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PHILADELPHIA -- Parents of children in the Roman Catholic Church and survivors of sexual abuse by clergy filed a lawsuit Monday against Pennsylvania's eight dioceses and their bishops asking a judge to compel them to release information about abuse allegations.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Pittsburgh comes a month after a statewide grand jury report detailed sexual abuse allegations against more than 300 priests over decades in six of the state's dioceses. The lawsuit alleges the dioceses haven't met their obligations to report child sexual abusers under state law.

Benjamin Sweet, an attorney for the lead plaintiffs in the case said they are not seeking money, but instead are asking for public transparency about allegations. Many victims who came forward to talk to the grand jury fall outside the statute of limitations to file a civil personal injury lawsuit. The lawsuit filed Monday doesn't seek damages and doesn't represent solely victims of abuse, so Sweet said it isn't prohibited by any statute of limitations.

"From our perspective this is completely about disclosure and coming clean and allowing these predator priests to be named. The concealment of these priests is a continuing slap in the face to these survivors. It's a continuing slap in the face to the parents who trust these churches and institutions to educate these children," he said.

The lawsuit asks for a court order to compel the dioceses to be better mandated reporters for child sexual abuse allegations. It also asks to compel the dioceses to release all information they had given to the grand jury to the public and to provide a mechanism for reporters to review records to make sure their allegations exist, are accurate and have been sent to the proper law enforcement or government officials.

Messages left at several dioceses Monday were not immediately returned.

Spokesmen for the Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Allentown dioceses reiterated their written responses to the grand jury report, saying all allegations of abuse of minors are reported to law enforcement.

"At the Diocese of Greensburg, any and every allegation, regardless of credibility, is immediately called in to Pennsylvania ChildLine and reported to the appropriate district attorney, whether the allegation is minutes old or 70 years old," Greensburg Dioceses spokesman Jerry Zufelt said.

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