Posts for the ‘News of Interest’ Category
OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- Terrie Light stands outside Oakland’s stunning new modern cathedral in a first-of-its-kind garden that honors victims of clergy sexual abuse. She was abused by a priest at age 7.
For the first time, the Catholic Church has offered a garden that honors victims of clergy sex abuse.
"It’s a really small, important physical representation of a horrific thing that happened in many places," she told CNN.
She says the garden’s centerpiece, a symbolic low stone sculpture that’s broken, is fitting for those whose lives were shattered by priests. "The energy that the artist put was this circular stone trying to pull itself to become unbroken. That is our journey. That is what we try to do every day -- is to try to be unbroken."
The garden is placed near a wall of the Cathedral of Christ the Light, which was consecrated September 25.
Two low-curved benches bracket the sculpture, one facing toward the cathedral, the other facing away. The benches are surrounded by hedges.
The bench placement is deliberate and takes into account the feelings and needs of abuse victims.Those who choose not to face the cathedral end up facing a small lake across the street.
Father Paul Minnihan, the provost of the cathedral, says it was important to have the garden -- for the victims, and for the church to atone for the sins of its past.
"Part of the church’s mission is to make sure we bring healing to people who are in need of it, even if we were the cause of it," he says. "Having this garden on the campus says we are serious about our desire to help in your healing process on whatever level. As this cathedral will be around for 500 years, so will that garden as a place of healing and hope."
The Catholic Church was rocked earlier this decade by allegations of children being sexually abused by priests, with scores of victims filing lawsuits against their alleged abusers. The church was accused of covering up the abuse for decades by sending offending priests to other parishes.
The church wound up paying hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements. Some priests went to jail; others resigned. Pope Benedict XVI in July apologized to victims and called the abuse "evil."
At the garden’s dedication on October 11, Allen Vigneron, bishop of Oakland, once again offered the church’s apology. "To the hurts of so many innocents, we preferred the darkness to the light. And for that, I again make heartfelt apologies to all victim survivors. As it says on the plaques at the entries, ‘We remember and we affirm: never again.’"
Terrie Light, who has been a vocal advocate for abuse victims for many years, says getting the garden built was not an easy process. "We got silence, then we got passed around," she says.
She said Barbara Flannery, the former chancellor of the diocese who became the church’s point person on helping victims, advocated for the garden to the bishop.
"He thought it was a good idea. But it’s different from ‘It’s a good idea’ to ‘Here’s the people to meet with to make it happen,’" she says. "When we finally met with the architect, things really changed."
"He really understood what we were trying to accomplish and put together some architects to create this garden that he thought would give us what we wanted for a place for people to come and connect to their spirituality not inside the church."
Why outside?
"There are people that want to go into a church that cannot. It’s too painful, too emotionally traumatizing," she says. "There are other people that are ambivalent -- that want to be there and not want to be there. This gives them the option."
The garden is not what survivors had originally envisioned -- a lush, English garden with flowers and trees. But they are pleased with the outcome.
"It’s a very simple space," Light says.
Most victims of abuse in the Oakland area favored the garden; a few opposed it, feeling that it implied closure to a problem that still exists.
Minnihan says the church has sought "to bring back healing and wholeness and work with those who are survivors" since the scandal. The garden is emblematic of that.
"We wanted to have a place respectful for their needs and their wishes," he says.
Posted in News of Interest on Friday, October 31st, 2008 | No Comments »
America’s children desperately need your help. Most of us are unaware that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. Shockingly, 85 percent of these children are abused by someone they or their family knows and trusts.
Sadly, because of the ‘taboo’ nature along with trauma, fear, shame, misplaced loyalty and distrust associated with abuse, only ten percent of victims and survivors ever find the courage to report this crime.
Government statistics estimate that there are approximately 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today. As American taxpayers we spend more than $103 billion each year on costs associated with child abuse. These facts strongly support the reality that childhood sexual abuse has reached national epidemic proportions that affect each and every one of us.
The National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children is dedicated to ending childhood sexual abuse in three generations through awareness, education, and the advocacy of children’s rights through legal reform.
You can HELP ~ Donate Today!
http://www.trailblz.info/napsac/pages/donate.htm
Your generous gift will help NAPSAC ensure the success of its mission. NAPSAC believes that by 1) increasing awareness of the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse, by 2) educating parents and professionals on how to recognize, respond and report abuse, and by 3) advocating for laws that better protect our children and victim’s rights to pursue justice, NAPSAC and its supporters will help lead us toward a safer America for our children.
Click here to make your tax-deductible donation today
http://www.trailblz.info/napsac/pages/donate.htm
Join a NAPSAC Event Committee!
NAPSAC is actively recruiting committed individuals who are interested in being on the forefront of helping to ensure the success of the first-ever NAPSAC fundraising events planned for 2009/2010!
Our goal is to build a NAPSAC Event Committee for each of the following events proposed for 2009/2010:
* Survivor Art Social
* Dinner Gala
* Professional Networking Events
* Wine and Cigar Social
* Darkness to Light Preventathon
As a committee member you would be responsible for:
* Attending one meeting each month held for one hour
* Recruting additional committee members
* Soliciting businesses for sponsorships and silent auction items
* Helping to generate attendance by spreading the word about upcoming events
* Helping to spread awareness of NAPSAC and its mission
* Representing NAPSAC in a professional and respectful manner
* Attending your event to show your support
If you are interested in joining a NAPSAC event committee or if you have any questions or would like additional information, please email michele@napsac.us or call 651.340.0537.
