The results of a two-year grand jury investigation into widespread sexual abuse of children within six dioceses of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, as well as the cover-up of those abuses, have been made public.
The report found there were more than 300 officials and priests accused of sexual crimes over the last several decades. Of the 300, 99 offenders worked within the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, and 18 spent at least a portion of their time in Butler County churches.
The report details accounts of over 1,000 children victimized by predator priests across the state, but the grand jury noted the actual number of victims could be much higher. The grand jury also examined the cover-ups of those acts by senior church officials by moving those priests to other parishes in order to avoid prosecution by law enforcement.
Seven of the 18 priests named in the grand jury report are alive today: Rev. John Genizer, Rev. Myles Diskin, Rev. John Fitzgerald, Rev. Richard Dorsch, Rev. David Scharf, Rev. Rudolph Silvers and Rev. Paul Spisak.
Priests named in the grand jury report:
James Armstrong: Holy Sepulcher, St. Paul, Newman Center (Slippery Rock), St. Peter (SR) 1990-2007
Myles Diskin: St. Paul 1975-1979
Richard Dorsch: St. Michael 1983-1985
John Fitzgerald: St. Michael the Archangel 1977-1982
John Genizer: St. Paul 1968-1973
Charles Ginder: St. Gregory (Zelie) and St. Mathias (Evans City) 1940-1942
James Hopkins: St. Fidelis Seminary High School sometime between 1968 and 1973
Marvin Justi: St. Fidelis Seminary 1958-1969, St. Joseph Church (Cabot) 2002
John Maloney: Holy Sepulcher 1982-2004
Lawrence O’Connell: Master Dolorosa (Chicora) 1948-1952
William O’Malley III: St. Paul, St. Conrad (Meridian) 1982-1992
George Parme: St. Peter 1948-1952
John Rebel: St. Killian (Mars) 1982-2001
David Scharf: St. Michael Archangel 1985-1987
Rudolph Silvers: St. Peter 1986-1994
Bartley Sorensen: St. Ferdinand (Cranberry) 1976-1981, Mater Dolorosa and St. Joseph (Chicora) 1992-1999
Paul Spisak: St. Andrew 1994-1997
Charles Thomas: St. Killian (Mars) 1935-1937, St. Paul 1957-1965, St. Christopher (Prospect) 1965
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