Recommending “bold, decisive and collaborative action,” on Thursday, Erie’s Bishop Lawrence Persico called for a compensation fund for victim/survivors of clergy sexual abuse.
Upon release of the 40th Statewide Grand Jury Report regarding sexual abuse in six dioceses across Pennsylvania on Aug. 14, Attorney General Josh Shapiro challenged the state’s bishops to act on the four recommendations proposed by members of the grand jury.
A statement by the diocese said Persico and diocese officials have “studied the recommendations of the grand jury, listened to the pleas of the victim/survivors, heard the challenge of the attorney general and now have read the reasoned position of Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway.”
Scarnati has come out against loosening time limits on lawsuits by victims. Instead, he suggested the church establish a victim/survivor compensation fund administered by a neutral third party.
Changing the time limits for litigation would mean changing the state constitution, Scarnati said, adding that would be a lengthy process that would have no guarantee to pass.
Persico agreed, and according to his statement, is prepared to establish and fund an appropriate compensation program that provides necessary relief to victims.
“In my statement to victims on Aug. 14, I committed myself and this diocese to assist in healing for victims and for the wider community,” he said. “It is time to take action. We must do what is within our power to provide justice to victims.
“Therefore, I have directed our lawyers to collaborate with the Pennsylvania Legislature to develop an acceptable and appropriate program to make restitution to victims,” Persico said.
He said Scarnati’s proposal would ensure fairness and objectivity, and he is “prepared to help work out the details of this solution.”
In Persico’s statement, he indicated he agreed with Scarnati “that there would be no guarantee of a successful resolution to protracted legal wrangling over the constitutionality of a retroactive change to the civil and criminal statute of limitations.”
The statement continued, “Although both the senator and the bishop understand that no dollar amount can truly make amends for what occurred, they believe that the many victims who were unable to seek justice because of Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations deserve this alternative response.”
There were four recommendations made by the investigative grand jury, the other three of which were removing the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse going forward, strengthening and expanding laws regarding mandated reporting of abuse, and abandoning the use of confidentiality agreements unless requested by a victim/survivor.
“Persico and the Diocese of Erie wholeheartedly endorse the other three recommendations of the grand jury as proposed,” the statement read.
In the grand jury report, 14 of the 41 allegedly abusive priests named had connections to Bradford or the local region.
Those named were as follows: Richard Lynch, Samuel Slocum, David Poulson, Robert Hannon, Joseph Jerge, William Presley, Giles Nealen, Salvatore Luzzi, Michael Amy, Jan Olowin, Chester Gawronski, Donald Cooper, Herbert Gloekler and John Philip Schanz.
