In his new memoir, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro describes his six years as the state’s attorney general, including his work on a nearly 900-page grand jury report about the coverup of sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses.
The book, Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service, was released Jan. 27. According to Spotlight PA, the book includes a chapter about Shapiro’s time serving as attorney general.
The 2018 grand jury report documented child sexual abuse accusations over a period of more than 80 years, according to WHYY, an NPR affiliate. Across six dioceses, 301 priests were accused of abusing a total of around 1,000 minors, WHYY reported.
As attorney general, Shapiro helped gather evidence for the wide-ranging report.
“The pattern was abuse, deny, and cover-up,” Shapiro said at a 2018 press conference, according to WHYY.
At the conference, he described the church’s response as a “systematic cover-up” and a “failure of law enforcement,” WHYY reported.
As Zeale News previously reported, the Catholic Church in America has made significant changes in recent decades in hopes of addressing the abuse crisis. Dioceses have implemented everything from increased training for diocesan employees and volunteers to increased psychological evaluation of potential seminarians.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said last year that the culture of the Catholic Church in America is shifting.
“This shift is characterized by an increased emphasis on transparency, accountability, and victim-survivor support,” he said, according to Zeale News’ previous coverage. “We are instilling improvements, learning from our mistakes, in how we address and prevent abuse, and making sure that the voices of the victim-survivors are heard, respected, and acted upon.”
Academic studies such as the one released by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice have shown that the vast majority of alleged sexual abuse by priests occurred in the 1970s of before.
However, Archbishop Broglio has warned against any complacency in the battle against sexual abuse and coverup.
“Despite our progress, the evil of abuse continues to exist,” he said, according to Zeale News’ previous coverage. “It is a relentless adversary that demands our ongoing vigilance and initiative-taking measures.”