Pennsylvania State Attorney General Josh Shapiro released the grand jury report in August. The grand jury identified 301 predator priests who sexually abused over a thousand children over the past 70 years
Church documents show that the Harrisburg diocese knew about Pease’s misconduct, which dates back in the 1960s. In fact, the diocese sent him to a treatment center for priests accused of sexually abusing children. After six months at the treatment center, the diocese reinstated him to active ministry in several parishes until his retirement in 2002.
The diocese received a number of allegations against Pease. However, since the priest’s retirement, it took the diocese 12 years before it decided to suspend him from active ministry.
Barley explained that laicization process takes years. Gainer decided to suspend Pease in 2014 because it was “the quickest, easiest, and most effective way to get him out of active ministry.”
