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indicted one priest for child sexual abuse and, in a separate set of events, six men who had worked at Parmadale, a youth home under the auspices of Catholic Charities. Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney William D. Mason seemed frustrated to some journalists as he explained that his staff had found 145 priests with accusations in their files. “But for the statute of limitations, many more would have been indicted,” he said. An assistant prosecutor had presented charges of obstruction of justice and racketeering against Pilla and Quinn, but the nine-member grand jury lacked the seven votes to indict them.55

Although Mason’s office had gotten the 145 names from the diocese, the grand jury proceedings were secret. Bill Mason, a husky fellow with reddish-blond hair and a potent political machine behind him, could stand tall for the cameras, while the faceless grand jurors bore responsibility for giving the bishops a pass. State laws long predating child abuse as a social issue shielded most of the alleged sex offenders from punishment. Cleveland was a near washout compared with Boston, where a judge had released files, abusers were identified, several prosecutions were under way, half a thousand victims were in court, and Cardinal Law had resigned in proverbial disgrace.

Ironically, Ohio had one of the better public records laws. Bill Sheil wanted the list of priests; so did Jim McCarty at the Plain Dealer and other journalists. Sheil lodged a request with Mason’s office for documents on the priests. The diocese then threatened to sue Mason if he released grand jury information. “We are looking to protect the identity of persons who are investigated but not charged,” a church spokesman offered.56 With overhanging questions of about 145 priests, Mason, who had failed to indict the bishops, did a pirouette to become a target of the church’s legal hammer. Having gained in the public media sweepstakes, Mason had his staff petition the court: would Judge Brian Corrigan, who had overseen the grand jury, release the names and files? The motion referred to “more than one thousand (1000) possible victims and four hundred ninety-six (496) possible offenders,” most of them lay workers.57

In March 2003, the diocese’s financial picture worsened. The Plain Dealer reported that Catholic Charities had taken a $1.4 million loss in recent donations. Catholic Charities’ donor base had dropped from 104,000 individuals in 1996 to 79,000 in 2002. Pilla met with one hundred diocesan staffers to outline pay cuts, freezes in office expenditures, and selling “unused church property.” Blaming the nation’s economic decline since 9/11, he assured the staffers that insurance had covered the Jones Day legal bills for its help in the abuse crisis.58 How much had the scandal cost in lost donations?

Bill Sheil persuaded his TV station to fund a law firm to research and file a motion with Judge Corrigan, seeking release of the church records reviewed by the grand jury. Prosecutor Mason’s brief “lacks the courage of its own convictions,” opined the WJW–Fox 8 attorneys, Michael McMenamin and Kenneth Zirm. “The requested issuance of a mere advisory opinion by this Court” would give Mason’s office the leeway to decide which documents to give to law enforcement. Federal law allowed disclosure of grand jury files for compelling reasons. The TV station attorneys asked Corrigan to do the same.

The breadth, depth and duration of sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church, both here and across the nation, make this a matter of public and historical significance, present special circumstances and weigh heavily in favor of disclosure … Exceptions to grand jury secrecy are well-recognized and the First Amendment protects the right to gather as well as disseminate news.59

The prosecutor and diocese “may know which of these priests and other employees remain in unsupervised contact with children [but] the public does not, especially the parents of children” in Catholic schools or programs, they argued. Sheil flew east and interviewed District Attorney Paul