When he was sworn in as Pennsylvania Attorney General last year, Josh Shapiro pushed forward the pending grand-jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse, writes Elizabeth Dias for The New York Times.
The investigation into the Catholic Church’s cover-up of decades of sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children was finally revealed in a shocking report this month, prompting calls for legal and spiritual reform.
“It just was the most purposeful thing, short of giving life to our four children, I’ve ever done in my life,” said Shapiro.
One of the key moments in the investigation was when Bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie agreed to testify before the grand jury. Shapiro went to Erie and got him to publicly state there were efforts to try to shut this down.
“I knew that if I could convince Bishop Persico to say that, it would force the hand of the other bishops,” said Shapiro.
He was correct, as each of the other bishops came forward almost immediately, and made statements saying they would not block the report.
Read more about Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in The New York Times by clicking here.
[uam_ad id=”80503″]
.
[uam_ad id=”80502″]
