The Catholic bishop of a New Jersey diocese said he would no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse that the church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years.
It's not clear, however, that the grand jury investigation will go forward because the state Supreme Court is already considering the diocese's earlier argument against seating one.
In a letter Monday to the state Supreme Court, an attorney for the diocese said Camden Bishop Joseph Williams wished to inform the seven justices that “the Diocese of Camden will not object to the empanelment of a grand jury for the purpose of considering a presentment.”
Williams took over the diocese in March and first said in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday that the diocese no longer wished to prevent the attorney general’s office from seating a grand jury to investigate allegations of sexual assault by priests and other religious officials.
Williams told the newspaper it was important to help those harmed by the church and that he doesn't want to stop their voices from being heard.
In a letter to parishioners posted on Tuesday, Williams said he met with stakeholders in the diocese and there was unanimous consent to end the church's opposition to the grand jury. The next day he went to the state attorney general's office and informed them of the decision, Williams wrote.
"We expressed our desire to be partners with them in this public service," Williams wrote.
Williams told the Inquirer: “Our people need to hear this, the clergy needs to hear this, so that it never happens again, first of all."
The change comes a week after attorneys for the diocese argued before the state Supreme Court that prosecutors did not have the authority under court rules to use a grand jury to investigate private church officials. Instead, the lawyers argued, the rule requires grand jury presentments to tackle public officials and government.
The high court has not yet issued an opinion on the arguments. It's not immediately clear how the bishop's new position would affect their ruling and whether the court might side with the diocese's previous position.
The state attorney general's office said in an emailed statement Tuesday that it welcomes the “introspection that produced this shift in the Diocese of Camden's position.”
The statement pointed out that prosecutors are still subject to lower court orders that blocked the investigation.
Mark Crawford, state director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said in a text message Tuesday that the change was “long overdue.”
“We are cautiously optimistic as this is certainly the right thing to do and for the right reasons,” he said. “This should have happened long ago and seeing Bishop Williams take a different approach is encouraging.”
The issue dates to a Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018 that found more than 1,000 children had been abused in that state since the 1940s, prompting the New Jersey attorney general to announce a similar investigation.
But the results of New Jersey’s inquiry never became public partly because a legal battle led by the Diocese of Camden was unfolding behind closed doors amid sealed proceedings.
Then, this year the Bergen Record obtained records disclosing a trial court’s judgment in favor of the diocese and revealing the diocese’s objection to the grand jury. And in March, the Supreme Court ordered more documents in the case unsealed.
The core disagreement is over whether a court rule permits grand juries in New Jersey to issue findings in cases involving private individuals. Trial and appellate courts found for the diocese.
In oral arguments, Supreme Court justices at times sounded skeptical of the diocese's then-position that the grand jury investigation would amount to a condemnation of the church and its officials.
“We don’t know what a grand jury would say, am I right?” Justice Anne Patterson asked at the time.
FILE - The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden, N.J., Wednesday, April 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
