• Rev. Kuchar's trial raises questions of what officials knew. Post-Dispatch,
www.stltoday. com/stltoday/ news/Columnists. nsf/Bill+McClel lan/A262698592 628DF986256D DC001B0EF4? OpenDocument& Headline=Rev.+ Kuchar ; By Bill McClellan,
Nov 12 2003.
ST. LOUIS (MO): "Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville talked tough to the nation's Catholic bishops Monday, telling them they must reach out to the victims of sexual abuse." So began a story in this newspaper on Tuesday. Gregory is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
His remarks would seem to be merely the stating of the obvious. Reaching out to victims is a Christian thing to do. Furthermore, Gregory was not
talking about just any victims, but victims of the sexual abuse scandal
that has rocked the church. For years, it turns out, the church has looked
the other way when priests - a small minority of them, to be sure -
sexually abused children. Of course, the stewards of the church should
side with the victims. How could they side with the abusers?
Life is ever so complicated. What is a bishop to do, for instance, when one of his priests insists he has been falsely accused? And what is the
bishop to do if he later comes to believe that the priest is lying?
Those questions came to mind Friday when Bryan Kuchar was sentenced to three years in the county jail. A jury had convicted him on three of six counts of statutory sodomy. The crimes occurred while Kuchar was serving
as a priest at a parish in south St. Louis County. His victim was in the
eighth grade. The child was troubled, and his family was delighted that
the charismatic young priest had taken a personal interest in the boy.
(This is the first of the Poynteronline Abuse Tracker edition for Wednesday, November 12, 2003 .)
• Almost a fifth of Catholic dioceses won't give up their ways.
WASHINGTON (DC): Nearly one-fifth of Roman Catholic dioceses in the
United States have failed to respond to a survey on the extent of the
sexual molestation of minors by priests, a church-appointed monitor said
Tuesday, but she added that she was confident all would respond in time
for sweeping reports on the abuse crisis to be released on Feb. 27.
The nation's Catholic bishops, meeting in Washington this week, received
an update on the work of the National Review Board that they appointed 18
months ago to oversee efforts to overcome the abuse crisis.
An audit detailing the scope of the abuse from 1950 to 2002, including the
numbers of accused priests, the abuse accusations and the financial cost
to dioceses, had been expected next month, but some "foot-dragging" by
bishops, poor record keeping and the difficulty in surveying large
dioceses caused delays, said the monitor, Anne M. Burke, an Illinois
appellate judge who is the acting chairwoman of the board. But Justice
Burke said in an interview that she expected all of the nation's 195
dioceses to respond by Nov. 21.
"I really do think they're getting it," she said.
Some bishops had balked, causing the board's first chairman, Frank
Keating, the former governor of Oklahoma, to berate them and accuse them
of Mafia-like behavior before he resigned.
-- The New York Times,
"Dioceses Lag on Responses to Abuse Survey,"
(http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/12/national/12BISH.html?ex=1069218000&en=cb2b11ed02d550e7&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)
By Daniel J. Wakin, Nov. 11 03;
Published: November 12, 2003.
• Catholic bishops wary of oversight board report on sex abuse.
WASHINGTON (DC): The nation's Catholic bishops yesterday were warned that any
attempt to control the work of a review board appointed to oversee their
efforts to protect children from predatory priests would only diminish the
church's credibility.
"In adopting this posture, we hope we are not seen by you as hostile or
untrustworthy," said Cincinnati newspaper executive William Burleigh, a
member of the National Review Board. "Nothing could be further from the
truth. As a board we are united by our love for the church and a burning
desire to see that her wounds are healed."
The National Conference of Bishops is holding its annual fall meeting here
this week.
In January and February the National Review Board is slated to release
three reports that clearly make some bishops anxious. The first, due Jan.
6, explains how each diocese fared in an audit of its compliance with the
charter to protect children and youth that the bishops adopted in June
2002.
But the study that has the bishops most on edge is a survey by
criminologists at John Jay College of all known allegations of sexual
abuse of minors by priests in the past 50 years. Bishops have expressed
concern that false accusations would be lumped in with real ones, that no
distinction would be made between sex crimes and conduct that was
inappropriate but not illegal, and that the responses of 50 years ago
would be judged by the standards of today.
