Since 2016, a grand jury has been investigating allegations of clergy sex abuse across six Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania: Harrisburg, Allentown, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Erie and Scranton. (Similar grand jury investigations from Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown were detailed in 2011 and 2016, respectively.)

We learned Tuesday what that grand jury found.

Information from the investigation into the dioceses will be shared below as it's released, so keep checking back. Newest information is on the top.

Report may cause Catholics to question 'why am I here?

During a well-attended noontime mass, The Rev. Joshua Brommer, the cathedral's rector and pastor, said the grand jury's findings about the complicit church's failure to protect children from predatory priest made it "hard to celebrate" this day in the church year, which Catholics recognize as the day God lifted the Virgin Mary to heaven with both body and soul.

"When the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania has angered, scandalized, disappointed, and hurt so many people in some ways we might even be asking ourselves right now, why am I here?" he said during his homily.

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Mark Ashman/Disney Parks via Getty Images

Church helped former priest accused of abuse get Disney job

A sweeping grand jury report into child sexual abuse in Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania said church officials gave a former priest a positive reference to work at Disney World, even though they'd fielded at least one allegation about him sexually abusing a boy.

The ex-priest, Edward Ganster, left the priesthood in 1990, moved to the Orlando area and went on to work at Disney World before he died in 2014.

The report said Ganster worked at the theme park for 18 years. Ganster drove the train at the Magic Kingdom, according to an obituary in the Orlando Sentinel, which said Ganster worked there for 15 years.

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Monsignor Thomas Kujovsky preform mass for Ash Wednesday at St. Patrick Cathedral on Feb. 17, 2010. (The Patriot-News/file)

Pa. lawmakers must act swiftly on clergy abuse recommendations | Editorial

The only question of any relevance confronting Pennsylvania lawmakers when they return to Harrisburg next month is not whether they should act on the reform recommendations included in a grand jury report detailing decades of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, but how quickly they should do so.

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Clergy sex abuse hotline delivers new leads

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the launch of a hotline to report incidents of sex abuse by priests Wednesday. The hotline, 888-538-8541, coincided with the release of a version of the report that redacted the names of some participants who are still in the midst of litigation.

Within 24 hours, that hotline has drawn tremendous interest.

"Our hotline for clergy sex abuse has been very active since yesterday afternoon," Shapiro spokesman Joe Grace said Wednesday, in a written statement. "More than 150 calls and emails and survivors who are now surfacing to tell their stories and seek justice."

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Pete Rekus, Allied Pix for The Patriot-News

Catholic school to drop Keeler's name

A new Catholic school in Baltimore will no longer feature the name of Cardinal William Keeler accused of failing to act in the case of priests who abused children in Pennsylvania.

The grand jury report accuses Keeler of covering up sexual abuse allegations while serving as bishop of Harrisburg. Keeler also allegedly allowed an accused priest to minister in the Baltimore archdiocese.

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Lehighvalleylive.com/file

What grand jury says Allentown bishop did (and didn't) do

Before becoming bishop of the Diocese of Allentown last year, Alfred Schlert was a monsignor for the diocese and "played an important role" in its handling of child sexual abuse complaints, an investigative grand jury report released Tuesday says.

Excerpts from the report depict Schlert as someone quick to confront priests who were the subject of abuse complaints. He, along with a fellow monsignor, helped facilitate several resignations and retirements from priests suspected of sexually abusing children. His inquiry with one accused priest triggered the process of that priest being laicized, or defrocked.

However, in one excerpt, the report alleges Schlert had direct knowledge of a complaint about a priest sexually abusing a child and went along with in an effort by the diocese and its attorney to discredit the accuser.

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Where accused Harrisburg Diocese priests served

The statewide grand jury report on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church released Tuesday lists 45 priests in the Harrisburg diocese accused of being predators.

Here is the list of the parishes where they served.

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How pedophile priests kept on abusing

There were the euphemisms: "Terms such as "sick leave" or "health leave" were often used to reference an absence from ministry related to child sexual abuse," the grand jury report on child sexual abuse in six of Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic Dioceses says.