Issue: 1
Book a NAPSAC nationally renowned professional speaker for your next corporate training or event!
Click here
Upcoming Trainings
Nov. 17-21, 2008 ~ ChildFirst: Interviewing Children and Preparing for Court
May 4-7, 2009 ~ When Words Matter: Emerging Issues in Forensic Interviewing
May 14-15, 2009 ~ Investigation and Prosecution of child abuse
May 21-22, 2009 ~ Investigation and Litigation of Civil Child Protection Cases
July 13-17, 2009 ~ Implementing CAST in your University
Find Out More Here
________________________________
Visit the NAPSAC National Child Protection Training Center
_______________________________
Want to know more about NAPSAC trainings and upcoming events?
National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children
366 Jackson Street, Lower Level, Saint Paul, MN 55101
Phone: 651.340.0537 | Fax: 651.340.1252 www.napsac.us
Posted in News of Interest on Friday, October 17th, 2008 | No Comments »
By Michael Paulson Globe Staff / September 8, 2008
The Illinois Supreme Court justice who headed a board chosen by the Catholic bishops to assist them with preventing clergy sexual abuse accuses one of the nation’s top Catholic prelates of dishonesty and sharply criticizes a second in Kerry Kennedy’s new book, “Being Catholic Now,” which is being released tomorrow.
RELATED COVERAGE
The two cardinals named by Justice Anne M. Burke, Francis E. George of Chicago and Edward M. Egan of New York, both issued statements to the Globe rejecting the criticism.
Burke, who was interim chair of the National Review Board for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops for two years, details the scope of her concern about the American bishops in an interview with Kennedy, a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, in her book.
She says the board “started having problems with individual cardinals and bishops who thought we were too aggressive,” and that “bishops got away with concealing crime,” and “just when you think these bishops are getting it, they turn around and do something that in any other enterprise would result in their own dismissal.”
She also alleges that, after Frank Keating, former governor of Oklahoma, was forced to resign as board chairman because he compared the bishops to the Mafia, the bishops declined to make her the permanent chairwoman because “there was no way they were going to appoint a woman to the position of chair.”
Burke’s strongest criticism is aimed at George, who is now the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. She says the cardinal withheld from her the fact that he was housing in his residence a priest accused of abuse in Delaware. She says she was “furious at his casual attitude” and that “the cardinal wasn’t honest with me. Perhaps he was not honest with himself.”
Asked by the Globe about Burke’s comment, George said in an e-mail that he allowed the Delaware priest to stay in his residence during a visit to Chicago, and that “to the best of my knowledge, I have been honest in every public and private statement I have made about the sexual abuse issue.”
“I stated publicly that there was no priest in ministry in Chicago who had against him a substantiated claim of sexual abuse of a minor,” he said. “That statement was true when I made it and it is true now.”
The priest from Delaware, he said, “was never in ministry here. He was someone I had known for several years who was coming to Chicago for a few days on business. At the time, I was unaware of all the details of his situation; but since, he let me know that a question had been raised about his past. I invited him to stay in my house rather than a parish when he came to Chicago while his own diocese was deciding whether or not he should be in ministry.”
Burke’s criticism of Egan is also pointed.
“Cardinal Edward Egan was offended by our insistence for independence,” she says. “I also think he was intimidated by the thoughts of fifty former FBI agents doing our questioning. His animosity reached an absurd level when he publicly uninvited us from attending the Cardinal’s Annual Gala in New York [an Order of Malta dinner].”
A spokesman for Egan, Joseph Zwilling, disputed Burke’s characterizations.
“The Cardinal never had or expressed an opinion on the matter of the so-called ‘dependence or independence’ of the Review Board,” Zwilling said.
“Throughout the process of audits in which former FBI agents were involved, the Archdiocese and the Cardinal Archbishop cooperated without hesitation. There was never any occasion for intimidation and at the last meeting the auditors were very complimentary regarding the Archdiocese and the Cardinal Archbishop.”
And, Zwilling said, “the Cardinal never invited the advisory board to the Order of Malta dinner, and therefore could not dis-invite them. When asked if they should be invited, he responded that in his opinion it would not be fitting because the Order of Malta had nothing to do with the sexual abuse crisis.”
Michael Paulson covers religion for the Globe. He blogs at boston.com/religion and can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.
Correction: Because of an editing error, a story on Page A8 yesterday omitted the full response of Cardinal Edward M. Egan to criticisms by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke, who served as chairman of the National Review Board, a panel appointed by the American bishops to review the sex abuse crisis. Egan’s spokesman said that the cardinal was fully cooperative with auditors who examined the New York archdiocese’s child protection measures, that the cardinal was not “intimidated” by the auditors, and that the cardinal had not disinvited board members from a gala dinner, but rather had expressed his opinion that “it would not be fitting” to invite them to the dinner, because the dinner was not related to the abuse crisis.
* * *
For immediate release: Monday, September 8, 2008
Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, national president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747)
Today’s Boston Globe discloses that a new book by an Illinois Supreme Court justice blasts Cardinal Francis George for letting a convicted Delaware child molester live part time in his mansion and work in the archdiocese.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/09/08/head_of_bishops_panel_criticizes_clerics/
In 2003, when the Chicago Sun Times disclosed the priest’s presence in Chicago, George initially claimed he didn’t know about Fr. Kenneth Martin’s past. Later, George’s spokesman split hairs, claiming the church’s sex abuse guidelines deal with only priests, and since Martin abused when he was a seminarian, the guidelines didn’t apply.
