The "remedies clause" in the state constitution prohibits a retroactive change to the civil and criminal statute of limitations, according to Scarnati.

The subpoenas seek documents relating to sexual abuse allegations, financial payments to possible victims or the findings from internal church investigations, according to The Associated Press.

In a conversation about sexual abuse in the United States and Australia, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia, told America that “until there is a genuine restoration of trust, no apology is going to land.”

The most common decade of birth for alleged abusers was the 1930s, and the most common decade of ordination was the 1960s. This profile has not changed since the sexual abuse crisis made headlines in 2002.

A Roman Catholic bishop who apologized to his flock last month for the "misguided and inappropriate decisions of church leaders" is reckoning with his own role — revealed in federal court a decade ago — in the system that protected pedophile priests.