The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a significant episode in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States during the late 20th century and the early 21st century. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia includes the City of Philadelphia and several counties in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Over the past 25 years, three grand juries have investigated sexual abuse by clergy in the archdiocese. The 2003 and 2005 grand juries revealed the extent of the problem in the archdiocese. They explained how archbishops and other officials would remove offending priests from parishes, send them for treatment and then reassign them to new parishes. Law enforcement and parishioners were not informed of the records of these priests. The 2011 grand jury found 37 priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse. It indicted three priests and one teacher for child abuse offenses. A diocesan official was also indicted for his coverups of abuse by priests, but after two trials he pleaded guilty to a lesser offense.
As of 2025, 13 priests and one archdiocesan school teacher have been convicted of possessing child pornography, rape, and other sexual abuse crimes. Their sentences ranged from probation to 20 years in prison. Many other priests were not prosecuted, but had credible accusations of sexual abuse. The victims, both boys and girls, ranged from ages nine to 16; many of them were altar servers and choir members. Many of the offending clerices had collections of child pornography; they assaulted the children in rectories, churches, private homes and church offices. Some victims were abused just once, while others were abused continually over months and years.
After receiving hundreds of sexual abuse claims and lawsuits during the early 21st century, the archdiocese in 2018 spent $81 million to compensate 438 sexual abuse victims.
2003 grand jury With the onset of the major sexual abuse scandals in the Archdioceses of Boston and New York, along with the growing number of civil and criminal cases in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham began an investigation in Philadelphia in early 2002. In March 2002, the archdiocese released a statement that only 35 priests over the past 52 years had credible accusations of sexual abuse. In the summer of 2002, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, then archbishop of Philadelphia, stated in an interview that he never transferred a priest with a credible accusations of sexual abuse from one parish to another.
Abraham empaneled her grand jury in September 2002. Based on the recent statements from the archdiocese, Abraham and the grand jury expected to uncover only a few cases. Instead of a few cases, the 2003 grand jury found 120 cases. However, it was unable to make any indictments. The grand jury published an 18-page report that determined: Bevilacqua had indeed transferred priests with allegations of sexual abuse to prevent a scandal. William Lynn, then in charge of priest personnel, hid crimes committed by priests and transferred them to other parishes. Lynn testified that the archdiocese would only report sexual abuse crimes to the police if the victim complained to them directly. If the parent of a child reported abuse, the archdiocese would not notify police. the archdiocese was more focused on hiding the wrongdoing of priests than of protecting children from them. the archdiocese would not notify parishes about sexual abuse crimes or allegations of crimes against their priests.
Due to the limitations on its time and the number of cases to investigate, the 2003 grand jury was forced to eventually transfer its investigation to a second grand jury. In July 2003, Archbishop Justin Francis Rigali of the Archdiocese of St. Louis was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the next archbishop of Philadelphia.
2005 grand jury
Report To continue the work of the 2003 grand jury, Abraham empaneled a second grand jury the next year. That grand jury released its final report on September 21, 2005. The report found that Cardinal John Krol, archbishop of Philadelphia from 1961 to 1988, was guilty, along with Bevilacqua, of covering up sexual abuse crimes by priests in the archdiocese.
The report criticized the actions of Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Cistone, serving in 1996 as assistant vicar for administration. It claimed that Cistone was involved with silencing a nun who tried to alert parishioners at St. Gabriel parish about abuse by a priest. There were several other instances of priest sexual abuse which Cistone was complicit in covering up. The report also indicated that Cistone was most concerned with the public relations ramifications of the sexual abuse. On one occasion, a sexual abuse victim asked Cistone to set up a meeting with Bevilacqua, Cistone refused, saying that such a meeting would "set a precedent".
Using records subpoenaed from the archdiocese, the jury examined the so-called "secret archive" files for 169 priests and two deacons. It documented 63 examples of abuse by clergy. The grand jury also stated that nobody could be indicted due to the Pennsylvania statute of limitations on sexual abuse crimes and other conditions that protect the archdiocese from being criminally accountable.
Response by archdiocese Rigali criticized the 2005 report, calling it slanted. He said that it did not reflect policy changes that the archdiocese had made, including the education of children about safe relationships and the reporting of sexual abuse allegations to police, Regarding Bevilacqua and Krol, Rigali said that "Mistakes are one thing. Intentions are another."