George’s secretive and reckless move happened in 2003, AFTER the US bishops supposedly committed to being “open and transparent” about clergy sex cases.
Sadly, however, the Martin case is just one of a long line of irresponsible, deceptive and insensitive steps taken by the Cardinal.
We hope every Chicago area Catholic and law enforcement official reads this book, or at least the sections relating to Cardinal George, and George’s recent deposition. We hope they will keep in mind that the author (Justice Anne Burke) is no church dissident or critic, but was deemed loyal and devout enough to be named to a national panel to oversee the church’s handling of sex abuse cases. And we hope they realize that the Martin case is part of a much larger, on-going, and disturbing pattern in the Chicago archdiocese.
– In March 2004, twice-suspended abusive priest Fr. John Calicott was caught working, living and teaching sex education to kids at his old parish, with the full knowledge of the pastor. George slapped Calicott on the hand, but refused to discipline or censure the pastor, Fr. George Miller, who knowingly put children in harm’s way and violated the US bishops’ national abuse policy.
– In February 2005, Fr. Michael T. Yakaitis worked at the University of Chicago’s Catholic Center, despite admitting sexual misconduct with a teenager years ago. A victim reported Yakaitis’ exploitation and manipulation to at least seven church officials. But George let the abuser stay in ministry until this was publicly exposed.
– In October 2005, George refused to discipline or warn others about Father Elijah Martin who seduced a young woman, fathered her child, ignored her, and refused to pay child support. Martin’s direct superiors also refused to give the mom any information about the priest’s whereabouts. George washed his hands of this controversy, despite repeated requests by our group to show compassion.
– In the fall of 2005, Fr. Daniel McCormack was arrested for child molestation. Weeks later, he was promoted to head a deanery, or region, of the archdiocese.
– In January 2006, McCormack was arrested again. He assaulted one 11 year old boy “on an almost daily basis” from Sept. 2005 until Jan. 2006. McCormack was kept in ministry for years despite several reports of child sexual abuse, including repeated written and verbal ones from a Catholic nun more than seven years ago to archdiocesan staff.
– We repeatedly urged Chicago Catholic officials to “aggressively and immediately” reach out to parishes where McCormack worked, and prodded George to personally visit those churches, emphatically reminding Catholics that they have a moral and civic duty to disclose anything they know about these allegations to law enforcement. He ignored us.
– For months awaiting trial, George let McCormack live with relatives, refusing to order him to stay in a treatment center for pedophiles.
– We were highly critical of that move, calling it ‘reckless’ and ‘irresponsible.’ We repeatedly urged George to reconsider. He ignored us.
– Five top church staff who were involved in the McCormack case have all essentially been promoted since then. Only one has been disciplined - the female school principal who actually called the police and reported McCormack’s crimes.
– Just last month, newly released secret church records and Cardinal George’s sworn deposition show that an accused serial predator priest, Fr. Joseph R. Bennett. Bennett was suspended from his suburban parish in 2006 only after at least a dozen of his victims had reported him to church authorities.
– Those same documents show that George overruled the recommendations of his own hand-picked abuse panel and had him alleged and secretly (but ineffectively) ‘monitored’ by a fellow priest (Fr. Leonard Dubi) who is a close friend of Bennett’s. The two of them own property together in Indiana. They then took a trip to Mexico together.
– George’s hand-picked abuse panel specifically, in two memos, urged George to NOT assign Dubi to this role. The Cardinal rejected their recommendation.
– The same deposition and documents also reveal that George and his top staffers spent considerable time and effort secretly trying to win the early release of a convicted serial child predator, Fr. Norbert Maday, who is in a Wisconsin prison.
– We suspect and fear there are or have been other jailed sex offender clerics who have gotten or are getting the Cardinal’s ‘behind the scenes’ help. We have asked George to stop it immediately, and to disclose if he’s taken similar reckless action with other pedophiles. He has ignored us.
–Last month, we publicly called on George to promise he’d never again try to get a convicted pedophile priest out of jail early. He has not responded.
– We fear other accused child-molesting clergy are in still Chicago parishes right now, unbeknownst to parishioners, allegedly being ‘monitored’ by peers. We’ve asked George to disclose who and where they are and/or abide by the church’s national abuse policy and publicly suspend them. He has ignored us.
In the same documents, Fr. Edward Grace, the archdiocese’s Vicar for Priests, urged Bennett to essentially lie about birthmarks on his genitals to ‘beat’ multiple child sex abuse allegations before a lay church panel.
– Yesterday, we asked George to discipline these ‘enablers’ - Dubi and Grace - whose deceit put kids in harm’s way.
The bottom line is that George continues to put his own reputation and comfort above the safety and well-being of his flock.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the nation’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 17 years and have more than 8,000 members across the country. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, 314-645-5915 home), Peter Isely (414-429-7259) Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688), Mark Serrano (703-727-4940)
Posted in News of Interest on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | No Comments »
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 08, 2008
PORTLAND – Mediation has been scheduled for a $15 million sex abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Church in Oregon after a judge refused to dismiss the case.
A woman who claims she was abused as a child in the mid-1960s filed the lawsuit against two Jesuit priests, James Poole and Frank Duffy.
Jesuits belong to the Province of the Society of Jesus, a religious order of the Catholic church.
Poole has been named in dozens of similar cases in Alaska, while Duffy was the target of several claims in the Archdiocese of Portland bankruptcy.
The archdiocese was the first Catholic diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy in July 2004 because it was facing millions of dollars in sex abuse lawsuits.
