Marking the 10-year anniversary of the largest of three grand jury reports, a panel hosted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society reflected on the “Ramifications of the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report on Child Sex Abuse in the Archdiocese: Lessons Learned and Lessons Spurned” was held on Oct. 28.

When word that Pope Francis would visit Philadelphia this fall reached students in John J. DiIulio Jr.’s Religion and Public Policy class last spring, there was excitement. The announcement focused the students’ attention on the Catholic Church, and the idea for the panel on the Philadelphia grand jury reports on child sex abuse in the Philadelphia Archdiocese grew from there.

DiIulio, the faculty director of PRRUCS and the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion and Civil Society in the School of Arts & Sciences, moderated the panel of four; Lynne Abraham, former district attorney of Philadelphia, who issued the 2005 report; the Rev. William Byron, professor of business and society at Saint Joseph’s University; Marci Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University and a PRRUCS Resident Senior Fellow; and Maureen S. Rush, vice president for public safety and superintendent, Penn Police Department.

Speaking to an audience of students, family members of victims, victim advocates and others, DiIulio began the 80-minute discussion summarizing the three reports.

Beginning with the 2003 Philadelphia grand jury report that outlined evidence of 120 priests and hundreds of victims, the 2005 version showed more evidence of abuse. It also showed that Philadelphia Archdiocese officials, including Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, had excused and enabled the abuse and had been involved in a cover-up. A grand jury report in 2011 found that, while the church was slightly more willing to work with authorities, there was little evidence of any change and abusers remained on duty.

Holding up a copy of the 600-plus-page 2005 report, DiIulio said, “In 2005, based on a huge stock of materials and testimony transcripts, another grand jury report, this massive document, meticulously documented and further elaborated the extent of clergy sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the harrowing and horrific details of the cases and the caricature and consistency of the cover ups.” 

The panel discussion touched on how the crimes and the cover-ups occurred, spotlighted the politics behind the limited prosecutions of known clergy sexual predators, debated the Archdiocese’s use of statute-of-limitation defenses and addressed questions submitted in advance by Penn students. 

While the panelists agreed that little of substance has changed as a result of the reports, DiIulio noted that Pope Francis had refocused attention to the issue during his visit to Philadelphia in September when he met in secret with a small number of Catholic clergy sex-abuse survivors. Following that meeting, the pope delivered an address to Catholic bishops at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in suburban Philadelphia.

Recounting that event, DiIulio noted that “the pope made his much-quoted remark that ‘God weeps’ and stated that ‘the crimes of sin and sexual abuse of children can no longer remain secret…I promise that all responsible will be held accountable.’”

Bringing the panel to a close, DiIulio said, “There is no joy in this at all, but truth matters.”

Penn’s Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society was established in 2000 as one of the Pew Charitable Trusts Centers of Excellence.

View a video of the panel discussion here.