The crimes against kids were minimized: "Terms such as familiarity, boundary issues, or inappropriate contact," covered for the raw term of child rape and sexual assault, the report says.

Finally, labeling a priest a pedophile was rarely -- if ever -- done. Instead, the problem priests' issues were usually things like alcohol problems, or they were classified as naïve in their dealings with kids.

And when accusations of abuse surfaced in one diocese, the 'sick' priest was placed on temporary health leave, then transferred to another diocese -- often with full access to children as altar boys, within the parish and at Catholic schools.

Almost invariably, the abuse continued.

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Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro discusses Grand Jury Report on Child Sex Abuse in Catholic Dioceses in Pennsylvania August 14, 2018 (Sean Simmers | ssimmers@pennlive.com)

Report delivers a scathing rebuke on Catholic Church officials

Hundreds of harrowing accounts were detailed in the findings of the 40th Statewide Grand Jury released Tuesday by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. The 900-plus page report delivers a blistering rebuke of Catholic officials for their failure to protect children from predatory priests.

"Predators in every diocese weaponized the Catholic faith and used it as a tool of their abuse," Shapiro said during a press conference attended by victims of clergy sex abuse, their parents, senior members of the Criminal Division of the Office of Attorney General, and dozens of journalists.

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Bishop of Harrisburg Ronald Gainer during the Mass of the Lord's Supper at St. Patrick Cathedral. (James Robinson, PennLive.com/2015)

Dioceses' policies need to change, advocate says

Even as the grand jury report on clergy sex abuse details decades of assaults involving hundreds of children, Catholic dioceses still have work to do to protect kids, an advocate says.

Catholic dioceses are sending mixed signals on how to report child sexual abuse, said Angela Liddle, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance.

In particular, the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg continues to maintain policies that are confusing at best and could hinder criminal investigations of abuse, Liddle said.

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Cardinal Donald Wuerl at a 2015 news conference (Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post)

Cardinal defends his actions as bishop of Pittsburgh

The Archdiocese of Washington posted a website Tuesday night defending the actions of Cardinal Donald Wuerl when he was the bishop of Pittsburgh.

The site, first reported by The Washington Post, highlights what the archdiocese said was Wuerl's efforts to protect children when he was in Pennsylvania.

Ed McFadden, Wuerl's spokesman, has said that the report made a "wholly inaccurate perception" of abuse.

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Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

Victims say grand jury report brings validation, if not closure

For many victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy, the Pennsylvania grand jury report shining a light on decades of abusive acts through six church dioceses Tuesday was the great equalizer.

For most of their lives, they were left to suffer in silence or isolation, disparate victims pitted against institutions that had all the resources in place to execute the perfect cover-up.

On Tuesday, they found their voices lifted up in a different, but necessary, kind of congregational response - 887 pages of searing detail about what went on in church facilities and other places over the course of several generations.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton | mheaton@pennlive.com

Where the offenders served in the Scranton diocese

At the Diocese of Scranton, the grand jury found that abuse included grooming, genital fondling, and vaginal, oral and anal penetration. Here is the full list of offenders identified by the grand jury in that diocese.

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Pa. lawmaker criticizes Catholic bishops

Learning that a statewide grand jury looking into clergy sex abuse suggests their child victims likely numbered in the thousands, a state lawmaker said that alone should be enough to prompt state lawmakers to change the law to tip the scales of justice in abuse victims' favor.

In fact, Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, a clergy sex abuse survivor himself, said the grand jury's legislative recommendations to accomplish that should be the first order of business for the House when it returns from summer break on Sept. 12.

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Vicki Vellios Briner | Special to PennLive

Bishops repeatedly failed to protect children from pedophile priests

A succession of Harrisburg bishops endangered the welfare of generations of children by failing to adequately respond to repeated allegations of predatory priests, according to the grand jury report released Tuesday.

One of the most troubling cases outlined in the report was that of Joseph M. Pease, who served in various parishes from 1961 until his retirement in 2003.

In 1995, a 36-year-old man came forward alleging that Pease sexually abused him when he was between 13 and 15 years old.

