WASHINGTON – Some victims of clergy sex abuse and their supporters are calling on federal and state entities to investigate sex abuse within the Catholic Church and root out abusers and anyone who has protected them.

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – A Byzantine Catholic priest was attacked Aug. 20 in the altar servers' sacristy of his church in Merrillville, near Gary in the northwestern part of the state.

VATICAN – Pope Francis will meet survivors of sexual abuse during his trip to Ireland Aug. 25-26, but it will be up to the survivors to decide whether any information about the meeting will be released, said the director of the Vatican press office.

OTTAWA – Canada’s Catholic bishops have joined their American counterparts in expressing heartbreak and sorrow over the clerical abuse revelations south of the border. 

The clergy abuse revealed in a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report has left many Catholics reeling, and not just in the U.S.

VATICAN – The U.S. bishops are "deeply committed" to facing the reality of clerical sexual abuse and the history of covering it up, said the Vatican nuncio to the United States.

WASHINGTON – The Archbishop of Washington has cancelled his scheduled participation at the Church’s World Meeting of Families, which will be held this week in Dublin, Ireland.

MADISON, Wis., – In response to recent sexual abuse crises, the Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, has said that the Catholic Church must renew its conviction to identify and reject sin, and admit that a homosexual culture among some clerics has caused great harm in the Church.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – At an Aug. 17 news conference, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, said that in response to the release of the grand jury report on abuse claims in six Pennsylvania dioceses over a 70- year period, he will collect and release a list of the names of priests in the diocese he currently heads who committed similar offenses.

WASHINGTON – In an Aug. 16 interview with Eternal Word Television Network, Erie Bishop Lawrence T. Persico said the only way to regain the trust of the laity after decades-long claims of sexual abuse by priests and others at six Pennsylvania dioceses is by deeds and one of those deeds may mean getting rid of bishops who hid abusers.

VATICAN – In the wake of a grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse in six dioceses in Pennsylvania, a Vatican spokesman called the abuses described in the report as being "criminal and morally reprehensible."

PITTSBURGH – Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburgh expressed sorrow and apologized to young victims of clergy sexual abuse, while explaining his diocese's 30-year record of working to remove offenders, assist victims and prevent further abuse.

WASHINGTON – The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Aug. 16 announced three key goals and a comprehensive plan to address the "moral catastrophe" of the new abuse scandal hitting the U.S. church.

VATICAN – Pope Francis is traveling to Ireland specifically for the World Meeting of Families, but the sex abuse crisis is dominating headlines before his Aug. 25-26 trip.

Awful, disgusting, horrifying, sickening — one runs out of adjectives in describing the actions of abusive priests chronicled in the just-released Pennsylvania grand jury report.