The Price of Silence

For decades, as dozens of priests preyed on children throughout the Philadelphia Archdiocese, there was only silence.

The Philadelphia Inquirer bores down with a heartbreaking portrait of the history of clergy sex abuse in our little corner of the world.

The years of silence gave a free pass to the predators, leaving almost all untouchable by police or civil courts.

Today, the Philadelphia Archdiocese, like others, has cracked down on sexual abuse.

But Cardinal Justin Rigali has declined to publicly name all abusers, to reveal the number of victims, or to discuss how the church came to give sanctuary to sexual abusers. He has declined repeated interview requests.

After three years of investigation, a Philadelphia grand jury is poised to issue an exhaustive report on the scandal. But the chilling extent of the abuse has become clear through an avalanche of lawsuits, a new willingness by victims to come forward, and a few bare-bones admissions by the church.

The record shows:

There were more than 50 abusers, stretching back to the 1940s. About half abused more than one child; one priest allegedly victimized at least 12. In all, there were more than 100 victims.

Children were assaulted in summer camps, Shore houses, schools, parish rectories, the seminary - even in churches themselves.

Abusers were in positions of power and trust. Six were principals of Catholic high schools.

The archdiocese for years enforced a rigid code of silence, keeping parishioners in the dark about predatory priests. "You're to keep your mouth shut," one priest was instructed by superiors.

After offenders left the church, the secrecy allowed some to resurface as teachers or in other jobs that put them in contact with children.

Even in the rare instances when priests were arrested, they went unpunished by their religious orders or church officials. In three cases, priests kept their collars after being charged with sex crimes.

It's a long, detailed treatment, but the crux revelation is this:

The Inquirer incorrectly reported in previous articles that the grand jury had failed to find episodes in which priests abused children after the church had ignored earlier reports about them.

In fact, the grand jury has found a number of such cases. The Inquirer has been able to identify four....

And one of the four was ministering in the summer of 2002 -- no questions, no qualms, no problems. I know this as I saw him at it.

It's all just very sad; just hammers home some more that it wasn't just every other diocese's problem....

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