Survivors of clergy abuse in New Jersey have won an unexpected victory.

The Diocese of Camden, which had been fighting a grand jury investigation for nearly seven years, has abruptly dropped its opposition to the probe.

The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General announced the planned investigation in 2018, shortly after former New Jersey Archbishop Theodore McCarrick was accused of sexually abusing young men and boys over a period of more than 20 years. Other states, including Pennsylvania, launched similar probes.

But as a Kane In Your Corner investigation found, New Jersey’s investigation was stopped almost as soon as it began, when the Diocese of Camden had sued, arguing the state had no legal right to investigate the Catholic Church. The case had made its way to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which heard arguments last week.

Mark Crawford, executive director of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), says this is welcome news.

“We want to know who knew what, when, where, what they did, what they didn't do,” Crawford says. “And that truth needs to come out. It's not going to go away. Victims will not heal. This will not stop until church officials learn it is time they must be transparent, open and honest.”

Lower court rulings had blocked the investigation from going forward, so the Supreme Court will likely still have to overturn those before the grand jury investigation can go forward. But Crawford says he is “cautiously optimistic” that it will happen.