incidents; and
WHEREAS, The grand jury report further asserts that offenders
shamed or coerced abused children into silence; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Investigating Grand Jury Report
into Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse in The Archdiocese of
Philadelphia, issued in 2005, documented rampant sexual abuse
and coordinated cover-ups by archdiocesan priests and officials;
and
WHEREAS, A 2011 Report of the County Investigating Grand Jury
XXIII indicated that Philadelphia archdiocesan leaders failed to
implement Pennsylvania Victim Advocate recommendations and
failed to protect children from clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse;
and
WHEREAS, The 37th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury
empaneled in 2014 reported that hundreds of children had been
sexually abused by at least 50 different priests in the Diocese
of Altoona-Johnstown; and
WHEREAS, The report stated: "As wolves disguised as the
shepherds themselves-these men stole the innocence of children
by sexually preying upon the most innocent and vulnerable
members of our society and of the Catholic faith"; and
WHEREAS, A 2004 study by the John Jay College of Criminal
Justice attempted to examine this issue nationally, but the
study relied on church records and reports by bishops without
broad inquiry into institutional dynamics; and
WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,
the governing body for priests then under investigation, funded
more than half the cost of the $1.8 million study; and
WHEREAS, An independent Federal body without ties to the
Catholic Church is the only entity equipped to pursue a fair,
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