jim, the grand jury report says that they want an end to the statute of limitations for reporting and holding people accountable for these types of sexual assaults. is that your number one focus right now? yeah. the new session starts in september. i believe september 12th. representative mark rossi put forward a bill here in pennsylvania that includes the abolishment of the statute. but the most important part of that bill, and the thing that s the hardest to pass, is the retro window, giving a two-year window for people like myself outside the statute of limitations, to have their day in court. if you look at this report, there are only two predator priests who have been charged, auto out of all of these cases, because all are outside of the statute of limitations. it takes survivors anywhere from 30 to 40 years to finally come forward and be able to face just
event. it s tough. it is very conflicting to look at my predator now in shackles, in orange jumpsuits, and getting ready for trial. what gave you the strength to speak out, jim, and what would you say to other survivors? the strength to speak out, i believe, would be my personal faith in jesus christ. i had nowhere to turn since the church had turned its back. my wife and i came together and created a very strong christian faith that we followed for years. for any survivors, my facebook page, jim vansickle, is a haven. we ve increased numbers. there are so many people reaching out. if you are a victim who is still silent, you can stay silent, but reach out to this page and realize there are so many people out there that are willing to support you, talk to you live, and just help you through wherever you re at in this process of tahealing.
that we need to tackle now. jim, did you ever think you would see a day like yesterday, and all of the developments, the light that is now being brought to bear on these atrocities? i can tell you that the 13 or 14 of us that were there this week didn t think this thing was going to happen until the last 12 hours, because of the way the church has so, you know just attacking and keeping the report from coming out. when it finally came out, we were excited. the truth is out there now. we re reaching out to the faithful. we believe in the religion, but we re after the criminals and those who cover it up. we believe that there is a strong catholic voice out there that needs to start to ask questions of their parish priests and of the hierarchy, to find out why this is happening, why it is continuing to happen. i want to talk about, jim, the efforts that you want to
suggested is that the state of pennsylvania eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. i think that s where you will see the next fight. all right. we know you will continue to track it very closely. anne thompson, thank you so much for your reporting. really appreciate it. one of those survivors, jim van sickle, came forward in february of this year, claiming father paulson, the diocese of erie, abused him nearly 40 years ago. the father is facing charges of sexual abuse of minors tied to incidents between 2002 and 2010. now, authorities weren t able to file charges in van sickle s case because the statute of limitations had expired. here s what jim told reporters when asked why he decided to come forward and tell his story. there are 15, 14 10-year-old kids who don t feel safe enough to come forward right now. we won t hear their voice for another 20, 30 years. that s why we re not hearing
them. that s why we ve come together, so we can make them feel comfortable and realize that the shame and the guilt and the concerns are there. there was n this was not our fault. jim vansickle joins me live. i appreciate you joining me and your bravery in speaking out about all of this. i appreciate you having me, kristen. jim, can you just give me your reaction to yesterday s developments, this report, everything that the public is now learning? i think it is a major victory for all survivors all over the world. we re all excited. we were in tears after the news conference with the ag s office. we were so excited for what they have done over the last two years, the work they ve put in to uncovering the truth behind the story. we re just excited, but it is really just the beginning for us. we have many step s going forwad