Survivors of child sexual abuse hug in the Pennsylvania Capitol while awaiting legislation to respond to a landmark state grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018 in Harrisburg, Pa.
Katie Meyer was WITF’s Capitol Bureau Chief from 2016-2020. While at WITF, she covered all things state politics for public radio stations throughout Pennsylvania. Katie came to Harrisburg by way of New York City, where she worked at Fordham University’s public radio station, WFUV, as an anchor, general assignment reporter, and co-host of an original podcast. A 2016 graduate of Fordham, she earned several awards for her work at WFUV, including four 2016 Gracies.
Katie is a native New Yorker, though she originally hails from Troy, a little farther up the Hudson River. She can attest that the bagels are still pretty good there.
WITF's Capitol Bureau Chief Desk is partially funded through generous gifts made in the memory of Tony May through the Anthony J. May Memorial Fund.
Survivors of child sexual abuse hug in the Pennsylvania Capitol while awaiting legislation to respond to a landmark state grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018 in Harrisburg, Pa.
Pennsylvania found itself at the center of national attention this summer after the release of a sweeping grand jury report on decades of child sex abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.
The report implicated more than 300 so-called predator clergy and detailed abuse of more than 1,000 child victims.
Fallout from the revelations is still being felt.
Political implications
Soon after its release, calls went out for legislative change, and lawmakers started negotiating reforms.
But there was a sticking point.
The state Attorney General–who led the effort to release the report–the governor, House Republicans and Democrats, and Senate Democrats all wanted to allow retroactive lawsuits on old, statute-limited abuse cases. It was a provision recommended in the grand jury report itself.
But the Catholic Church opposed the idea, saying it would bankrupt churches.
That’s the side Senate Republicans took. With only a few days to go in the 2018-18 legislative session, lawmakers found themselves deadlocked.
Marc Levy / AP Photo
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, a Republican from Cameron County, tells reporters that the Senate hasn’t been able to produce a bill the House would support.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati was one of the key voices against the retroactivity clause.
“You know in this world, we’d all love to get everything we want. I’d love to have every bill passed exactly as it was written. But this is a democracy,” he told his fellow lawmakers, adding that he believed “the [abuse] victims in this building are being victimized for politics.”
Tensions ran high on the other side of the issue, too.
State Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Berks County Democrat and abuse survivor, was one of the most outspoken advocates for allowing suits on old cases.
“If your senator does not support a two-year window, you vote them out of office,” he said.
Ultimately, lawmakers adjourned–bitterly–without coming to an agreement.
“The Republican leaders who control the Senate just decided to quit,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “To go home.”
The issue is expected to come back up early in the new legislative session.
Ongoing legal battles
The legislative controversy wasn’t the only point of contention.
When the grand jury report was first released, some names of those implicated in abuse and coverups were redacted.
Shapiro wasn’t happy about it.
“Every redaction represents an incomplete story of abuse that deserves to be told,” he said at the time.
Eleven current and former clergy members had sued to keep their names anonymous–arguing since they aren’t convicted of a crime, naming them violates their due process rights.
The State Supreme Court ruled in their favor.
But Shapiro has urged churches to release their names anyway.