Posted in News of Interest on Monday, August 11th, 2008 | No Comments »
June 1, 2008
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
Dorothy Whiston was upset when she first learned in 2006 that her Roman Catholic diocese in Davenport, Iowa, was filing for bankruptcy.
The Midwestern diocese announced it was taking the step after concluding it lacked the funds to resolve a mounting number of lawsuits filed by dozens of victims of clergy sexual abuse, including one claim that a former bishop had molested boys.
"It was very painful," recalled Whiston, a regular attendee at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Iowa City, Iowa.
Today, a month after a federal judge approved a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Davenport diocese and the 105,000 parishioners it serves, Whiston sees things differently.
"I think it actually was a good experience," she said. "At the time, I was very skeptical, but we needed to enter into this process."
That process has resulted in profound changes for the Davenport diocese, which had already paid $10.7 million to 45 clergy sexual abuse victims prior to its decision to seek bankruptcy protection.
In order to pay out $37 million more in claims to an additional 162 priest sexual abuse victims, the diocese had to sell off a number of assets, including the site of its headquarters and the bishop’s residence. The bishop now lives in rental housing.
(more…)
Posted in In the News, News of Interest, Opinion & Commentary on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 | No Comments »
By DIANE SHEA
Bucks County Courier Times
In February of this year, the Bucks County Courier Times carried two articles about Dave Sicoli, former priest stationed at Immaculate Conception parish in Levittown. Sicoli was one of the many priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who had been named as a sexual predator in the grand jury report on the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
One article was written by Matt Coughlin, who reported that Sicoli had been defrocked by the Vatican.
This could only have happened if the evidence against Sicoli clearly and unambiguously found him guilty of the sexual abuses of which he had been accused. The second, by Ben Finley, brought attention to the fact that Sicoli has a home somewhere in Sea Isle, N.J., yet his neighbors have no access to knowledge about Sicoli’s past.
Both articles made reference to the statute of limitations as the reason for this dreadful reality. What seems to be apparent is the need to support legislation in Harrisburg (House Bill 1574), which has been in committee. But why the holdup? Why has this bill allowing for civil action against these predators not found unanimous support?
I suggest that the best answer can be found in a newly published book, “Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children,” written by Marci Hamilton and published by Cambridge University Press. A lawyer and constitutional expert, Hamilton tackles the issue head-on but in language that is clearly written and not full of unnecessary legalese.
She argues that the legal system has obstinately persisted in supporting sexual predators at the expense of victimized children. For Hamilton, the solution is simple. The statute of limitations for sexual offenses against children must be eliminated. But simple is not apparent, especially to those with a vested interest in keeping those victimized out of the courtroom.
According to Hamilton, many in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church have actively and successfully lobbied in numerous states to defeat legislation that even opens a window of opportunity for victims. Yet, she is not guilty of Church bashing. She acknowledges the role that the Church has played in this arena but points to the insurance lobbyists as the primary, albeit quieter, barrier.
So too have teacher unions, some defense attorneys, and finally the many of us who might fall into the category of uninformed public, been complicit in looking out for something or someone other than children who need a voice.
Of the many arguments that Hamilton proposes, one that I support wholeheartedly is those who have been sexually abused are not likely to report their abuse until adulthood and the rate of nondisclosure is estimated to be nearly 90 percent. In my own research I found that over 25 percent of those abused by a priest did not disclose until after that age of 49. Of those abused by someone other than a priest, 28 percent had not disclosed until the ages of 40-49.
The benefits of abolishing the statute of limitations seem obvious. I agree with Hamilton. We will have better knowledge of those among us who have abused children. More children will have greater protection. Finally, members of the clergy are by no means the primary perpetrators of sexual abuse. No organization is exempt and sexual abuse is most often committed by a family member. We must take a stand for the civil rights of our children.
As Hamilton documented, in California, where the statute “window” was enacted, only a small fraction of claims were found to be false and 300 new abusers (by some estimates) were identified. Surely this is worth the cost. Are we in Pennsylvania, like Californians, willing to take a stand in favor of our children? I encourage you to read Hamilton’s book and, more importantly, write a letter in support of House Bill 1574.
Diane Shea, Langhorne, is an adjunct professor at Holy Family University and is a former director of residential services for Elwyn, Inc.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/322-05032008-1528634.html
Posted in News of Interest on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 | No Comments »
Ten times more than medical treatment to U.S. victims
Legal Fees now total $200 million for the past four years
Also, number of never before reported clergy offenders in U. S. increases for first time
Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP National Board, Milwaukee
United States bishops paid a staggering $60 million dollars to their attorneys last year to defend themselves for covering up child sex crimes, according to a yearly “self-report” issued today. The total amount of money bishops have been billed by attorneys in the last four years now tops $200 million dollars.
In comparison, the bishops last year spent one tenth of that total, or about 8 million dollars, on therapy costs for victims. And $22 million dollars was spent on child protection efforts in 2007, or just one third of what church attorneys billed Catholic dioceses last year.
These figures were buried today in the annual self-report “audit” released by the American Catholic Bishops and they reveal very starkly exactly what the priorities are for the bishops: themselves.
Of equal concern, for the first time since self-reports were issued in 2004 the number of U.S. Catholic clergy with “new, credible” allegations of child sex abuse increased last year by ten percent. 204 newly identified clerics last year were reported to have committed child sex crimes in Catholic institutions across the United States. The number of clerics known by church authorities who have raped or sexually assaulted children over the past several decades totals, with the new numbers, over 5,000.
