Abuse cases fell dramatically after 1995 Spirit Daily
By Steven O’Keefe
In mid-August (2018) the attorney general of Pennsylvania released their grand jury report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The full text can be found [here].
It’s been the subject of much discussion and reporting, and it seems like every Catholic blogger on the planet has an opinion about it. What led to the abuse? Who is to blame? What do we do about it?
I’m interested in those questions, of course. They are critical to the safety of our kids and the well-being of the Church in America. But I don’t think I have anything useful to add to the matter.
So today I’ll do what I’m good at… crunching data. I’ve now gone through 800 pages of abuse reports — (a challenging task on multiple levels) — and kept some stats along the way.
Is there anything we can learn from the data itself?

Let’s find out.
“Now, when the Pennsylvania Report came out, it led to headlines which implied the abuse crisis was continuing unabated, as if there had never been any decrease in incidents.”

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