Report: 2 US bishops hid sex abuse of hundreds of children

Two Roman Catholic bishops who led a Pennsylvania diocese helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by over 50 priests or religious leaders over a 40-year period, according to a grand jury report issued today.
The report on the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was based partly on evidence from a secret diocesan archive uncovered through a search warrant executed last year, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane.
"These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe," Kane said in a statement.
No criminal charges are being filed because some abusers have died, the statute of limitations has expired and, in some cases, victims are too traumatized to testify, she said.

The report is especially critical of Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec. Hogan, who led the diocese from 1966 to 1986, died in 2005. Adamec, who succeeded him, retired in 2011.
The report said Hogan covered up abuse allegations by transferring offending priests, including by sending one accused clergyman to a school for boys. It said Adamec or his staff threatened some alleged victims with excommunication.
One diocesan official under Hogan, Monsignor Philip Saylor, told the grand jury that church officials held such sway that "the police and civil authorities would often defer to the diocese" when priests were accused of abuse, the report said.

The report said Adamec created a "payout chart" to help guide how much victims would receive from the church. Victims fondled over their clothes were to be paid $10,000 to $25,000; fondled under their clothes or subjected to masturbation, $15,000 to $40,000; subjected to forced oral sex, $25,000 to $75,000; subjected to forced sodomy or intercourse, $50,000 to $175,000.