Kentucky joins the ranks of states seeking to investigate pedophile priests in a growing Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

In light of a shocking report that revealed a widespread pattern of possible sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Pennsylvania, the Kentucky attorney general seeks the Kentucky legislature’s permission to form a grand jury that will investigate dioceses around the state.

According to Deputy Attorney General J. Michael Brown, his office has contacted the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro about the issue of possible pedophile priests in the Catholic church, in advance of possibly launching an investigation in Kentucky.

Brown says that survivors have reached out to his office alleging that they were abused by priests in Kentucky, and says that his office is “working to secure justice” for these people.

The Archdiocese of Louisville responded to the possibility of a Kentucky investigation by saying that “we have always cooperated with the authorities in our response to sexual abuse and will continue to do so.”

Kentucky Catholic Churches

This announcement was made after two-dozen alleged victims of Catholic church sex abuse and advocates protested in front of the Cathedral of Assumption in downtown Louisville. The protesters condemned the Catholic Church and their allegedly insufficient response to pedophile priests who have been possibly abusing individuals for many years.

This protest was held after the grand jury in Pennsylvania produced a report showing that Pennsylvania church leaders concealed widespread patterns of abuse and protected over 300 pedophile priests for decades. Allegedly, this cover-up occurred in six Pennsylvania dioceses. The grand jury report argued that the Pennsylvania dioceses prioritized the reputation of the church and the priests over the safety of the victims.

In the protest, the demonstrators urged the Attorney General’s office to launch an investigation, and demanded that the Archdiocese of Louisville take sixteen specific steps to remedy the problem of Catholic Church sex abuse.

These sixteen specific steps included punishment and firing of employees either found guilty of sexual abuse or complicit in covering it up, establishing more rigorous protocol to deal with sexual abuse, and making public all of the settlements the church has paid to victims to cover up abuse.

In Louisville, protesters included past victims of Catholic pedophile priests, parishioners, social workers, former Catholics, and others. Some protestors demanded transparency from the Catholic Church on the extent of the abuse, some demanded that pedophile priests be held accountable, and some protestors advocated for feminist theology. Other protestors pointed a finger at not just the Catholic Church leaders, but parishioners, telling them to “step up and be on the side of the truth.”

The Louisville protest was not the only protest to take place in response to the Pennsylvania grand jury reports — nine groups across the country protested.

This wave of protest is in response to what appears to be a decades-long pattern of abuse and cover-up by the Catholic Church. In the early 2000s, the Louisville Archdiocese paid $25.7 million to 240 people who claimed that priests, religious brothers and church employees had sexually abused them.