "But for some reason, it's not as easy to get everyone else in Senate on the same page." 

The window has been fiercely opposed by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania. Instead of agreeing to the window, they are proposing a legislative fund be created to "give victims compensation," Rozzi said.

"That's a slap in the face to survivors everywhere," Rozzi said. "They think it's a compromise, but it's not." 

Watch video from a previous rally (story continues below):

The bill is set to go before the Senate for its final vote next week, and right now there are only three voting days left in this legislative session: Oct. 15, 16, and 17.

"We're not going to take it anymore. For once, they're not just going to hear us," Rozzi said. "We're going to make them listen."

And that's just what Rozzi intends to do — make lawmakers listen. Survivors plan to rally in Harrisburg on Monday to encourage lawmakers to make reform.

It's time to act now, Rozzi said.

So, in their "final push for justice," Rozzi said, survivors will be stationed in Harrisburg reading the grand jury report aloud all day, so that those Senators who haven’t taken the opportunity to read it themselves, will hear it.

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"For years, sexual assault survivors have been told not to talk — that they don't have power," Rozzi said. "But we're going to change that."

Rozzi, a Democrat from Berks County, was only 13 years old when a priest abused him in the Allentown diocese. 

"It's ridiculous to think that at 13 years old, I was supposed to know what a statute was and know that at the time I only had two years to file a civil claim and five years to follow a criminal claim," Rozzi told the York Daily Record in an interview earlier this month. "That was the last thing I was thinking about when he was raping me in the shower, I'll tell ya that." 

This new legislation could finally give validation to sexual assault survivors everywhere, Rozzi said. It would give them the opportunity to hold their abusers accountable. 

"The public is demanding a change," Rozzi said. "And not only are Pennsylvanians watching, the world is watching."