A Louisiana grand jury has charged 91-year-old priest Lawrence Hecker with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 1975, a significant step forward in the effort to hold church leaders accountable for their failure to protect children from sexual abuse. Hecker has been at the center of investigations into clergy sex abuse and the scandal of why church leaders failed to report his admissions to law enforcement. The case is expected to be closely watched by victims of abuse and their advocates, as it could provide insight into the church’s handling of the abuse crisis and the extent of its knowledge of the abuse.
