Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik is pushing back against calls for him to resign amid accusations that he helped cover up instances of sexual abuse during his time as a leader of the Pittsburgh diocese.
Zubik on ABC’s “This Week” said he is focused on “showing the public” that Pittsburgh Catholic leaders did not participate in covering up sexual abuse. His comments come after the findings in a 1,356-page grand jury report that documents decades of abuse by more than 300 priests across Pennsylvania. Many of the allegations in the report took place over several decades in Pittsburgh.
“I was a little bit surprised to hear, after my first answer to the news conference on Tuesday, that I was somehow a part of the cover-up,” Zubik said, referring to the press conference where Pennsylvannia’s attorney general released the report. “I realized that what we needed to do here in Pittsburgh was to be able to show the public how that wasn’t so.”
Zubik has insisted since the report’s release that “there was no cover-up,” according to the New York Times.
The bishop is mentioned more than 100 times in the report, often as the figure reviewing or overseeing investigations into various allegations.
One victim quoted in the report said he came to Zubik five years ago with his story, which involved years of sustained abuse by a member of the clergy. The victim in the report said Zubik “was sympathetic,” and then began offering him money.
“Asked me if — started to offer me certain things,” the victim is quoted as saying. “College tuition for my children, little bit of money, and then the last one was to pay for counseling.”
Ultimately, the victim reportedly did not take Zubik’s offer because the “Diocese told him … ‘you are going to have to meet with our lawyer and this and sign these documents that basically say you are done with — you can’t come after us. It is over. No public. Your mouth is closed.'”
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Zubik about this element of the report during their interview on Sunday.
“That was an allegation that was brought forward after the person who was alleged to have committed abuse was in fact deceased,” Zubik replied. “I think we have taken a position as the Diocese of Pittsburgh since 2002 not to do any confidentiality agreements but we needed to assert whether or not the alleged behavior did in fact occur.”
Zubik continued to assert Pittsburgh has followed up on all allegations by its members.
“The church of Pittsburgh today is not the church that’s described in the grand jury [report],” he said. “I can honestly say that we have followed every single step that we needed to follow to be responsible in our response to the victims.”
The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has called on Zubik to step down for failing to acknowledge any cover-ups of abuse in Pittsburgh.
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Pittsburgh bishop refuses to resign after accusations he covered up sexual abuse https://t.co/viw9aKtx5w pic.twitter.com/3UxAZ2hVKt
— The Hill (@thehill) August 19, 2018
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