Victim seeking release of sex abuse report

July 22--ERIE -- Victims like Daniel Bauer, who says he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, have waited most of their lives for someone to listen and to validate their claims.

Bauer, 68, of Erie, did not testify in front of the 40th statewide grand jury that for two years investigated claims of child sex abuse by priests and allegations of a coverup by high-ranking church officials in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses, including Erie.

"It's been long enough," Bauer said. "I've been trying to report abuse that happened to me for the past 30 years and each time I try, bishops don't do anything about it. I feel victimized all over again."

The 884-page grand jury report, said to be "sobering" and "graphic" by Erie Diocese Bishop Lawrence T. Persico, was to be made public at the end of June, but 14 people named in the report, but not necessarily indicted, have filed petitions that delayed the release. Persico and the five other bishops of Greensburg, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Scranton and Allentown, have all said they will not fight the public release of the report.

In their petitions, the 14 people who are challenging the release are identified only by their initials.

On Friday, the presiding grand jury judge, Norman A. Krumenacker III, Cambria County president judge, unsealed the state Attorney General Office's argument against keeping the grand jury report secret.

But Krumenacker also asked for the public to be patient as the legal process continues.

Bauer has run out of patience, he says.

"When they started fighting, saying that they were going to block this, was when I decided to start picketing on the steps of St. Peter's Cathedral in Erie," Bauer said, referring to the Erie Diocese headquarters.

Bauer has been true to his word. He started on July 1 and has brought a different sign each day, sometimes including names of Erie Diocese clergy.

"And I'm not going to stop until the report is released," Bauer said. "And I'm not going to hold back on names, either. If they want to take me to court, they can go ahead, and I'll start talking and these signs will be like Mary Poppins compared to what I'm going to say."

Bauer says he was sexually abused and battered by a Catholic priest about 50 years ago. It happened in Jamestown, N.Y., where he grew up. Bauer and his family belonged to a parish in the Buffalo Catholic Diocese at the time. Clergy he had reported the alleged abuse to have since moved to the Erie Diocese, Bauer said.

"It wasn't mutually agreed to. He just threw himself on me," Bauer said of the alleged abuse. "After he did this to me, I immediately went to the diocese to report it."

Every time he tried to report what happened, he felt victimized all over again, he said.

"The diocese was blowing it off," Bauer said. "I kept trying to report it for a month or two, then you're so run down and out of energy, so you let it slide. Then you see something in the paper or on the news and it triggers you and you try to report it again. I went through this for 15 years."

Bauer said he talked to four members of the clergy before one of them sat down face-to-face to listen to him. Three ended their careers as bishops and one, a chancellor, Bauer said.

"It took 20 years. That's when I demanded that the Buffalo Diocese talk to me. I said, 'You can talk to me in the office or in court.'"

So, Bauer, who had moved to Erie by then, made the two-hour drive to meet with a clergy member whom he said had previously treated him badly over the phone.

"He asked me to come there at 6:45 a.m.," Bauer said. "I get there, and there's armed guards in the lobby, then three more armed guards in the office with the bishop."

No action was taken again, to Bauer's knowledge, at least nothing that was made public, he said.

"These bishops did not care. They were more (angry) that anyone dared open their mouth about this," Bauer said.

He said the experience was traumatic.

Bauer said the weight of his ordeal has taken its toll over the years.

"I haven't been a member of a parish for 40 some years because of this," he said. "My blood pressure has been going up and down. I've gone to the Cleveland Clinic, and they ran tests. They said nothing was wrong with me."

But Bauer said that his health problems started with the 40th statewide grand jury investigation.

"I've been going through this nightmare," he said. "You end up with all these medical conditions that no one can put their finger on and you start to think, well maybe it's caused by this."

Follow Melissa Klaric on Twitter and Facebook @HeraldKlaric, email: mklaric@sharonherald.com

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