Priest-abuse panelist says Philadelphia diocese pre-screened claims

A nursing professor chosen by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to sit on a priest-abuse review board says she and fellow panelist never saw most of the cases named in 2005 and 2009 grand jury reports against the diocese.

The Associated Press cites an article in lay Catholic-edited Commonweal magazine by Ana Maria Catanzaro, in which she writes the archdiocese pre-screened many of the cases given to the panel. Catanzaro says the panel, which was critized by the grand jury for not taking appropriate actions, never saw the psychological files of priests that might have shown a pattern of behavior.

Among the recent sexual abuse charges against Philadelphia priests are allegations that the diocese knowingly kept priests in service and bounced them to different parishes despite reported cases of abuse.