Staff report

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS— A judge has rejected an archdiocese’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed over a "serial predator" priest accused of molesting numerous boys over a decade.
The judge said in his Dec. 20 order rejecting the request for summary judgment that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ argument that the six-year statute of limitations had run out does not apply to the lawsuit regarding its employment of Harry Monroe.
"There is no dispute" that Monroe molested the plaintiff between 1976 and 1978, wrote Marion Superior Court Judge David Shaheed.
But he said the six-year statute of limitations does not apply to the suit’s fraud allegation because the plaintiff did not learn until 2005 that the church knew Monroe had molested boys before he was assigned to the parish where the plaintiff claims he was molested.
"The court finds that the plaintiff has filed his claim alleging actual fraud within the time frame" set by state law, Shaheed wrote in his order clearing the way for the case to proceed to trial.
Archdiocese spokesman Greg Otolski said Thursday that he had not seen Shaheed’s ruling and cannot comment on any pending litigation.
The lawsuit accuses the archdiocese of fraud, alleging that the church deceived members of an Indianapolis parish that Monroe was suited to minister to young boys.
The plaintiff, who’s now in his 40s, is identified in court documents only as John Doe. His lawsuit claims that he was 10 when Monroe began molesting him in 1977 at the now closed St. Catherine Parish in Indianapolis.
His attorney, Patrick Noaker, has argued that the archdiocese should be held liable for fraud for reassigning Monroe to different parishes after it learned of the molesting allegations against him. Monroe has been named in 13 cases that accuse him of molesting boys between 1974 and 1984 at a series of parishes in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and remote Perry County along the Ohio River.
David Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of those Abuse by Priests, said he is pleased with the ruling but that he wouldn’t be surprised if the archdiocese appeals.
"We’re grateful for the judge’s wisdom and compassion and for the survivor’s courage, and we think it’s shameful that church officials would try to exploit a technicality to evade their responsibility for an admitted predator," Clohessy said.
"We also hope that this ruling will encourage anyone who saw or suspected or suffered from Monroe’s crimes to come forward and get help and contact the police."
On Dec. 17, an attorney for the archdiocese acknowledged in court that Monroe "was a child molester and serial predator" of young boys who committed "heinous crimes against young boys."
Monroe, who has never been formally removed from the priesthood by the Vatican, has given a deposition in which he admitted lewd behavior or sex acts with at least five boys.

By MARCI HAMILTON
Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007

Recently, the National Review Board for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released the results of its five-year study evaluating how the hierarchy has handled clergy abuse since the public first learned of its scope and prevalence from the Boston Globe in 2002. The report is just what one would expect from any corporation undergoing a scandal; It details new programs, promises to do better in the future, and admits the problem is complex (which, translated, means that the Bishops have not put the problem behind them, not by a long shot).

As I read the report and reflected upon the last five years, I had very mixed feelings. On the one hand, every American (and even world citizen) should be grateful to Providence (as well as the Globe) for revealing the scope of child abuse and cover-up within the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church. We really did not know, let alone understand, the gravity and extent of the scourge of child sex abuse society-wide until we saw it entrenched in the one institution everyone had trusted - Catholic or not. This was the religious institution whose clergy every lawyer hoped would testify on their side, after all! The point could not have been made more clearly than by the scandal in the Church: Children are being sexually abused everywhere, and the ones not to trust are often the ones we trust the most.

There is another quite different lesson to be learned from the 2007 Bishops’ Report, too, however: The bishops are not a terribly important element in the solution to society-wide child sex abuse. Yes, they have instituted programs to protect children, but it was well-known long ago in the public sphere that such programs are crucial. And they have created their Victims Assistance Programs and appointed Directors. Though victims and their families have not found these programs terribly helpful or supportive, at least they exist. Yet, it simply does not matter what program the hierarchy creates for the victims it has generated. Why? Because its victims count for such a small number of child sex abuse victims overall. Even perfect care for all of its victims puts barely a dent in the larger problem.

(more…)