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Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

Priest accused of sex abuse wanted his own parish to keep from 'acting out'

A Pittsburgh Diocese priest accused of sexual abuse in the 1980s defended his actions by saying he was in an "alcoholic stupor," and later requested his own parish to prevent him from "acting out," according to a grand jury report released Wednesday.

Father Joseph D. Karabin's situation served as a focal point in the report because the phrase "circle of secrecy," was jotted on a 1993 letter from the priest requesting to return to ministry.

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Christopher Millette | Erie Times-News

In Erie, one bishop praised, one castigated

Bishop Donald Trautman, head of the Diocese of Erie for 22 years, received some of the harshest criticism as a result of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse by priests.

Meanwhile, his successor and the current bishop in Erie, Bishop Lawrence Persico, was portrayed in a much better light, with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro crediting him for being the only bishop to testify in person before the grand jury. Shapiro further credited Persico for "signaling a new way forward for the church ... He wanted to do the right thing."

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Pa Internet News Service

U.S. Bishops' Conference President issues statement

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement on behalf of Conference President Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galviston-Huston and Chairman for the USCCB's Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, Timothy L. Doherty of Lafayette in Indiana, following the release of the grand jury report.

Read the statement

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'I am sorry... I shouldn't have done that'

At the Diocese of Scranton, the grand jury found that abuse included grooming, genital fondling, and vaginal, oral and anal penetration. The grand jury identified 59 offenders. All but six were named in the report.

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Pa. lawmakers face a generational leadership test

With Tuesday's release of a grand jury report explicitly detailing allegations of sexual abuse of children by hundreds of Roman Catholic priests, Pennsylvania lawmakers face a generational test of their leadership.

But with the Republican-controlled General Assembly set to meet for just 10 days during an abbreviated election year session this fall, and some serious disagreement in key quarters over what needs to get done (and how that happens), there's a real capacity for something - or everything - to go badly wrong.

Read the full analysis

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Hotline established to report priest sex abuse

Attorney General Josh Shapiro repeatedly mentioned the hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse in light of the grand jury report. He also wants to know if there are more victims. His office has set up a hotline to report clergy sex abuse.

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Victim claims diocese hired private investigator to look into her after abuse claims

When Julianne Bortz reported in 2002 to the Allentown Diocese that she was sexually abused by a priest as a child, she was expecting to get some help.

Instead, Bortz said she learned Tuesday, 16 years after she made her report, that the diocese's response was to investigate her.

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Where the offenders served: Allentown diocese

Thirty-seven clergy members from the Diocese of Allentown, including one whose name was redacted, were identified as accused child predators in the grand jury report issued Tuesday. Read the list of offenders identified by the grand jury in the Diocese of Allentown.

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Hotline set up to report sex abuse by priests

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he realizes more victims may be out there, including some who have not come forward yet. The attorney general's office has established a toll-free hotline to report sexual abuse by clergy.

The phone number: 888-538-8541.

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Sean Stipp | Tribune-Review

17-year-old impregnated by priest

One priest impregnated a 17-year-old girl.

Another groomed boys for oral sex.

There was fondling and penetration and numerous church leaders covered it up and allowed the priests to continue to serve.

That's what a grand jury report revealed happened in the Diocese of Greensburg in western Pennsylvania.

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Minority Leader Frank Dermody (Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com)

Pa. House Democratic leader: survivors 'deserve justice'

House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody of Allegheny County said the stories of the survivors of clergy sex abuse in six Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania disclosed in a statewide grand jury report released on Tuesday are "heartbreaking."

Dermody also called on state lawmakers to heed the legislative recommendations made by the grand jury in calling for the elimination of a criminal statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases as well as a two-year window for past abuse victims to file civil suits, among others.

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Victims of Catholic priest sexual abuse react to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro as he discusses the grand jury report on priest sex abuse, at the Capitol Media Center in Harrisburg, Pa., Aug. 14, 2018. Photo by Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

Boys, girls were fair game for predator priests in Harrisburg: report

Tales of perversion and horror pepper the report the statewide grand jury released Tuesday regarding accused predator priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.