Cistone expressed sorrow for "any mistakes in judgment.""Philadelphia auxiliary bishop to lead Michigan diocese." The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 2009. However, he refused to discuss the matter further, saying, "[I]t would not serve any purpose to revisit the grand jury report and endeavor to recall the rationale for past decisions made in specific cases."Remsen, Jim, and Kristin E. Holmes, "Abuse's 'Enablers' Still Rank in Church." The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 14, 2005. Cistone in 2009 said, "Unfortunately, the grand jury procedure, as followed in Philadelphia, did not allow for any opportunity to address such questions to offer explanation or clarification."
"In 2006, the archdiocese hired Mary Achilles, the state's first victim advocate, to review its treatment of victims after a 2005 grand jury report highlighted abuse by more than 50 priests over 50 years." Achilles, among other involvements in the field, has worked on the subject of restorative justice with Professor Howard Zehr of Eastern Mennonite University.
2011 grand jury
Report A third grand jury, in February 2011, accused the archdiocese, still under Rigali, of failing to stop the sexual abuse of children. The report said that up to 37 priests had been credibly accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior toward minors. Unlike the 2003 and 2005 grand juries, the 2011 grand jury handed down five indictments:
Edward Averape – indecent sexual assault Robert Brennan – sexual assault Charles Engelhardt – orally sodomizing and molesting Bernard Shero – rape, attempted rape, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse and indecent sexual assault. William Lynn – two counts of endangering the welfare of a child
Response by archdiocese Rigali initially said in February 2011 that "there were no active priests with substantiated allegations against them, but six days later, he placed three of the priests, whose activities had been described in detail by the grand jury, on administrative leave. He also hired an outside lawyer, Gina Maisto Smith, a former assistant district attorney, to re-examine all cases involving priests in active ministry and review the procedures employed by the archdiocese."
In March 2011, Rigali invited Catholics to a special Stations of the Cross penitential service at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. The purpose of the service, he wrote in his Lenten letter, was 'the forgiveness of all sins and reconciliation with God and in the community.'
The 2011 grand jury found that "archdiocesan officials ignored all of Achilles' initial recommendations" ... Rigali hired Achilles again last week to perform the same service," according to one report. District Attorney R. Seth Williams said he respected Rigali's choice of Smith to lead the case review.
In July 2011, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Rigali's resignation as archbishop of Philadelphia. At that time, Rigali said that he "...offered an apology 'if I have offended' and 'for any weaknesses on my part'. However, he failed to see any connection between the scandal and the Vatican accepting his resignation. The pope named Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver to succeed Rigali.
Media reaction to report David J. O'Brien, who teaches Catholic history at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, stated in March 2011, "The situation in Philadelphia is Boston reborn."
Maureen Dowd in The New York Times, concluded in March 2011, "Out of the church's many unpleasant confrontations with modernity, this is the starkest. It's tragically past time to send the message that priests can't do anything they want and hide their sins behind special privilege."In April 2011, Richard McBrien, writing for the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) drew attention to Rigali's failure to live up to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, approved in 2002 by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. McBrien stated that Rigali had"made an unfortunate mistake in fundamental logic by making a universal negative assertion that could be rebutted by even a single case to the contrary ... [by] denying the allegation that there were other abusive priests still at work in the Archdiocese ... [when] [s]oon thereafter he removed twenty-one priests."In July 2011, Robert Huber at Philadelphia magazine published a 7,630-word article which opened with Rigali's question "Is it true?" about the 2011 grand jury report. It moved on to ask "Will the Catholic Church as we know it survive in Philadelphia?" The piece concluded with a critique from the archdiocese which began: "Unfortunately for Philadelphia magazine readers looking for honest, in-depth reporting, this piece is an agenda-driven travesty of salacious innuendo masquerading as journalism."
William Lynn One of the most prominent sexual abuse cases in the 2010s was that of William Lynn, who served as the Secretary of the Clergy for the archdiocese from 1993 to 2004. Lynn was never accused of sexually abusing any children; however, he would be indicted on charges of covering up the sexual abuse crimes of priests that he was supervising. The 2003 grand jury investigation of the archdiocese named Lynn as one of the church officials who ignored or covered up sexual abuse crimes by priests. The follow-up grand jury in 2005 specifically singled out Lynn for his repeated efforts to keep Robert L. Brennan working in parishes. Brennan abused multiple boys in four parishes.
In February 2011, Lynn was indicted on two counts on endangering the welfare of a child by the third grand jury investigating the archdiocese. At that time, he was serving as pastor of St. Joseph Church in Downingtown. The indictment stated that Lynn failed to stop three priests and a teacher from raping two boys during the 1990s. The three other priests (Charles Engelhardt, Edward Avery and Robert Brennan) and the teacher (Bernard Shero) were indicted at the same time. Lynn maintained that he was innocent.