When New Jersey’s attorney general announced an investigation into decades of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, survivors in the state hoped they would finally see the public reckoning they had long sought.
Nearly seven years have passed since then, but there’s been little sign the Attorney General’s Office is close to finishing the probe. The agency has been tight-lipped about its progress, if any, despite receiving hundreds of tips from alleged victims.
Court documents obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com offer one explanation for the delay: One of New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses succeeded in quashing a key part of the investigation at a secret hearing almost two years ago.
RELATED: Camden’s Bishop Sullivan One of the Bishops Who Investigated Bishop Strickland Resulting in His Dismissal
Those documents, which have not been publicly reported before, show that the Diocese of Camden challenged the state’s authority to empanel a special grand jury to lead the inquiry. That inquiry was supposed to end with a comprehensive report documenting individual abusers as well as any broader coverup by the church.
At a May 25, 2023, court session attended by representatives of all five dioceses, state Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw sided with Camden. He ruled that the state judiciary, which oversees grand juries, would “not take any action which enables the process of preparing such a presentment to move forward.”
Continue reading at New Jersey.com
TAKE ACTION: Contact Bishop Sullivan at856-583-2864 and let him know what you think