-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
(http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03316/238815.stm)
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick.
• Bishops to debate same-sex unions.
WASHINGTON (DC): The nation's Roman Catholic bishops will debate a document today that opposes same-sex unions and exhorts state governments to recognize only
marriages between men and women.
Also, America's 65 million Catholics will experience more pain and
embarrassment in coming months when a flood of details is released about a
clergy sex-abuse crisis that has engulfed the denomination, the president
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said yesterday. ...
The USCCB also will hear an update from the National Review Board, a
lay watchdog panel that was appointed last year to monitor the progress
that dioceses are making toward protecting children in the wake of the
clergy sex-abuse scandal.
"It will be hard for people to hear the aggregate numbers [about
abuse] over the past 50 years," said the Most Rev. Wilton Gregory,
president of the USCCB. "It will add some more pain to an already painful
moment in the history of our church."
Gathering at the Hyatt Regency in the District for their annual policy
meeting, 296 bishops spent more than two hours in executive session about
the denomination's multimillion-dollar investigation into the crisis.
-- Washington Times,
(http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031111-114855-2977r.htm)
By Julia Duin, Nov 11 03
• Catholic leader says corner turned, but 13 suspects still on staff.
WASHINGTON (DC): The president of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops said yesterday the group has "turned the corner" on the scandal of sexual abuse by priests,
but a victims group said it has found at least 13 alleged abusers who were
kept in ministry by bishops in 2003.
Leaders of the 4,600-member Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [SNAP]
issued a list of the 13 "known or suspected abusers" at a sidewalk news
conference outside the Capitol Hill hotel where the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops was holding its semiannual meeting.
Inside, the conference's president, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of
Belleville, Ill., and other officials gave an upbeat assessment of how
well the bishops are fulfilling the "zero tolerance" policy they adopted
at a landmark meeting 18 months ago in Dallas.
"Turning the corner does not mean we've crossed the finish line," Gregory
told reporters. "But we've certainly made significant progress. That's
simply true."
Anne M. Burke, an Illinois judge who chairs a 12-member National Review
Board of lay Catholics overseeing the church's response to the scandal,
praised the bishops for cooperating with a study to determine how many
priests have committed sexual abuse over the past 50 years, the age and
gender of their victims, and how much money the church has spent on legal
fees, settlements and psychological counseling.
-- Washington Post,
"Bishops 'Turned the Corner' on Scandal, Leader Says,"
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28064-2003Nov11.html)
By Alan Cooperman,
Wednesday, November 12, 2003; Page A02.
• Pittsburgh priest urges Vatican to make priestly celibacy optional.
WASHINGTON (DC): A priest from Pittsburgh was among those who came here to
urge the nation's Catholic bishops to press the Vatican to make priestly
celibacy optional, not mandatory.
The liberal reform groups Call To Action [CTA] and FutureChurch collected 7,000
signatures and reported that about 500 came from the Pittsburgh Diocese.
The groups said they were not responding to the sexual abuse crisis but to
a growing national shortage of priests.
"Our campaign is young in Pittsburgh," said the Rev. Jack O'Malley,
chaplain to the state AFL-CIO. "We hope to get 5,000."
Although not assigned to any parish, he often fills in and recently asked
several hundred parishioners whether they would be open to a discussion on
optional celibacy, he said, stressing that celibacy is valuable for some
people.
"Only about five or six said they would be absolutely against it,"
O'Malley said.
-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
(http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03316/238613.stm)
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick.
• Bishops tackle clergy abuse.
WASHINGTON, DC (KRT): Roman Catholic bishops are debating issues from world
peace to world agriculture this week, but overshadowing those and every
other topic is sex.
At the four-day meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops here,
church leaders heard an update on the ongoing investigation of the sexual
abuse scandal in the priesthood that scandalized the church. They also may
issue guidelines condemning same-sex unions for gay couples, an
increasingly divisive political issue.
Both topics aroused spirited discussion Tuesday among the bishops, meeting
in a basement conference room of a Capitol Hill hotel, and inspired
protesters from several interest groups, who held vigils outside the hotel
and unobtrusively distributed information in the lobby.
In the aftermath of the widespread sexual abuse scandal, the bishops'
conference in 2002 promised a rigorous self-examination, including the
creation of a national review board of lay people to monitor efforts to
prevent abuse and protect children.
"We're not at the finish line yet, but we've certainly made significant
progress," said Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the bishops
conference. "Our people are beginning to understand our bishops are
serious about this."
-- Centre Daily Times,
"Bishops tackle clergy abuse,"
(http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/7238781.htm)
By Matt Stearns, Knight Ridder Newspapers.
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter)
• Reno priest named in lawsuit claiming past sexual abuse.
RENO (NV): A Catholic priest in Reno has been named in a lawsuit claiming
inappropriate sexual behavior with a teenager while working at a school in
San Diego, an allegation he has denied.
The Rev. Robert Buchanan, the recently retired presiding priest at Our
Lady of Snows Church, is accused of touching a 14-year-old student in 1972
while he was a counselor at the Roman Catholic high school in San Diego.
The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in San Diego by an unnamed
45-year-old woman, claims that Buchanan "would touch her body and rub his
body up against hers" when she visited his office for academic counseling.
The woman's lawyer, Irwin Zalkin, said the priest also fondled the girl
over her clothing.
The suit seeks unspecified damages from the Diocese of San Diego, the
boarding school where the woman lived and the high school.
Buchanan, who is with the diocese of San Bernardino but has been a resident priest in Reno, denied any inappropriate behavior.
"That would be a hug," Buchanan said of the description of the abuse alleged in the lawsuit. "I have declared my innocence. But there's nothing to declare because there's nothing dealing with sexual misconduct in the suit."
-- Reno Gazette-Journal,
www.rgj.com ,
by Martha Bellisle, Nov 12 2003.
• Abuse victims hope for reversal.
NEW JERSEY: John Hardwicke did not stand out as the best alto singer at the American
Boychoir School back in 1970.
Nor does he set himself apart now with his accounts of sexual molestation
at the Princeton Township school some 33 years later.
"It started out as touching on the shoulder, and then it just progressed
from there to be more and more," Hardwicke said yesterday during a
telephone interview. "It was all the time."
The Maryland resident filed a lawsuit against the prestigious music school
in 2001. Soon thereafter, dozens of former students came forward to report
abuse by school employees, and a class-action lawsuit was filed a year
later.
But a Superior Court judge put a stop to the cases early this year when he
ruled the school was not liable for damages under the state's "Charitable
Immunity Act," which protects certain nonprofit groups against negligence
claims. ...
It also will have massive ramifications for nonprofit institutions like
the Catholic Church, which are largely protected from civil lawsuits
related to sexual abuse claims under the immunity law.
-- The Times,
(http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1068631520120236.xml)
By Karen Ayres.
• Lawsuit seeks payment of priest abuse claims by parish churches.
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP): Eighteen men seeking $69 million from the Roman
Catholic diocese for Eastern Oregon over allegations of sexual abuse by a
priest have filed a new lawsuit that extends their claims to the 62
individual churches in the region.
Filed Friday in Klamath County Circuit Court in Klamath Falls, the new
lawsuit was brought after a Deschutes County circuit judge in Bend allowed
Bishop Robert Vasa to transfer assets held by the diocese to individual
churches before the sexual abuse claims are resolved. The Diocese of Baker
is headquartered in Bend, which is also where the original lawsuit was
filed,
The new action alleges Vasa and the individual churches acted fraudulently
and illegally when he created new corporations covering the churches, then
transferred to them assets such as church buildings and lands estimated at
more than $19 million. The new suit charges that such an action left the
diocese without significant assets to cover damages sought in the priest
abuse lawsuit.
-- OregonLive.com ,
(http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1068602942269990.xml)
By Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press, Tuesday, November 11, 2003
• Lawsuit against Catholic parishes shifts strategy.
OREGON: A group of men claiming they were sexually abused by a Catholic priest who
served in Klamath Falls about 40 years ago has shifted its legal strategy
under a new lawsuit filed last week in Klamath County Circuit Court.
The suit seeking $65 million in damages names as defendants the Catholic
Diocese of Baker and 34 individual parishes within the diocese that covers
most of Eastern Oregon. A similar suit filed nearly two years ago in Bend
targeted only the diocese.
David Slader, attorney for the plaintiffs, said the new lawsuit is in
response to the church's decision last year to transfer assets from the
Bend-based diocese to the parishes.
The men, who are identified only by their initials in the suit, claim they
were molested by Father David Hazen, who served at St. Pius X in Klamath
Falls from 1960 to 1966. Hazen, who served at various other parishes in
the region, died in 1986.
Most of the molestations occurred in Klamath Falls when the men were altar
boys at St. Pius, the suit claims.
Greg Lynch, an attorney for the diocese, said the decision to transfer
assets to individual parishes was not related to the lawsuit.
The first sexual abuse case was filed by Slader in December 2001.
Lynch said Bishop Robert Francis Vasa arrived at the Baker Diocese in June
2000, and began preparing to have each parish become independently
operated.
-- Herald and News,
(http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/11/11/news/top_stories/top04.txt)
By Brian Cole, Nov 11 03
• Attempt to remove assets from power of law won't succeed, but makes lawyers do extra paperwork.
OREGON: November 11: A Portland attorney for 18 alleged clergy sex abuse victims
has filed suit in Klamath County against the Bend-based Catholic Diocese
of Baker and more than 60 churches in Central and Eastern Oregon. It seeks
to reverse the bishop's allegedly fraudulent transfer of assets to those
parishes, or hold them liable for potential trial damages.
The Most Rev. Robert Vasa, bishop of the Diocese of Baker, confirmed
recently to Bend.com/the Bend Bugle that he had
signed the paperwork transfering the assets to dozens of churches across
the diocese several months ago, "shortly after the decision" in May by a
Deschutes County Circuit Court judge that he could proceed.
"I had already had all of the titles of the property and the warranty
deeds prepared," Vasa said last month. "They just needed a date and a
signature."
After a May 14 hearing, at which the bishop testified, Circuit Judge
Michael Adler lifted a temporary restraining order he had issued in
February that had barred the diocese from transfering millions of dollars
in property and assets to its 60 parishes and missions.
-- Bend.com , "Alleged victims sue churches to kill asset move,"
(http://bend.com/news/ar_view%5E3Far_id%5E3D12383.htm)
By Barney Lerten, Reference Code: AR-12383, Tuesday, November 11, 2003
• US Bishops: Church May Target "Disobedient" Catholic Politicians.
WASHINGTON (DC): Prompted by pressure from the Vatican, the US Conference of Catholic
Bishops (USCCB) is considering imposing sanctions against Catholic
politicians who fail to adhere to Catholic teachings. On the opening day
of the Conference's four-day meeting in Washington, Bishop John Ricard of
Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida told fellow attendees, "Some Catholic
politicians defy church teaching in their advocacy and legislative
votes-first and most fundamentally on the defense of unborn life, but also
on the use of the death penalty, questions of war and peace, the role of
marriage and family..., " the Boston Globe reported. Ricard called on new
guidelines containing disciplinary measures, including banning awry
politicians from speaking at Catholic events and excommunication. Bishop
Fabian W. Bruskewitch of Nebraska agreed in reprimanding wayward elected
officials. "It's a constant source of scandal that the most prominent
proabortion people are Catholics... who seem to go unreproved," he said,
according to the Globe.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church continues to struggle amidst the ongoing
priest sex abuse scandal. The bishops yesterday approved $265,000 to
add additional employees to the Office for Child and Youth Protection,
operated under Kathleen McChesney.
The Office has already spent
$700,000 of $3 million allotted for the next two years, according to the
Washington Times. Earlier this month, Illinois appellate judge Anne Burke,
interim chair of the lay Catholics panel the National Review Board, said
over three-quarters of US dioceses and other church units have responded
to the Board's survey on sexual abuse. The final report evaluating
bishops' compliance to the sex abuse policies will be released in
February, according to the Associated Press.
