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

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

 

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

Thomas Teczar Is Convicted of Sexual Abuse March 7, 2007 Teczar was convicted of sexual assault and indecency and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for molesting and raping an 11-year-old boy in Texas. The conviction was made possible by the determination of David Lewcon (photo at left), a Teczar survivor from Massachusetts. The documents that emerged shed light on the diocesan traffic in accused priests. See an article on the Teczar conviction, a 1998 video report on Teczar’s Worcester victims, a series from Texas, and the Fort Worth documents.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

$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.

---

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.

---

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.

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 day, I went out on the Web, and I find that A.J. Cote is a youth minister at a Catholic parish in Rhode Island.”

Not the Whole Story

How could this happen?

Father Dominic Izzo, the current head of the Dominican Province, said in his videotaped deposition that he didn’t consider Brandon Rains’ allegation credible.

Anderson asked Izzo what would have made it credible. First, Izzo said, if Cote’s psychological evaluation indicated he was a pedophile. Second, he said, if the police had found concrete evidence of abuse.

“The investigation would have said that yes, this did happen on this date,” Izzo said. “That did not happen. And so we took the advice of professionals.” He said that he sent all the information they had about Cote to the Rhode Island Bishop’s independent review board, and when they did not ask for more information, he considered the matter closed. Izzo recommended Cote be allowed to serve in ministry in Rhode Island.

But Dennis Roberts, the former state attorney general and head of that review board, told NPR he didn’t get the whole story from the Dominicans.

“They didn’t exactly lie to us, but they didn’t tell us the whole truth,” Roberts said.

Roberts’ board gave the green light for Cote to begin ministry in Providence. He said after looking at materials NPR gathered for this story, he was floored by all that the Dominicans had omitted — files from Cote’s seminary days, complaints from Ohio and Peru, the attempts to unload Cote on different dioceses.

Roberts said that his review board had access to all local priests’ files. But with religious orders like the Dominicans, Roberts said, “we don’t have the full package. And therefore in dealing with an issue like Father Cote’s, we really do have to rely on the good faith and forthcoming nature of the disclosures made to us by the order. And here that was not very good.”

In the deposition, Anderson handed Izzo Exhibit 100, a letter dated July 26, 2005. It’s from Catherine Wolf, a teacher in Somerset, Ohio. Wolf wrote that she had just learned that Cote had repeatedly molested a student in the late 1980s. “I believe that Father A.J. is a danger to children,” she wrote, “and should not be allowed to associate with them in any capacity.”

Under the Dominicans’ own policies, they were supposed to report all credible allegations to the police. Anderson asked if Izzo did so.

“Did I supply this letter to the police?” Izzo asked? “No, I did not.”

When asked why not, Izzo said he didn’t recall. “We just didn’t submit it to the police,” he said.

Izzo said he did not consider that allegation credible because it did not come from the alleged victim. He didn’t inform Cote’s parish in Rhode Island, nor did he alert the review board.

Dennis Roberts said he wishes Izzo had.

“What we would have done at that point,” Roberts said, “taking that new information, is tell the father provincial [that] Father Cote was no longer welcome here at that point, [that] the man has to be removed from ministry.”

Cote was just about to attend a church youth retreat in November 2005 when Rains filed a civil suit against Cote and the Dominicans in Washington, D.C. The Dominicans pulled Cote from active ministry.

Four months ago, the Dominicans agreed to settle with Rains for $1.2 million. Based on evidence revealed in the lawsuit, prosecutors in Maryland have reopened a criminal investigation.

2006: Massachusetts

In May 2006 — smack in the middle of the Rains litigation — a woman filed a complaint with the police in Massachusetts.

She claimed that Father Cote had abused her two boys while babysitting. The Dominicans offered their sympathy, but they did not mention this new allegation in their sworn testimony in the Rains suit.

The boys at the time were 4 and 6.

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…)

November 14, 2007

Jim Cummins died 18 days before this week’s meeting of the U.S. Conference of Bishops. But if it’s possible to rage in heaven, then surely Jim is raging now at Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George.

Cardinal George, just elected president of the bishops’ conference, is a brilliant man who can be warm, thoughtful and funny. But he can also be dismissive, distant and icy, particularly when it comes to questions of the church’s accountability and transparency on the issue of sex abuse by clergy.

As the bishops met in Baltimore on Tuesday, Sun-Times religion reporter Susan Hogan/Albach broke the story of a letter the cardinal sent earlier this year to parents of a victim. While apologizing for "the terrible abuse" suffered by their now-adult son by two Chicago priests when he was a child, the cardinal combined his heartfelt apology with an equally heartfelt denunciation.

Money, the cardinal wrote, was behind proposed Illinois legislation that would waive the statute of limitations, allowing adults to come forward years after abuse occurred and sue their abusers. "This is irresponsible, is not about the safety of children as the sponsor claims and is clearly, to me at least, about money," George wrote.

(more…)