Sadly, on the eve of the Pope’s first visit to the United States, just a few months away:
-The identities and settlement locations of clerical sex offenders remain secret.
-56 U.S. religious orders refused last year to even participate in the self-report and are not in compliance with the Dallas Charter.
-Clergy are still not mandatory reporters of child sex abuse in the majority of U.S. states.
-No bishop or priest has yet to be disciplined or fired for not reporting child abuse or for covering up child sex crimes.
-Several lay review boards did not even meet in 2007.
-Church hired “auditors” who issued the report were again given no access to personal files, making it pretty hard to review criminal conduct.
-The quality, duration or nature of outreach to victims or treatment and supervision of offenders remains a mystery.
Admittedly, some information about child sex crimes from American bishops is better than none. But today’s self-report, like the ones issued in the past, raise a lot more questions than they answer.
Even so, when the Pope visits the United States this spring, will the American bishops insist that the partial reforms in the United States must be implemented across the globe?
There are 400,500 clergy in the Catholic Church worldwide. The American bishops have admitted that at least 4 percent of their clergy are or have been child sex offenders. That would mean, conservatively, some 20,000 priests worldwide are likely child molesters who are unpunished, untreated and unsupervised.
As for the United States, as long as federal or national authorities, such as the Department of Justice, no doubt out of political considerations, will not investigate how over 5,000 priest child molesters were transferred into virtually every parish and school in the United States, including across state and international boundaries, Catholics have little choice but to rely on these on these thin, compromised, and poorly constructed yearly reports.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is the nation’s oldest and largest self help organization of clergy sex abuse survivors, founded in 1980 with over, 7,000 victim/survivors in 61 chapters nationwide. Visit SNAP online at SNAPnetwork.org
Posted in News of Interest on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 | No Comments »
Important Events of 2007
presented by BishopAccountability.org
This page summarizes 19 important stories of 2007 with links to investigative reporting, documents, and streaming video. What lessons do you see, and what omens for the new year? Roll your mouse over the photos to view captions. Email us with comments, stories we should have included, and commentaries that moved and informed you in 2007. We’ll post your favorites next week.
| Hand of God | Gumbleton Resigns | Cleveland Financials | Teczar Convicted | CNN’s Tom Roberts | Maiello Verdict | Spokane Bankruptcy Ends | Few Portland Documents | Delaware Child Victims Act | Los Angeles Settles | San Diego Settles | Aguilar Documents | Giuliani and Placa | Jesuit McGuire Indicted | USCCB Elects George | Jesuits Settle Alaska Claims | Davenport Settles | Providence Files | Franciscan Newman Indicted |
Hand of God Shows Worldwide on NPR’s Frontline
January 16, 2007
The story of survivor Paul Cultrera and his family’s search for the truth about Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham. This award-winning film by Cultrera’s brother Joe shows how Birmingham abused boys in a tight-knit Italian community north of Boston, how Paul confronted Bishop John B. McCormack, and how Joe confronted Bishop Richard G. Lennon during the filming. View the video. See also our collection of documents and background for the movie, including statements by Paul Cultrera and archdiocesan documents.
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Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton Is Removed from His Parish
January 21, 2007
Gumbleton testified on 1/11/06 in favor of statute of limitations reform in Ohio, describing his own abuse by a priest when Gumbleton was a teenage seminarian. His resignation as auxiliary bishop of Detroit, tendered at age 75, was forthwith accepted, and on 1/21/07, Gumbleton was removed from St. Leo’s parish, where he was pastor. See a report with video of Gumbleton’s sermon on that day, and Cardinal Maida’s letter removing Gumbleton. See also Gumbleton’s 2006 testimony and an article about it.
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Financial Documents Begin to Emerge in the Cleveland Diocese
February 16, 2007
On 2/16/07, Joseph H. Smith, the former chief financial officer of the Cleveland diocese, claimed in a court filing that former Bishop Anthony M. Pilla wrote checks and bought furniture from off-the-books church accounts. Filings on 3/15/07 accused Rev. John J. Wright, chief accountant of the diocese and Smith’s boss, of participating in the scheme to enrich himself and his girlfriend. See filings by Smith and Anton Zgoznik, and our collection of documents and articles.
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Thomas Teczar Is Convicted of Sexual Abuse
March 7, 2007
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Sins of the Father Shown on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
March 19, 2007
Documentary about Michael Goles and Thomas Roberts, survivors of abuse by Rev. Jerome F. (Jeff) Toohey, Jr. See video 1 2 3 4 5 6 [total 47:24] with transcript and follow-up interview with Roberts on 3/20/07 1 2 [total 10:27]. See also Supporters Pray for Accused Priest, which is discussed in segment 4.
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Jury Awards Two Maiello Survivors $11.45M
May 18, 2007
A Long Island jury awarded $11.45 million in damages to a young man and woman who were repeatedly raped by a youth minister as teenagers starting in the late 1990s. The jury found that the diocese of Rockville Centre, St. Raphael’s church in East Meadow, and its pastor were negligent in hiring and retaining Matthew Maiello. Hear a statement by one of the survivors with other links and read about the role of Maiello’s pastor Rev. Thomas Heggarty. See also articles 1 2 3.
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Spokane Emerges from Bankruptcy Protection
May 31, 2007
The Spokane diocese emerged from bankruptcy protection 30 months after filing on 12/6/04. In the reorganization plan, $48M was distributed by mediation among 140 claimants. The settlement kept payouts, priests’ names, and diocesan documents confidential. During the bankruptcy, Bishop William S. Skylstad also served as president of the USCCB and was himself accused of sexual abuse. See articles on the end of bankruptcy, the filing, the settlement and payout plan, the secrecy, Skylstad’s USCCB post and allegation, and fundraising for the settlement.
