Clergy Abuse

KEYSTONE CROSSROADS -- Like many victims of clergy sexual abuse, James Faluszczak grew up in a home of faith. He lived about a stone's throw away from St. George's parish in Erie, Pennsylvania.

HARRISBURG, PA (WSKG) -- Amid the fallout from a massive grand jury investigation into sex abuse by Pennsylvania clergy, victim advocates and others are waiting to see how state lawmakers will respond.

The pontiff's comments were in a letter penned nearly a week after a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed decades of alleged child abuse and cover-ups. "We abandoned them," Francis wrote.

For years, Arthur Baselice Jr. has been in a self-imposed exile. He doesn't like leaving his house. He avoids large family gatherings. He frequently bursts into tears. It's been that way for more than a decade.But the source of his pain began much earlier.

Former priest James Faluszczak was one of many witnesses to testify before the grand jury about being abused by an Erie priest. He says when he told the bishop about it, he was "totally ignored."

After days of silence and a barrage of criticism for failing to address the most recent priest sex abuse scandal, the Vatican speaks: "The Holy See condemns unequivocally the sexual abuse of minors."

"The depravity of the abuse, I can't even describe my reaction to that," says James Faluszczak, one of many witnesses to testify about being abused by a priest.

KEYSTONE CROSSROADS - More than 300 "predator priests" allegedly sexually abused over one thousand victims in six Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses for decades, while bishops and other high-ranking church officials covered it up and urged victims not to go to the police.

HARRISBURG, PA (WSKG) - A grand jury report on child sexual abuse in six of Pennsylvania's eight Catholic dioceses, released Tuesday, is thought to be the largest of its kind. Nearly 900 pages long, it details the alleged abuse of more than 1,000 children.

A long-awaited grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was released Tuesday in an interim, redacted form — detailing decades of alleged misconduct and cover-ups in six of the state’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses.