The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh faces Catholic sex abuse accusations, alleging that a Pennsylvania priest used his position to sexually assault minors.

Plaintiff Glenn O. filed a Catholic church sexual abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and the diocese’s bishop and cardinal. The defendants were reportedly in charge of Reverend John Hoehl during his tenure as headmaster of Quigley Catholic High School.

Glenn says he attended Quigley Catholic High School from 1982 to 1986 while Hoehl was headmaster. As headmaster, Hoehl had a residence on campus, and it was allegedly common for students to stay with him so he could counsel them on personal matters.

Glenn says that while he was experiencing family issues, Hoehl spent time with him and provided understanding and acceptance. He says this helped him feel safe around Hoehl, and he began to trust Hoehl inherently.

However, Hoehl allegedly betrayed that trust soon thereafter. After a football game, when Glenn was unable to return home due to family issues, he allegedly stayed with Hoehl. Hoehl allegedly told Glenn to take off his clothes and, when he refused, chased him and forcibly stripped him. Glenn says he managed to flee and ended up sleeping in a guest bedroom, but the next morning Hoehl allegedly raped him.

According to the Catholic church sexual abuse lawsuit, this continued over the next three years whenever his family issues prevented him from returning home.

Glenn claims that he even placed metal hangers all over the house, allegedly to keep track of Hoehl’s movements. When Glenn heard Hoehl moving about, he says, the sound of the metal hangers served as a warning and allowed him to get dressed before Hoehl could commit sexual assault again.

Glenn and other children were repeated victims of Hoehl’s sexual abuse and protected each other, according to the lawsuit. When Hoehl allegedly attempted to get into the shower with another boy, Glenn says he threw cereal into the shower to distract him and helped the boy escape.

Glenn argues that the diocese is at fault for Hoehl’s behavior. Not only did they appoint the priest to that position, but also encouraged children to trust him and rely on him, Glenn says. This made survivors easy targets for Hoehl’s sexual abuse, Glenn claims in his Catholic church sexual abuse lawsuit.

“Defendants explicitly and implicitly through their words and actions represented to the Plaintiff that each of its priests, including Hoehl, were benevolent and trustworthy stewards of the church who would only act in the best interests of the children whom they served,” the Catholic church sexual abuse lawsuit claims.

Glenn also claims that the diocese knew about the widespread sexual abuse in their district, pointing to a grand jury report as evidence.

Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Allegations

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office initiated an investigation into the diocese, and in 2018, a grand jury report included details of the frequency of Catholic church sexual abuse.

The report says that church records allegedly show that more than 300 “predator priests” faced allegations from more than one thousand child victims.

The diocese was allegedly aware of the prevalence of Catholic church sexual abuse occurring in the area but concealed the allegations far past the expiration of the statute of limitations, leaving no chance for victims to take legal action.

In order to help future victims have more time to pursue justice, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a child victims in 2019, which allows survivors up until their 55th birthday to file civil suits against perpetrators.

That law stopped short of providing a “lookback window” for survivors of sexual abuse from years ago to file civil suits. Many states have enacted a retroactive window of time, usually two years, for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits no matter how long ago the abuse occurred.

In December 2020, Pennsylvania Judiciary Committee Chairperson Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, said she was making it a priority of hers to make sure legislation is approved to open a two-year lookback window for survivors of sexual abuse that occurred long ago, according to the PennCapital-Star.

The bill would amend the state Constitution and would need voter approval through a referendum in the spring primary election. Even though the House and Senate approved the bill in the last legislative session, the new session would need to approve the matter to ensure it makes it to the referendum stage.

“By passing identical legislation in two consecutive sessions, we are ensuring that this change to the statute of limitations occurs in a constitutionally-sound manner,” said Sen. Baker in a press release.

It should be noted that because of the Pennsylvania Catholic church sexual abuse investigation and in addition to its hundreds of new cases, other investigations have been spurred in other states.

If you or a loved one was the victim of sex abuse by a Catholic priest or church leader in Pennsylvania, legal help is available. You may qualify to file a Catholic Church sex abuse lawsuit. Fill out the FREE form on this page for more information.

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