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Few Documents Released in Portland Bankruptcy Settlement
June 6, 2007
As part of his successful bankruptcy strategy, Archbishop John G. Vlazny settled on 4/13/07 with 150 victims of sexual abuse for $75M. The highly touted release of documents stipulated by the settlement came to nearly nought on 6/6/07 when the archdiocese released a few hundred pages from its voluminous files, including only 32 pages from the huge personnel file of Rev. Maurice R. Grammond, accused of molesting at least 59. See the documents with links to articles. See also articles on the 7/6/04 bankruptcy filing, Grammond, and the settlement, and comments by Marci Hamilton and Mark Chopko. See in particular a very useful study of Portland abuse cases based on bankruptcy documents and a chronology and photo album of some participants.
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Delaware Child Victims Act Becomes Law
July 10, 2007
The act establishes a two-year moratorium on the statute of limitations in lawsuits for sex abuse. The law, whose chief sponsor was Senator Karen E. Peterson, passed unanimously in both houses of the General Assembly. It gives abuse victims until 7/10/2009 to seek damages, regardless of when the assaults occurred. This is the second such window in the nation – a one-year window took effect in California on 1/1/03, resulting in hundreds of survivors’ coming forward. See articles on the Delaware hearings, the bill’s passage and signing, and the first suit to be filed in the window. See also an article about the result of the legislation in California, and articles below about the settlements there.
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Los Angeles Archdiocese Settles with 508 Survivors for $660M
July 14, 2007
On the day that the first trial was to begin, Cardinal Mahony settled with 508 survivors, the last of about 570 total claims against 221 priests, brothers, lay teachers and other church employees, many of them made possible by the 2003 SOL window. The archdiocese had previously made settlements totaling $114M. The settlement promised the release of archdiocesan abuse files, but none were released in 2007. See articles on the settlement 12, survivors’ assessments 1 2, the commitment to release the documents, a photo album, an editorial in Commonweal, and Thomas Doyle’s response. See also earlier articles by Timothy Lytton and Mark Sargent on litigation and the crisis.
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San Diego Settlement Effectively Ends Bankruptcy Case
September 7, 2007
Judge Peter Lichtman apportioned $198.1M among 144 sexual-abuse plaintiffs, placing the specific amounts under seal. The awards effectively ended a troubled bankruptcy case that Bishop Robert H. Brom had filed on 2/27/07, as trials were set to begin. In closing the case on 11/1/07, bankruptcy judge Louise DeCarl Adler declared, “Chapter 11 is not supposed to be a vehicle, a method, to hammer down the claims of those abused.” See articles about the filing, the settlement, the awards, and the end of the bankruptcy. See also the filing itself, a list of diocesan properties, a two-part list of accused priests, a critique of the list, and a collection of bankruptcy documents.
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Mexican and Los Angeles Documents in Aguilar Case Are Released
September 11, 2007
SNAP released documents from Joaquín Aguilar Méndez’ suit against Rev. Nicolás Aguilar Rivera, who had been charged in 1988 of abusing 10 boys in Los Angeles. He allegedly raped the 12-year-old Aguilar Méndez in 1994, after he fled U.S. authorities and after Mexican bishops and civil authorities knew of the LA accusations. This suit alleges that Cardinal Mahony and Cardinal Rivera conspired to protect the priest. See the documents with other links, the lawsuit, and an article on the significance of the case in Mexico.
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Rudy Giuliani’s Shielding of Accused Priest Becomes Campaign Issue
October 23, 2007
Msgr. Alan Placa’s role in the Rockville Centre diocese’s abuse bureaucracy and the abuse allegations against him emerged in 2002 Newsday reporting and later in the 2/10/03 Suffolk County Grand Jury Report. Yet when Placa was suspended by Bishop Murphy on 6/13/02 after Richard Tollner’s allegation, Placa went to work for Giuliani Partners, and when Giuliani entered the presidential race, his protection of Placa became an issue. See Newsday 1 2 3 4 5, the Grand Jury report 6 7 (esp. p. 120), the NY Times 8, Newsday 9, Salon 10, Worcester Telegram & Gazette 11, and ABC 12.
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Prominent Jesuit Criminally Charged with Abusing Boy Abroad
November 1, 2007
Rev. Donald J. McGuire, S.J. was charged in federal court with the crime of transporting a male minor to Switzerland and Austria and sexually abusing the boy. Since the 1980s, McGuire was the spiritual director for Mother Teresa, her Missionaries of Charity, and many other groups. He would routinely abuse the boys who served without pay as his assistants. The Jesuits were told about McGuire’s abuse of boys on 11/28/69 and often thereafter but were unresponsive. See the criminal complaint in the federal case and an article about those charges. See also the earliest known complaint, a more recent one, and an NPR report on McGuire.
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Cardinal George Enables Abuse but Is Named USCCB President
November 13, 2007
Cardinal Francis E. George OMI, archbishop of Chicago, was elected president of the USCCB by the bishops, although four boys say they were sexually abused by Rev. Daniel McCormack after George learned of abuse allegations in early 9/05, and after the cardinal’s own review board had told him on 10/15/05 to remove McCormack. The priest was arrested on 1/20/06; he pled guilty without apology on 7/2/07 to abusing five boys and was sentenced to five years in prison. The archdiocese faced no sanctions, though it had violated the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. See NPR’s reportCardinal George’s letter, and articles on the 2005 allegation, McCormack’s past and sentencing, and George’s election.
