Ryan O'Connor: Abuse survivors deserve their day in court

I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Between the ages of 4 and 11, I was molested and sexually abused by two different men at two different times of my childhood. The second man was a Catholic priest from my parish, Our Mother of Sorrows in Johnstown. His name is Martin McCamley. This man was a fixture in my life, whether I was serving a Mass he was presiding over or whether he was at our home, where he found himself quite often.

Martin McCamley was well known by the Diocese of Altoona- Johnstown as being a prolific pedophile. My life already had been broken by the babysitter at the age of 4. Martin McCamley utterly destroyed it. For a period of three years, he groomed, molested and sexually abused me, a little boy. In June 1997, I reported the actions of these two men to the district attorney. I spoke at length with two assistant DAs and gave them written statements. At the end of the discussion, I was told they could not do anything because of the statute of limitations, a phrase I would come to despise over the next 24 years.

I was among the many, many victims of abuse by Catholic priests who have worked furiously in Harrisburg to allow all of us to hold our abusers and the church accountable. But lawmakers could not agree on legislation, thanks in large part to a massive lobbying campaign by the church.

Finally, after years of being let down and denied justice, we saw light at the end of the tunnel when lawmakers agreed on a constitutional amendment that would let us have our day in court. The amendment would open a two-year window in the statute of limitations. But early this month, survivors were devastated again. On Feb. 1, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar announced her office had failed to properly advertise the constitutional amendment. She resigned on Feb. 5.

How does this even happen? For myself, I cannot even begin to describe how I felt. We were full of hope that we finally would have our day. This would mean so much to so many. Every survivor has his or her story, but we all share the common need to be able to confront our abusers. We all need justice. We did our job. We fought long and hard and did not back down.

We are not going to walk away, and there is a simple fix, if lawmakers step up and do the right thing. Article 11 of the Pennsylvania Constitution offers another path for the passage of a constitutional amendment. That article states, “In the event a major emergency threatens or is about to threaten the Commonwealth and if the safety or welfare of the Commonwealth required prompt amendment of this Constitution, such amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives at any regular or special session of the General Assembly, and if agreed to by at least two-thirds of the members elected to each house.”

This can and should be fixed now. Our abusers are not getting any younger. A year or two or more is all the difference in the world. The state is responsible for this situation through its gross mismanagement and, quite frankly, by not doing its job. Now it is incumbent upon the state to fix this in the most timely manner, which is to use the emergency clause of Article XI in the state Constitution. This clearly deals with the welfare of many of this great commonwealth’s residents.

Survivors have waited decades. Many have died without receiving their day in court, and many abusers, and the Catholic Church as a whole, have escaped accountability. I am urging our state lawmakers to let voters decide and let survivors have their day in court.