The grand jury didn't spare the bishops of the diocese, either. It faults former bishops William Keeler, Nicholas Dattilo and current Bishop Ronald Gainer for what it deems ineffective handling of reports against Father Joseph Pease, who it labeled a particularly notorious predator.

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Photo by Sean Simmers, PennLive.com

Who are the priests, others named?

Here is a list of the bishops of each diocese, those church leaders relevant to the grand jury report and the offenders in each diocese.

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Grand jury recommendations

The grand jury that investigated child sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania made four recommendations for changes to the state's laws.

"We spent 24 months dredging up the most depraved behavior, only to find that the laws protect most of its prepetrators and live its victims with nothing," the grand jury report reads.

The recommendations are:

Do away with the statute of limitations.

Create a "civil window" law.

Improve the law for mandated reporting of abuse.

Non-disclosure agreements should not apply in criminal investigations.

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Gov. Wolf releases statement

Gov. Tom Wolf plans to review the report of a statewide grand jury's 18-month investigation into clergy sex abuse across six Catholic diocese and work toward a system that provides more protections to child sex abuse victims.

In a statement following Tuesday's release of the grand jury's report that identified 301 priests as allegedly having committed criminal sex acts, he said, "For far too long, victims of abuse went unheard or worse. It is my hope that the grand jury's report will provide some relief, especially for the victims who came forward to have their stories heard."

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House Majority Leader Dave Reed (PennLive.com/file)

Change in the statute of limitations?

Calling the actions of child sex abuse by clergy in six Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania "heinous and shameful" revealed in a statewide grand jury report, House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, promises action this fall on statute of limitations legislation in child sex abuse cases.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

Pittsburgh Diocese: Child porn, marking potential victims

A grand jury report into clergy sex abuse revealed 90 offenders in the Pittsburgh Diocese, the most of any other diocese under investigation, and sharply criticized some former bishops for protecting the most abusive priests.

The report detailed a pedophile ring of priests who manufactured child pornography, shared intelligence on victims and gave large gold crosses to certain boys to mark them as already being "groomed," for abuse.

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The Rev. David Zubik, bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Photo by Jan Pakler, Tribune-Review/2017

The report also identified a former Beaver County District Attorney, Robert Masters, who shut down "all investigations" into abuse of boys in 1964 to avoid "unfavorable publicity" for the church.

Masters testified before the recent grand jury that he sided with the church because he was seeking its support for his political career.

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Pa. Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa of Allegheny County (PennLive.com/file)

Senate Democratic leader says Catholic Church 'violated the trust we put in it'

Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa, a Catholic himself, said he was "extremely disappointed" in the Catholic Church in the acts and cover up alleged in in the statewide grand jury's report following its two-year investigation into child sexual abuse by clergy in six Catholic diocese.

In his statement, the Allegheny County senator applauded state Attorney General Josh Shapiro for his efforts in ensuring this report, though redacted, was released.

"The public has a right to know about alleged abuse in the Catholic Church," Costa said in a statement. "Across the state, the Church has been a centerpiece of the community and in so many cases, it has violated the trust we put in it to protect our children and serve as the standard of good morals.

"As a parent and as a Catholic, I am extremely disappointed at what has been alleged in this report."

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Mark Pynes, PennLive.com

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro shares the stage of the Capitol Media Center with victims of Catholic Priest sex abuse, in Harrisburg, Pa., Aug. 14, 2018.

Read the recap of his news conference.

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Megan Heaton, PennLive.com

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Catholic Church officials in Pa. shielded sexually predatory priests for decades: report

Pennsylvania's venerated Catholic bishops for decades turned a blind eye to hundreds of priests who they knew were raping boys and girls.

The bishops showed little concern for these children and were more concerned with avoiding a scandal in the church. Bishops protected the predatory priests from police and their parishioners, and even transferred them from one parish to another to avoid having to deal with them.

Those blistering indictments are among the overriding findings of a nearly two-year grand jury investigation into clergy sex abuse across six of the state's eight Catholic dioceses.

