Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro says clergy abuse shadows Catholics' Notre Dame response

Pennsylvania Attorney General Joshua Shapiro was impressed with the response of the Catholic Church and Catholics around the world when Notre Dame went up in flames last week in Paris.

But he’s disappointed in what he sees as the church’s lackluster response to protecting clergy abuse victims. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Shapiro took the church to task for spending millions to influence lawmakers to block his recommendation that they open a window of opportunity for abuse survivors with old claims to sue the church.

Under the headline “Repairing Notre Dame is important. Protecting clergy abuse victims is more important,” Shapiro wrote of the church’s response to a Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed allegations of child sexual abuse against 301 priests.

“While the supporters of rebuilding Notre Dame pledged $900 million within days, the most significant spending in Pennsylvania has been the millions of dollars spent by the church’s lobbying arms and the insurance industry to block the reforms from becoming law,” Shapiro wrote.