For Rep. Mark Rozzi, the fight is personal. Decades ago he was repeatedly, sexually abused by a priest.
He had three childhood friends who committed suicide, and ever since he vowed never to turn his back on children who have been victimized.
On Friday, Rozzi, joined Rep. Frank Burns and Sen. John Wozniak as they made a call to lift the statute of limitations for child sex-crimes.
Rozzi made a passionate plea inside the Cambria County Courthouse. He is frustrated because there are laws sitting in Harrisburg that would do more to protect children, but they are not being acted upon.
The Attorney General’s office conducted a two-year investigation into the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Despite evidence and strong allegations of priest sex abuse, no charges were ever filed. In fact, two former Bishops are accused of going to great lengths to cover up the sex crimes. At least 50 priests are accused of abusing and raping hundreds of children over a four-decade period.
Rozzi said this is a tragedy that is no different than what happened inside the catholic church in Boston. He called the abuse of children an epidemic, but said it is not only a problem inside the church and more must be done to protect our children.
Rozzi is asking his colleagues to bring House Bill 655, back to the floor in Harrisburg. That bill would eliminate the statue of limitations for criminal and civil cases of child se abuse. And House Bill 951, which would create a two-year window for past victims to have the opportunity to file civil suits. These same recommendations were made in the 2005 and 2011 Philadelphia Archdiocese grand jury reports.
“The continued systematic cover-up that has allowed these depraved perpetrators of children to avoid justice is nothing short of sickening,” Rozzi said. “Attorney General Kane got this right when she said that the trauma of child sex abuse can never be understood nor overstated.”
Burns, D-Cambria, organized the noon event at the Cambria County Courthouse to showcase his and others’ support for changing Pennsylvania laws so adult victims of child sexual abuse, currently time-barred by the statute of limitations, will have a limited, two-year opportunity to bring a civil suit. They also support complete elimination of civil and criminal statutes of limitations for future victims of child sex abuse.
“Some of the victims were friends and fellow classmates, from my school,” said Burns, a 1994 graduate of Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown. “In many cases, these abusers are getting away with their crimes because of the statute of limitations; however, there is no statute of limitations on the pain and suffering of the victim, which often is a lifelong struggle.”
Burns continued, “The diocese has an opportunity to begin to do what is right, by supporting this legislation – thus showing that they truly care about what has happened to the victims and their families.”
Burns was joined by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, who as a youth was sexually abused by a priest and has championed changing statute of limitations laws since his 2012 election to the state House. Rozzi’s personal story includes having multiple classmates molested by priests as children and who later committed or contemplated suicide.
“Mark has been courageous in sharing his harrowing experience, and I invited him to Cambria County because it’s something more people need to hear,” Burns said. “The scope of this pattern of cover-up, involving 50 priests and religious leaders over nearly a half-century, with secret church cash payouts to families based on the degree of abuse perpetrated, is absolutely stunning. We must make sure there’s a strong disincentive for this behavior – and never being able to escape the worry of spending time behind bars is a good start.”
Burns singled out the immense contribution of local Catholic businessman George Foster, who thoroughly chronicled years of alleged abuse by area priests, and whose research was instrumental in assisting the state Office of Attorney General during the grand jury investigation and subsequent preparation of its report.
State Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria/Clearfield/Bedford, also spoke in support of the change.