The long-awaited report of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury was published Tuesday. The report deals a scathing rebuke against officials from the church for failure to protect children from predatory priests for more than 60 years.

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Interim Redacted Report and Responses by PennLive on Scribd

The grand jury report, redacted

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How many priests are involved?

The grand jury report on child sexual abuse in six Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania identifies 301 offenders, and said they likely abused thousands of children.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

Greensburg Diocese: Priest impregnated teen

The grand jury identified 20 offenders in the Diocese of Greensburg.

According to the report, a priest impregnated a 17-year-old girl, forged a head pastor's signature on a marriage certificate, then divorced the girl months later. Despite having sex with a minor and fathering a child, and despite being married and divorced, the priest was permitted to stay in ministry thanks to a bishop in another state being willing to take him on, the report states.

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Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg. Photo by Sean Stipp, Tribune-Review/206

'Lick' Jesus clean

Another priest, grooming his middle school students for oral sex, taught them how Mary had to "bite off the cord" and "lick" Jesus clean when he was born. It took 15 years and numerous other reports for this priest to be removed from service, according to the report.

This is the same diocese where just last month, Father John Sweeney, 75, pleaded guilty to charges related to the molestation of a boy. He was the first priest convicted as a result of the investigating grand jury.

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Bishop Edward C. Malesic at the Diocese of Greensburg. Photo by Sean Stipp, Tribune-Review/2016

Greensburg Diocese releases its list of names

After the release of the grand jury report into clergy sex abuse in six Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania, the Greensburg Diocese has released its own list of offenders with "credible and substantial allegations against them."

The diocese says in a statement released today that two independent reviews resulted in a list of 21 priests. The grand jury report names 20.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

The Harrisburg Diocese: 'I acknowledge the sinfulness'

Bishop Ronald W. Gainer of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg sought forgiveness and acknowledged "sinfulness" Tuesday afternoon as he responded to the long-awaited release of a statewide grand jury report on Catholic clergy child sexual abuse.

What he didn't offer was excuses. Gainer vowed that his diocese will do a better job of protecting the little ones in its parishes from predators in clerical robes.

"I read the grand jury Report on child sexual abuse with great sadness, for once again we read that innocent children were the victims of horrific acts committed against them," Gainer said in a statement the dioceses issued in anticipation of the report's release.

"I am saddened because I know that behind every story is a child precious in God's sight; a child who has been wounded by the sins of those who should have known better."

Read more.

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Bishop Gainer, Harrisburg (PennLive.com file)

The statewide grand jury report on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church released Tuesday lists 45 priests in the Harrisburg Diocese accused of being predators.

That is fewer than the 72 priests the diocese named in a list released it last week of allegations it had received against members of its clergy.

The entries for three of the 45 priests listed in the grand jury report on the Harrisburg diocese do not include their names.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

Findings in the Erie Diocese

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St. Peter Cathedral in downtown Erie. Photo by Christopher Millette, Erie Times-News/2018

Erie Diocese: 41 priests and others

The grand story report released Tuesday names 41 priests and others in the Diocese of Erie who allegedly committed sexual abuse including fondling of sexual parts and penetration of sexual organs and mouths of both males and females.

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St. Peter Cathedral in Erie. Photo by Greg Wohlford, Erie Times-News/2018

The report said administrators including bishops knew of complaints yet regularly allowed accused priests to continue to minister. It further said the Erie Diocese made financial settlements with victims containing confidentiality agreements forbidding victims from speaking about the abuse, and threatening legal action to take back settlement money if the victim spoke about the abuse.

Read more.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

Findings in the Scranton Diocese

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Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton. Photo by The Scranton Times/file

In Scranton, the grand jury found that sexual abuse included grooming and fondling of genitals as well as anal, vaginal and oral penetration.

It also found evidence that diocesan administrators, including bishops, had knowledge of this conduct. Despite this knowledge, they regularly placed the priests in ministry.

"This conduct enabled the offenders and endangered the welfare of children," the jurors wrote.

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Bishop Joseph C. Bambera of the Scranton Diocese. Photo by The Scranton Times, file

In a statement released Tuesday, the Diocese of Scranton extended its apologies to the victims.

