Survivors, attorney call for statewide grand jury in church abuse cover-ups

Sexual abuse survivors and a St. Paul attorney are calling on Governor Dayton, the Minnesota attorney general and local prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation into local sexual abuse cover-ups involving Catholic dioceses. Attorney Jeff Anderson says there have been hints of progress from some at the top in the Catholic church, but the Pope’s and the Bishop’s promises, pledges and policies do not protect kids, they protect themselves because they lead the people and the communities across the country and across the globe to believe that they’ve dealt with the problem when they haven’t.” Attorney Jeff Anderson says the Catholic church has been using bankruptcy to hinder investigations into child abuse cover-ups in the church and he is calling for action similar to the recent grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania that exposed years of alleged abuse.  Survivor Jamie Heutmaker spoke to reporters today and vowed he will continue to work toward ending the abuse and the cover-ups and says he will “not stop until I am in my grave or the children are safe and until these people that hid this abuse are held accountable and hopefully indicted and sent to jail.”