PITTSBURGH Diocese releases abuse statistics

The diocese said some complaints were made against priests who were dead.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR RELIGION EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has said 45 abusive clergy were accused by 95 victims over the last half-century.
The names of the priests and deacons were not released. The diocese said the men were either removed -- or withdrew -- from ministry.
The diocese announced its numbers Thursday in advance of the release today of a nationwide report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States.
The Erie Diocese, which covers 13 counties including Mercer, says it will release its numbers today.
The Pittsburgh diocese includes six counties, including Lawrence. The six-county Catholic diocese of Youngstown said earlier this month that 18 priests had been accused.
Pittsburgh said it had a total of 2,349 clergy during the period and claims against 45 priests and deacons.
When most occurred
Most of the allegations occurred between 1950 and 1989, with six more in the 1990s. The report said the last allegation known to the diocese was in 1997.
Some of the accused priests in Youngstown are dead. Pittsburgh's report said it had six, "clerics [who] were deceased at the time the accusations were reported to diocesan authorities."
The dioceses noted that because of the deaths and passage of time, it was hard to determine what happened.
Pittsburgh had six more priests who were accused but were cleared by formal action. A claim against one Youngstown priest was unsubstantiated.
Money for counseling
The diocese in Pittsburgh has spent slightly more than $2 million for victim's counseling, none of which came from parish coffers.
"None of this money went to 'cover up' an allegation," the report said. "These were settlements or assistance involving already-public allegations."
Youngstown, by contrast, paid $200,000 for spiritual or psychological counseling for victims, and about $300,000 was paid to settle claims against the diocese.
In a prepared statement, Pittsburgh Bishop Donald Wuerl said the church overall had made mistakes.
"Some priests were reassigned when they never should [have] been allowed to return to active ministry," he said.
But the church, the bishop added, will continue to help those hurt by abuse.
The Pittsburgh Diocese will present a program it produced on clergy sexual abuse that will air at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on television station KDKA.
wilkinson@vindy.com