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Jesuits Settle Claims by 110 Alaska Natives for $50M
November 16, 2007
This settlement resolved complaints against 12 priests, 2 deacons, and a brother, who sexually abused children in the remote native communities of northwestern Alaska. The victims alleged that their communities were used as dumping grounds, that Jesuit attitudes about native populations figured in the abuse, and that the Jesuits placed managerial conversations under the seal of the confessional to conceal their prior knowledge of the abuse. See articles about the communities and the Lundowski survivors with map and photos, Jesuit attitudes and the Poole survivors, Jesuit vs. native culture, the secrecy issue, the genesis and history of these cases, and the settlement with background and comments by survivors with photos.
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$37M Settlement with 156 Clears Davenport to Emerge from Bankruptcy
November 29, 2007
Davenport filed for bankruptcy on 10/10/06 – after a jury awarded Michl Uhde $1.5M for sexual abuse by Msgr. Thomas J. Feeney, once vicar general of the diocese, and just before Gould v. Bishop Lawrence D. Soens was scheduled to go to trial. A few days after he filed for bankruptcy, Bishop William E. Franklin’s resignation was accepted by the Vatican. Settlement monies will be apportioned in mediation, nonmonetary commitments have been made by Bishop Martin J. Amos, and a reorganization plan must be filed by 1/31/07. See articles and resources on the Uhde case and verdict, a statement of disputed facts in the lawsuit against Soens with affidavits, the Soens abuse cases 1 2, the bankruptcy filing with documents, the reaction of survivors 1 2, the settlement, and its financial implications.
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Abuse Files of Providence Diocese Are Scrutinized
December 2, 2007
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin began the year by claiming that it would be unduly burdensome to comply with a discovery request in a sexual abuse case. As many as 125 Providence priests had been accused of sexual misconduct, he said, and the files on these priests were perhaps 130,000 pages long. On 10/20/07, the Boston Globe showed that Tobin’s petition doubled the diocese’s previous count of accused priests in the John Jay report. Why the discrepancy? On 12/2/07, the Providence Journal used documents already public to demonstrate what waits in the still-secret Providence files. See Tobin’s petition, the Globe story with John Jay report, and the analysis in the Providence Journal.
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Franciscan Accused of Abuse Is Indicted for Stealing $900K
December 20, 2007
A Philadelphia grand jury indicted Rev. Charles Newman OFM on theft and forgery charges. Newman had been fired on 11/20/03 for "financial improprieties" as president of the largest archdiocesan high school in Philadelphia. On 6/16/04 Arthur Basilice III filed suit, accusing Newman of sexually abusing him and getting him hooked on drugs. Newman’s superior was accused of pressing the victim to take hush money. Basilice died on 11/30/06. See the indictment. See also articles on Newman’s resignation, the suit 1 2 3 4 with the archdiocese’s statement, and the indictment 1 2 3. See also a tribute to Arthur Baselice III.
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Posted in News of Interest on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 | No Comments »
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
All Things Considered, December 31, 2007 · When it comes to sexual abuse, the religious orders have flown under the radar.
About a third of all Catholic clerics serve in religious orders — they’re the Jesuits who teach high school or the Franciscans who serve the poor.
The sex abuse scandal that broke five years ago focused on parish priests and forced dioceses to push big reforms. But when it comes to religious orders, their reforms are voluntary, and the orders are not accountable to anyone. As a result, abuses may go undetected.
Reporting Only to Rome
Father Aaron Joseph Cote — known as A.J. — is a Dominican friar, part of a religious order founded nearly 800 years ago. As a Dominican, he was entrusted with preaching the Gospel and living a contemplative life — until two years ago, when he was sued for allegedly abusing a minor.
Cote’s case is unusual because, if news accounts are any measure, religious orders have escaped much of the scandal that engulfed the larger church.
In a deposition videotaped in August 2006, Cote looks grim as attorney Jeff Anderson questions him. Anderson represents a young man who accused Cote of sexually abusing him in 2001 and 2002.
Anderson: “Do you have a sexual attraction to post-pubescent adolescents?”
Cote: “I refuse to answer on the ground it may incriminate me.”
Anderson: “Do you know the word ‘pedophilia’?”
Cote: “I refuse to answer on the ground that it may incriminate me”
And so it went for the better part of an hour.
Patrick Wall, a former Benedictine monk, served for 12 years at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. In those years, he heard one confession after another of fellow Benedictine brothers who had abused children. Of 300 monks at St. John’s Abbey, 32 were “perpetrators against children,” Wall said.
Wall finally quit the priesthood in 1998 and began investigating clergy sex abuse for victims and their lawyers.
Wall found no shortage of work: He figures he has investigated two dozen religious orders, ranging from the Franciscans and Dominicans to the Marists and Salesians. Most recently, Wall turned his gaze on Jesuit missionaries sent from Oregon to Northwest Alaska. Last month, the Jesuits settled with more than 110 Eskimos for $50 million.
Wall and others believe the rate of abuse in the religious orders is higher than among the parish priests — although no one knows for certain because the orders are not required to submit their records to anyone in the United States. They report only to Rome. And they are not bound by the charter signed by the U.S. Bishops in 2002 that promised to stop protecting suspected abusers and report them to police.
