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Group calls on Cleveland Catholic Diocese to be more transparent

CLEVELAND – A national organization that represents clergy sex abuse victims is calling on the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland to release records of an exhaustive 2002 grand jury investigation into the priest-pedophile scandal.

“We think the time is now for church officials in Cleveland to lift the cover of secrecy and release these records to the public,” says Zach Hiner, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Last Friday, the diocese released the names of 22 more clerics against whom have been made substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse – most of them are now dead – bringing the total number of names released in Cleveland to 51.

In 2002, as the abuse scandal exploded nationwide , FOX 8 did a series of reports focusing on the Cleveland Diocese.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office then began a painstaking examination that investigated allegations of child sexual abuse within the Cleveland Diocese going back half a century.

A 28 person team spent seven months looking at the scandal, calling people before a grand jury to testify and, according to the prosecutor’s office, acquiring roughly 50,000 pages of documents – about 40,000 of them from the diocese.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, a grand jury report last year detailed a troubling history of abuse and cover-ups – one that put pressure on diocese around the nation, as well as Catholic schools and colleges, to release the names of more suspected abusers.

In the early 2000’s, FOX 8 sued for the type of detailed records that were released last year in Pennsylvania. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office joined us at the time in calling for their public release.

The Diocese of Cleveland opposed the release of its records. Its attorneys argued in part in a court filing that “(Fox 8’s) stated primary interest in the safety of children is not a legally protectible interest.”

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Preda Foundation Inc.

The work of Preda Foundation is focused on alleviating the physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse and suffering of children and preventing abuse through community education and social media.

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