At last, a reckoning for abusive clerics, and justice for victims | Editorial

For decades, the leaders of the Catholic church have mouthed the language of virtue as they protected child rapists.

It is heartbreaking to think of the 1,000 sexual abuse victims described in the Pennsylvania grand jury report – most of them children, some of them in diapers or hospitals – but more chilling was the bishops’ meticulous strategy to cover up this criminal rampage over more than half a century.

The policy lobbyist for our state’s Catholic bishops asserts that “New Jersey is not Pennsylvania,” but that doesn’t exactly merit an amen. New Jersey is where Archbishop John Myers’ tenure was marked by victim payoffs, coverups, and predator protection. Myers’ predecessor, Theodore McCarrick, had a history of abusing seminarians and a minor as he ascended to be the highest prelate in the nation.

So the offer to review sexual abuse allegations in the Newark archdiocese by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, while appreciated, doesn’t change an institutional legacy of moral cowardice and manic secrecy that allowed corruption to flourish.

This could only end through the intervention of the law, so it comes as a relief that state attorney general Gurbir Grewal – compelled by the depravity in Pennsylvania and a two-decade quest for justice from Joseph Vitale, the intrepid state senator from Middlesex County – has seized this moment as an inflection point for abuse victims and the church itself.

Grewal announced Thursday that he will form a task force to investigate allegations of abuse by clergy members in our five Catholic dioceses and examine the 2002 agreement requiring them to report abuse to county prosecutors, which is the only place to start the long process of healing and validation for past and present victims. The force, led by Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino, will have every investigative tool necessary to compel testimony, including subpoena power.

The AG also set up a clergy abuse hotline (855-363-6548), which advocate Mark Crawford of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) predicts will lead to “a deluge – they will be overwhelmed by the calls they get.”

This is a good start, but judging by the 900-page Pennsylvania report, which covered 70 years, it’s going to be a harrowing process. While we know the vast majority of priests are not child molesters, the opening words from the Pa. investigation – a plea of terrified bewilderment – warns us to be prepared for anything.

“We, the members of this grand jury, need you to hear this,” it began. “There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale. For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere.”

So the task force is merely a step. Other measures are needed to get a headlock on this crisis, as Vitale sees it.

Deadlines for child sex abuse cases abet predators | Editorial

He has drafted legislation that removes name redactions from grand jury proceedings if there is a “credible” accusation of abuse or a coverup, which Pennsylvania shows is best for transparency.

And Vitale wants another crack at extending the civil statute of limitations for abuse cases, as the existing window is ludicrously short: A victim currently has to bring a case before they are 20, or within two years after they connect the abuse to existing trauma. Vitale has been trying to eliminate the statute since 2002, but the church has proved a formidable opponent. The Legislature needs to support this effort.

We know why the church wants to maintain the status quo: Victims of assault take time to come forward. Some are children, too young to understand what happened to them, and by the time they figure it out, justice is out of their reach.

Yes, the church, like any institution, has a right to protect itself. But when children are raped and the crime is hidden, the law must step in. Lawmakers must engage – starting by extending the window to prosecute – because this is the moral calling of our age. The Catholic Church in New Jersey cannot be a subsidiary of a global child sex ring or just another nonprofit corrupted in the name of God.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.