-- Feminist Majority Foundation,
(http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=8159)
• Bishops won't discuss celibacy, marriage in priesthood.
WASHINGTON, DC (KRT) : Three months ago, 163 Catholic priests from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee touched an ecclesiastical nerve by calling for a discussion of celibacy and of marriage in the priesthood.
Soon, priests from Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston and elsewhere joined the call, as have thousands of lay Catholics.
But U.S. bishops, holding their fall meeting this week, say the matter isn't on the table.
Instead, they said, they'll focus on "more pressing issues" - devotional prayers, Catholicism in Africa and their disgust with same-sex unions.
"Society needs the witness of (priestly) celibacy now more than ever," Dallas Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante said Tuesday. "Rushing headlong into totally changing the church's teaching wouldn't be constructive."
-- Sun Herald,
(http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7238061.htm)
By Susan Hogan/Albach, The Dallas Morning News.
• U.S. bishops look to revise abuse policy.
WASHINGTON, DC (KRT): The nation's Catholic bishops talked behind the
scenes Tuesday about scaling back their strict policies to combat sexual
abuse by priests even as they braced for the day, coming soon, when the
full scope of the scandal will be publicly revealed.
Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida said bishops likely will revise their strict,
zero-tolerance policy, mainly because it defines an incident of sexual
abuse so broadly that a priest could be barred from ministry for brief
contact with a minor decades ago.
Maida said he didn't know how such a policy change, to be formally
discussed at the November 2004 bishops conference, would impact some of
the 19 priests from the Archdiocese of Detroit who were barred from
publicly working as priests since the scandal broke open early last year.
"We have to learn from our experiences. We may find the charter was a
little harder than it should be on that issue," said Maida, about the
one-strike-and-out policy, referred to as the charter, which has resulted
in hundreds of priests nationwide being barred from ministry.
-- Sun Herald,
(http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7238306.htm)
By David Crumm and Patricia Montemurri,
Knight Ridder Newspapers.
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter)
//////////////////// End of www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Wednesday, November 12, 2003
########## Poynteronline Abuse Tracker, www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46,
Thursday, November 13, 2003 edition follows:- • Diocese gains national commendation for hiring clergy monitor.
SPRINGFIELD (MA): The Diocese of Springfield has gained a commendation from a
team of independent auditors for its recent decision to hire a
professional clergy monitor.
The commendation came during the recent audit of the diocese's compliance
with national misconduct policies conducted by the Gavin Group, a
consulting firm founded by former FBI agents, said Springfield Bishop
Thomas L. Dupré.
During a Nov. 6 press conference called to unveil new sexual misconduct
procedures in the diocese, Bishop Dupré announced that he has hired Deacon
William R.Toller, the assistant superintendent of human services at the
Hampden County Correctional Center at Stonybrook in Ludlow, as a part-time
monitor of priests accused or found guilty of sexual misconduct.
Deacon Toller, who performs his pastoral ministry at Holy Cross Parish in
Springfield, has been an employee of the Hampden County Sheriff's
Department for 27 years. He told The Catholic Observer that he has long
worked "with offenders of all types, not only to face what they have done,
but also to begin to put their lives together."
-- iobserve ,
(http://www.iobserve.org/rn1111b.html)
By Father Bill Pomerleau, Observer staff
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter Abuse Tracker)
• In spotlight, Capuchins set model for reform.
ROME: Although Franciscans abhor celebrity, if there were a Billboard chart for
religious communities in the Catholic church these days, the Capuchins
might well be slugged with a bullet -- meaning a hit that's moving up
fast.
Their surprising new high profile coincides with some deep soul-searching
in the order about fraternity, poverty and power, and what they're
discovering could thus exercise a wide influence in the Catholic church.
The fourth-largest men's religious community has long moved in the shadows
of its older and larger Franciscan cousin, the Order of Friars Minor. Now,
however, Capuchin bishops head two of the premiere archdioceses in the
United States, Boston and Denver, bringing the total of Capuchin bishops
in the world to a robust 85. The order has reversed a 30-year downward
trend in membership, with strong new growth in Asia, Africa and Eastern
Europe. The legendary Capuchin miracle worker and stigmatic Padre Pio was
canonized last year in perhaps the largest ceremony, and certainly the
most boisterous, ever staged in St. Peter's Square.