Wall says abusers from the orders are easier to tuck away. A bishop in San Diego, for example, can transfer a problem priest only so many places. But religious orders are international, which Wall says is convenient.
“You get them out of the state. You avoid any kind of criminal liability because you get them out of the area, so that the statute of limitations can run,” he said. “But you keep them in the family so it just looks like, well, ‘The abbot assigned Father Dominic to St. Augustine’s in the Bahamas.’”
That is pretty much what happened to Father Cote for more than 20 years. Cote denies he has abused anyone, and neither he nor his attorney responded to requests for an interview. In fact, no Dominican official connected to this case would grant an interview — even after several requests over two months.
But videotaped depositions in Cote’s case serve as a rare window into the Dominicans’ world. The depositions reveal a system in which warning signs can go undetected or ignored, and a problem priest can find refuge in new assignments for years.
The First Red Flag
In October 1985, Cote, then a seminarian, led a youth retreat near Washington, D.C.
In a taped deposition last year, Anderson read an assessment from Cote’s file to Father Raymond Daley, who was the leader of the Dominicans in the 1980s. The assessment said that Cote paid too much attention to boys and that he stayed out all night and returned in the morning with a teenager named Will. It said he had two glasses of wine before the service, that his talk on sex discussed oral sex and that he bared his chest during his talk.
When asked if he had any recollection of the assessment, an elderly Daley answered softly, “I do not,” a refrain repeated by Dominican leaders throughout the depositions.
A year after the youth retreat, Cote was ordained and eventually sent to Somerset, Ohio, to oversee two small parishes. His secretary, Jill Sullivan, told NPR that the young cleric instantly captured the hearts of the children. But she soon began to wonder about the youth group he started.
“You never saw any girls,” Sullivan said. “There were only boys. And at a teen youth group, why wouldn’t you see any girls?”
Sullivan started hearing rumors about Cote’s relationship with the boys. And then one morning, she found some papers on her desk — Xeroxes made the night before on the copying machine.
“And I noticed they were of boys, their rear ends, their genitals, and I went to Father A.J. and said, ‘What is this?’ He wouldn’t look at me, and he said, ‘I’ll take care of this. It won’t happen again.’”
Parishioners began to complain about Cote’s conduct with children. According to two parents interviewed under oath, they worried that Cote held sleepovers for boys and might be serving them beer. The parents met with a senior priest in the area, who wrote of complaints to Dominican leaders in New York.
The Dominicans apparently received the letter but now say it is missing. Dominican leaders said under oath they never heard complaints of a sexual nature.
1989: Chimbote, Peru
In 1989, the Dominicans transferred Cote to one of their foreign missions, in Chimbote, Peru.
The pattern began again. Cote launched a youth group for teenage boys, and boys stayed over at the house that he shared with another priest. That priest testified that Cote hugged and kissed the boys with an intimacy that alarmed parents.
Cote favored one boy in particular, who stayed overnight in Cote’s room, the priest said.
The priest said under oath that he reported to the head Dominican in Peru four times. The Dominican leader in Peru — who is no longer alive — wrote the head office in New York that parishioners had witnessed “improper conduct on the part of Father Cote.” But, he added, these complaints were just “hearsay and rumor.”
Anderson, the attorney, asked Father Thomas Ertle, who was the Dominican leader at the time, why he didn’t take action. Ertle said he relied on his fellow friar’s word that nothing was amiss and on the word of Cote.
“He gave me no indication that there was anything immoral in his contact or association with them,” Ertle said of his conversation with Cote.
“And did you rely upon him in Cote’s representation that there was nothing immoral?” Anderson asked.
“Yes.”
Anderson doubts that leaders didn’t know of any sexual abuse or chose to “see no evil.”
“I took the depositions of every official, every provincial and every vice-provincial that presided over A.J. Cote,” Anderson said. “And each of them lied.”
Anderson says the Dominicans are a small order. There are only a few hundred in the U.S. It is a tight-knit spiritual family.
“They live in community, which means they live together, and they report to one another regularly,” Anderson said. “And there is no way that the reports made in Somerset, Ohio, in Chimbote, Peru, and elsewhere didn’t go to the leaders of the Dominican order.”
2000: Germantown, Md.
Soon after the complaints surfaced, Cote asked to leave Peru. Back in the U.S., he moved from one assignment to another for a decade. No allegations surfaced during this period. Then in 2000, Cote landed as a youth pastor at Mother Seton parish in Germantown, Md. There he met 14-year-old Brandon Rains.
Rains testified last year that his friendship with Cote began when Cote “took a special liking to me,” by waving or winking at him from the altar during the Mass.
And Cote eventually spent a lot of time with Rains after his parents learned the boy had begun using and selling marijuana in the ninth grade. Rains’ mother told NPR they felt the only refuge was his church youth group.
“He spent so much time with Father Cote,” she said, holding back tears. “He was like the one safe, positive person in his life that we would allow him to see. Not his friends. We thought that was the source of the trouble.”
She added: “I felt like I just handed him over.”
By midyear, Rains testified, Cote was taking him to a private apartment or hotels to watch pornography. He masturbated in the boy’s presence and persuaded Rains that he should do the same, Rains said.
Rains said Cote did this about 10 times and touched him once.
In August 2003, Rains confided in his parents about Cote’s behavior and filed a report with police in Maryland. His stepfather, Joe McMorrow, says he called the Dominicans, who assured him they would investigate.
“And then, months passed,” McMorrow said. “We had very little contact with the Dominicans; most of it we initiated.”
Something just didn’t seem right, McMorrow said. “One d |