"Bishop Bambera offers his deepest apologies to the victims who have suffered because of past actions and decisions made by trusted clergymen, to victims' families, to the faithful of the Church, and to the community at large," the diocese wrote. "No one deserves to be confronted with the behaviors described in the report."

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

Findings in the Allentown Diocese

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Alfred A. Schlert, the Bishop of Allentown. Photo by Saed Hindash, lehighvalleylive.com/2017

"Please help me. I sexually molested a young boy"

Thirty-seven clergy members from the Diocese of Allentown, including one whose name was redacted, were identified as accused child predators in the grand jury report issued Tuesday.

Church leadership there demonstrated a pattern of failing to take such allegations seriously, according to the report.

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PennLive.com/file

The current six bishops from dioceses at the center of a grand jury investigation are: (top row from left) Allentown Bishop Alfred A. Schlert, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer and Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico. (Bottom row from left) Pittsburgh Bishop David Allen Zubik; Greensburg Bishop Edward Malesic and Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera.

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That admission was prompted by an allegation lodged by the father of a 12-year-old boy who reportedly went to Lawrence's room for a tutoring session. The boy told his father there had been "a lot of fondling, so much that he felt pain." Lawrence also allegedly made the victim urine.

The day of his confession, Lawrence was sent to the St. John Vianney Center, a Downingtown behavior health treatment center for priests.

In an internal memo from 1982 that the grand jury reviewed, Muntone wrote that an unnamed doctor at the treatment center told him that the victim and his family should be given "an opportunity to ventilate" and that the doctor didn't expect the experience to "be a horrendous trauma for the boy."

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What is the Pa. grand jury report?

Released Tuesday after several court battles, the grand jury report summarizes an investigation into allegations of clergy sex abuse across six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania.

For almost two years, investigators heard testimony and examined documents tied to allegations that church officials failed to protect children from predator priests, in some cases for decades.

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Earlier coverage:

Previous coverage of the clergy sex-abuse issue and recent grand jury investigation is below:

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Earlier: Harrisburg removes bishops' names from properties

Aug. 1, 2018, story by Ivey DeJesus

In an unprecedented and stunning move, the head of the Diocese of Harrisburg on Aug. 1, 2018, ordered the removal from diocesan property the names of all former diocesan bishops who over the decades failed to protect children from sexually predatory priests.

Just weeks ahead of a bombshell report into clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, Bishop Ronald Gainer on Wednesday said that all names of bishops dating back to 1947 will be removed from buildings, halls and rooms.

Gainer said "anyone accused of sexual misconduct will have his name removed from any place of honor" throughout the diocese.

He released the names of 71 people connected to the church accused of sexual misconduct.

Read more.

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Watch: Harrisburg bishop on suspected child abusers

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The sun sets over the Susquehanna River and St. Peter's Cathedral in Harrisburg. Mark Pynes, PennLive.com/2017

Harrisburg Diocese sued

A former altar boy has sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg.

He is claiming in a lawsuit filed in Dauphin County Court that diocese leaders, right up to former Bishop William Keeler, didn't prevent a priest with known child-sex abuse tendencies from molesting him.

That abuse by former priest John Allen occurred repeatedly at the St. Margaret Mary Alacoque parish in Penbrook in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the now 29-year-old Maryland man contends. The suit identifies the former altar boy by the pseudonym John Doe.

Allen was defrocked in 2006, four years after the diocese received a "credible allegation" that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor in 1979. He is among 72 priests and personnel the Harrisburg diocese has reported as being accused of child sexual abuse. Some of those on that list are dead.

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Earlier: Monsignor added to list of suspected abusers

Aug. 6, 2018, story by Ivey DeJesus

The name of a prelate who was in ministry for more than 30 years at a church has been added to the list of individuals accused of child sex crimes in the Diocese of Harrisburg.

The diocese on Monday added Monsignor Joseph Bradley, who served at Our Lady of Mount Carmel between 1963 and 1996, to a list of clergy and seminarians who over the years have been accused of child sex crimes. Bradley's name brings the list to 72.

