Harrisburg, Pa. (Ap) — Attorneys General Around The U.s. Have Been Largely Silent This Week About Any Plans To Conduct An Investigation Like Pennsylvania’s That Uncovered Widespread Child Sexual Abuse In Six Roman Catholic Dioceses, Although New York’s Top Prosecutor Is An Exception, Saying She Is Exploring Teaming Up With The Local District Attorneys.

The comments by the New York attorney general’s office Friday come on the heels of a sweeping grand jury report that also accused a succession of bishops and other church leaders of helping to keep quiet allegations against some 300 “predator priests” who had victimized more than 1,000 children.

Attorney General Barbara Underwood has directed her criminal division to reach out to local district attorneys to see if they can “establish a partnership on this issue,” her spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, said in statement. “Victims in New York deserve to be heard as well.”

In New York, the attorney general, unlike district attorneys, doesn’t have the power to convene grand juries to investigate such abuses. Two — in Westchester and Suffolk counties — already have.

Meanwhile, many state attorneys general have a narrow scope of investigative authority, unless a local prosecutor refers a case to them. That’s ultimately how Pennsylvania’s grand jury investigation began. – READ MORE

An innocent Catholic priest with no accusation against him or link to the Pennsylvania grand jury report was assaulted by a man yelling “for all the kids” in retaliation for the sex abuse scandal.

According to Fox News, the assailant had been hiding in the shadows of an Indiana Catholic Church when he jumped out to attack 64-year-old Rev. Basil John Hutsko, causing him to black out.

“This is for all the kids,” the assailant reportedly shouted as he hit Hutsko’s head to the floor of the darkened St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church. The FBI will now be researching the incident as a hate crime. – READ MORE