Reps. Gregory, Rozzi call on AG to investigate Southern Baptist sex abuse | Five for the Weekend

By Cassie Miller – Capital-Star

HARRISBURG,, PA – Two state lawmakers are calling on state Attorney General Josh Shapiro to open an investigation into reports of abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention of churches.

State Reps. Jim Gregory, R-Blair, and Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, sent a joint letter to Attorney General Josh Shapiro earlier this week,, asking the state’s top prosecutor, and his office, to investigate reports of abuse within Southern Baptist Convention of churches in Pennsylvania.

The letter to Shapiro comes days after the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee issued a report that found that church leaders attempted to silence survivors of clergy sex abuse.

“The news reported just this week is of such a disturbing nature and reminiscent of the Grand Jury reports ordered by your office in 2016 and 2018 on the Catholic Dioceses. … This report helped victims move forward by exposing their predators and shedding light on those who committed the heinous crimes against them as children,” the representatives wrote in their letter.

The Southern Baptist Convention of churches serves more than 300 Pennsylvania churches, according to the letter.

“We cannot delude ourselves into thinking this type of despicable, criminal behavior has not occurred within our Commonwealth,” they wrote.

“As a survivor myself, I was saddened to again hear of an institution looking out for its own interests instead of the people it harmed,” Gregory said in a statement. “I urge the attorney general to expediently seat a grand jury to shine light on these heinous acts.”