New Jersey Catholic bishop says diocese will no longer oppose investigation into abuse allegations

The Catholic bishop of a New Jersey diocese said he would no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse that the church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years.

It's not clear, however, that the grand jury investigation will go forward because the state Supreme Court is already considering the diocese's earlier argument against seating one.

In a letter Monday to the state Supreme Court, an attorney for the diocese said Camden Bishop Joseph Williams wished to inform the seven justices that ''the Diocese of Camden will not object to the empanelment of a grand jury for the purpose of considering a presentment.''

Williams took over the diocese in March and first said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday that the diocese no longer wished to prevent the attorney general's office from seating a grand jury to investigate allegations of sexual assault by priests and other religious officials.

Williams told the newspaper it was important to help those harmed by the church and that he doesn't want to stop their voices from being heard.

''Our people need to hear this, the clergy needs to hear this, so that it never happens again, first of all,'' Williams said.

A message seeking comment Tuesday was left with the diocese.

The change comes a week after attorneys for the diocese argued before the state Supreme Court that prosecutors did not have the authority under court rules to use a grand jury to investigate private church officials. Instead, the lawyers argued, the rule requires grand jury presentments to tackle public officials and government.

The high court has not yet issued an opinion on the arguments. It's not immediately clear how the bishop's new position would affect their ruling and whether the court might side with the diocese's previous position.

The state attorney general's office said in an emailed statement Tuesday that it welcomes the ''introspection that produced this shift in the Diocese of Camden's position.''

The statement pointed out that prosecutors are still subject to lower court orders that blocked the investigation.

Mark Crawford, state director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said in a text message Tuesday that the change was ''long overdue.''

''We are cautiously optimistic as this is certainly the right thing to do and for the right reasons,'' he said. ''This should have happened long ago and seeing Bishop Williams take a different approach is encouraging.''

The issue dates to a Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018 that found more than 1,000 children had been abused in that state since the 1940s, prompting the New Jersey attorney general to announce a similar investigation.

But the results of New Jersey's inquiry never became public partly because a legal battle led by the Diocese of Camden was unfolding behind closed doors amid sealed proceedings.

Then, this year the Bergen Record obtained records disclosing a trial court's judgment in favor of the diocese and revealing the diocese's objection to the grand jury. And in March, the Supreme Court ordered more documents in the case unsealed.

The core disagreement is over whether a court rule permits grand juries in New Jersey to issue findings in cases involving private individuals. Trial and appellate courts found for the diocese.

In oral arguments, Supreme Court justices at times sounded skeptical of the diocese's then-position that the grand jury investigation would amount to a condemnation of the church and its officials.

''We don't know what a grand jury would say, am I right?'' Justice Anne Patterson asked at the time.