Diocese of Camden / Facebook
CV NEWS FEED // After six years of opposition, the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, said May 5 that it concedes to the establishment of a grand jury to investigate clergy sex abuse cases in the diocese.
CatholicVote previously reported that attorneys for the diocese asked the New Jersey Supreme Court April 28 to block a potential grand jury presentment, which would have publicly accused the Diocese of Camden of mishandling clergy sex abuse cases without formally charging or indicting the diocese. The diocese argued that a presentment could not investigate private entities, only public officials and government institutions.
However, local ABC affiliate 6ABC reported that Bishop Joseph Williams stated Monday in a letter to the court that “the Diocese of Camden will not object to the empanelment of a grand jury for the purpose of considering a presentment.”
6ABC also reported that it’s uncertain whether a grand jury investigation will occur at all, as the court has yet to rule on the diocese’s case.
In a May 6 message to the diocese’s Catholics, Bishop Williams partially quoted his statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The most important goal of this legal change of direction was to show our sensitivity to the survivors of abuse and to make concrete actions to ‘win their trust, restore their faith, and, God willing, someday find them back in the communion of friendship and worship within the Church,'” he wrote.
“I will remain committed to that goal in the months and years ahead,” he added.
6ABC reported that Mark Crawford, state director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said the decision was “long overdue” and said he remained “cautiously optimistic” about it.
“This should have happened long ago and seeing Bishop Williams take a different approach is encouraging,” he reportedly stated.
CatholicVote previously reported that the diocese had opposed the grand jury investigation because it could unfairly target individual priests. Lloyd Levenson, the diocese’s attorney, said the diocese has been cooperating with state officials for decades to investigate crimes and published a list of credibly accused priests in 2019.
Levenson raised concerns before the court about a grand jury investigating the Church and accusing individual priests of abuse, questioning whether it came from “partisan” motives.
“The goal here is obviously to condemn the Catholic Church and to condemn priests and bishops,” he said.
The court appeared sympathetic to New Jersey Deputy Solicitor General Michael Zuckerman’s argument, which claimed no decision could be made on the grand jury’s presentment, given that it does not yet exist. State prosecutors have asked for a decision before the court goes into its summer recess; however, it is unclear how the court will ultimately rule.