No doubt about it: The Capuchins are hot.
-- National Catholic Reporter, (http://natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives2/2003d/111403/111403i.htm)
By John L. Allen Jr., Rome.
• 1500 Voice of the Faithful attend conference; 'systemic dysfunction'.
NEW YORK: They came to the conference 1,500 strong from 14 states, but mostly from
the tri-state region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Voice of the Faithful [VOTF], the lay-led, church-reform organization born in the
wake of the Boston sex abuse scandal, sponsored the Oct. 25 event at the Rose
Hill Campus of Jesuit-run Fordham University in the Bronx. Titled "Being
Catholic in the 21st Century: Crisis, Challenge and Opportunity, " it was
a full day of dialogue, reflection and strategic planning for the future.
The conference featured dozens of speakers -- survivors, their advocates,
lawyers, clergy, psychologists, journalists, theologians and academics --
all of whom called for transparency and accountability, openness and truth
telling as ways to rebuild the church.
Svea Fraser, a founding member of Voice of the Faithful, traveled from
Boston to attend. "Any time a group of people devotes an entire day to
listening, discussion, praying and inveighing, the hope we carry for a
renewed church is rekindled," she said.
"The sexual abuse and the subsequent cover-up is symptomatic of much
deeper issues. It is not about treating the symptom only. The crisis is
one of systemic dysfunction and demands the persistence of those who will
accept nothing less than structural reform and greater lay involvement,"
Fraser said.
-- National Catholic Reporter, "Voice conference calls church to accountability, openness,"
(http://natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives2/2003d/111403/111403d.htm)
By Chuck Colbert, Bronx, N.Y., Nov 14 03
• 25% of clergy in sexual misconduct.
CANADA: Sexuality issues are engaging the American churches in general and the
Catholic Church in particular in unprecedented soul-searching. Each of the
following three books presents a mature response to the crisis in its
assessment of human sexuality and ministry.
"(Sex) is not a problem to be fixed," says G. Lloyd Rediger. "Organized
religion needs to be fixed."
The crisis is serious. Twenty years ago when the first clergy scandals
made headline news many wondered whether this issue was pervasive or
simply a case of a few abnormal priests, ministers and rabbis. Now we know
that 25 per cent of clergy were or are currently involved in sexual
misconduct of some sort.
The issue is more pervasive than pedophilia. The search is on for the
causative factors and a way to explain why leaders in all religious
communities, both male and female, violate moral standards in significant
numbers.
Rediger, a respected Presbyterian Church (USA) pastoral counsellor,
workshop-leader, speaker and writer offers a wise book, Beyond the
Scandals. He describes how the ecumenical Church can move beyond sexual
notoriety to healing and health.
-- Western Catholic Reporter,
"Sexuality issues spur church soul-searching,"
(http://www.wcr.ab.ca/columns/reviews/wayneholst/2003/wayneholst111703.shtml)
Review by Wayne Holst,
Special to the WCR.
• Priest honored by victims' group.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: An East Longmeadow, Mass., priest is one of six Roman
Catholic priests who were honored yesterday for their work on behalf of
clergy sexual abuse victims by a national organization that provides
support to victims.
The Rev. James J. Scahill, pastor of St. Michael's Parish, was honored in
a brief ceremony by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
(SNAP) outside the site of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference here.
David Clohessy, national director of the network, said Scahill and the
five others were recognized by clergy sexual abuse victims to bring
attention to their work and urge U.S. bishops to reform their policies
regarding abuse.
Scahill is on retreat this week and didn't attend the ceremony. However, a
tribute to him and the other five priests will be posted on the network's
Web site.
"I would have been very honored to have been present among the victims in
Washington," said Scahill, who was reached in Pennsylvania.
-- The Republican,
(http://www.masslive.com/news/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1068713154174630.xml)
By Bill Zajac, wzajac@repub.com .
• Ex-minister sentenced in robberies [CURRENT].
