New Chapter Opens In PA Clergy Abuse Fight

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The last victim compensation funds at Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses are closing as lawmakers plunge back into a years-old fight over whether to let long-ago victims of child sexual abuse sue perpetrators and institutions. It’s more than a year after a landmark grand jury report accused church officials of hushing up abuse. Victim compensation funds in Philadelphia, Allentown, Scranton and Pittsburgh will close Monday to applications. The Senate will hold a hearing Wednesday with testimony from victims, constitutional scholars and others. Based on partial information available from the dioceses so far, fund administrators have offered or paid more than $35 million to roughly 240 people. Ben Andreozzi, a Harrisburg-based lawyer, says that’s far less than what dioceses would have paid if faced with the threat of a lawsuit.