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Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico. Photo by AP/file

Earlier: Erie diocese publishes list of those accused of abuse

April 6, 2018

Story by Teresa Bonner, PennLive.com

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, has published a list of 34 priests and 17 lay people against whom credible accusations of sexual abuse or other inappropriate behavior have been leveled.

Bishop Lawrence Persico addressed victims of abuse. Read more.

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Father David Poulson. Police photo

Earlier: Arrest of Father David Poulson, Erie

May 8, 2018

Story by Ivey DeJesus, PennLive.com

A Catholic priest who up was in active ministry until April in the Diocese of Erie has been charged with multiple child sex crimes.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced felony charges against Father David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, saying he sexually assaulted two boys over the course of many years.

Poulson groomed and abused the boys, "manipulating the tools of the priesthood -- making one victim confess the abuse during the sacrament of confession," according to the information released by the attorney general's office.

The Diocese of Erie knew since at least May 2010 of the abuse allegations, Shapiro said in announcing the arrest.

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Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico. Photo by Christopher Millette, The Erie Times-News/2018

Earlier: Erie bishop meets with attorney general

May 16, 2018

Story by Christine Vendel, PennLive.com

The Erie Catholic Bishop met with the state's attorney general as the diocese braces for the pending release of a grand jury report on clergy sex abuse that is likely to be unflattering.

Bishop Lawrence Perisco said he and Josh Shapiro met in Erie and "discussed in detail" the diocese' efforts to implement a revised policy to protect children, Perisco's testimony before the grand jury and the looming report.

Perisco said in a news release Wednesday night that he has "chosen to forgo any legal challenges to the grand jury process and its work. Read more.

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Map by Megan Lavey-Heaton, PennLive.com

Altoona-Johnstown Diocese: 2016 findings

Ivey DeJesus, PennLive.com

Investigators into the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in 2016 released a scathing report on the systemic abuse of thousands of children over decades by priests and church leaders in the diocese.

Hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least four decades by priests or religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, a statewide investigating grand jury concluded.

The findings by the grand jury, released in March 2016 by the state attorney general's office, detail widespread abuse involving at least 50 priests or religious leaders.

The findings reveal a troubling history of diocesan superiors concealing the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the church's image.

Read more.

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The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Altoona, Pa. Photo by Mark Pynes, PennLive.com/file

Altoona-Johnstown victims 'lost their faith'

Ivey DeJesus, PennLive.com

Victims interviewed in the Altoona-Johnstown case "said they lost their faith," said Daniel J. Dye, then-state deputy attorney general. "That is a profound thing to think about. A lot were from very devout Catholic homes and having a priest take interest in them was a status symbol."

Those findings were released in 2016.

In some cases, Dye said, parents encouraged their children to spend time with the predator priest, not knowing that the priest was molesting their child.

"They found themselves offended on not only by the person they trusted most but the physical representative of God on Earth," Dye said. "The way they described it to us is the violation was total. They were violated in spirit, mind and body."

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Former Catholic priest John Geoghan, who sexually abused dozens of boys. (2001 AP Photo/Patricia McDonnell)

Timeline of Catholic clergy child sex abuse claims: 1985 to now

Aug. 8, 2018 by Stephanie Sadowski:

In 1985, Father Thomas Doyle warned of sexual abuse by clergy members in a report, which was largely ignored at a U.S. conference of bishops.

That was the same year that Gilbert Gauthe became the first priest to gain national attention after he admitted to abusing 37 boys and pleaded guilty to 34 criminal counts, the New York Times reports.

In 2002, clergy sex abuse erupts into a national crisis for the Roman Catholic Church following an investigation of the Archdiocese of Boston by The Boston Globe.

Among the cases the paper uncovered, it came to light that former priest John Geoghan sexually abused 130 people, mainly young boys, from 1962 to 1995, and that while church officials ordered treatment and transfers, they still kept him as a priest.

He was found guilty of charges related to the molestations and died a year later in prison.

Cardinal Bernard Law, who admitted to receiving a letter in 1984 about the allegations against Geoghan, ended up resigning as archbishop of Boston.

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