WORCESTER (MA): A 32-year-old city man who pleaded guilty in September to a
series of drugstore robberies was sentenced to state prison yesterday.
Michael E. Rocheleau, of 37 Ekman St. was sentenced in Worcester Superior
Court to 3 to 5 years in state prison with 10 years of probation to follow
after pleading guilty Sept. 25 to four counts of armed robbery and one
count of armed assault with intent to rob.
Mr. Rocheleau, who previously served as a minister at a church in North
Carolina, was arrested May 1 after admitting to police that he walked into
the Walgreens pharmacy at 320 Park Ave. earlier that day, handed the
pharmacist a note saying he had a bomb and demanded the drugs Xanax and
Klonopin.
Mr. Rocheleau also admitted to investigators that he committed four
earlier drugstore robberies, three in Worcester and one in Shrewsbury. The
confession came after police received information indicating it may have
been Mr. Rocheleau who committed the attempted robbery at Walgreens and
officers went to his home to question him.
-- Telegram & Gazette,
(http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031113/NEWS/311130393/1008/NEWSLETTERS02)
by Gary V. Murray, Nov 13 03
• Priest quizzed in slaying resigns.
WOODS HOLE (MA): The Rev. Bernard Kelly, a priest tangled in a murder investigation, will resign his Woods Hole post.
Fall River Bishop George Coleman removed Kelly, 70, from St. Joseph Parish
last month as the district attorney questioned Kelly about the suspect in
the murder of Jonathan Wessner, 20, of Falmouth.
Kelly befriended and employed Paul Nolin, 39, a convicted child rapist now
accused of the Sept. 20 kidnapping and murder of Wessner.
A judge required Kelly to testify before a grand jury sitting in
Barnstable last week. Jury proceedings are secret, but Kelly's attorney,
Francis O'Boy, said Kelly passed a polygraph test that indicated he knew
nothing about Wessner's death.
Kelly could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Word of Kelly's resignation, effective next Wednesday, circulated quietly
in The Anchor, the weekly newspaper published by the Fall River Diocese.
-- Cape Cod Times,
(http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/priestquizzed13.htm)
By Amanda Lehmert.
• Former student pursues charges [1984].
BELLEVILLE (IL): A former student at St. Mary's Catholic School in Belleville filed a
lawsuit Wednesday alleging he was sexually abused in 1984 by now-retired
Rev. Kenneth Roberts, author of the autobiography "From Playboy to
Priest."
The 32-year-old man, who filed the case anonymously as "John Doe A,"
claimed in the lawsuit that Roberts, 73, sexually abused him in the
rectory of St. Mary's Catholic Church. The man, then 13, said he was
interested in joining the priesthood and sought Roberts' counsel.
"Imagine my horror when he took my admiration and used it to manipulate
me," the anonymous man said in a statement provided by his attorney. "By
preying on my trust and innocence, Fr. Ken Roberts changed my life forever
that day when he sexually molested me."
The lawsuit, filed in St. Clair County court, asks for more than $50,000
in monetary and punitive damages. Too much time has passed for criminal
charges to be filed, but because the man didn't fully realize the extent
of the psychological damage caused by the abuse until recently, a civil
case is still possible.
At the time, Roberts was spending a week at St. Mary's, 1722 W. Main St.,
celebrating daily Mass and speaking on various religious topics. It was
after Roberts' lecture on sex education that the alleged victim approached
Roberts about his desire to join the priesthood.
-- Belleville News-Democrat,
(http://www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/7248444.htm)
• Bishops condemn same-sex unions.
WASHINGTON (DC): The Catholic bishops of the United States voted
overwhelmingly yesterday to oppose any form of public approval for
homosexual activity, criticized the decision by the Episcopal Church USA
to ordain an openly gay bishop, and decided to launch a public campaign to
convince Catholics of the wrongfulness of contraception.
Despite predictions by some that church officials would be less inclined
to speak out on sexual morality after the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the
bishops conference is now preparing so many statements addressing various
sexual practices that one bishop suggested that some subcommittees
consolidate their work to reduce the number of documents being produced.
"St. Paul told us that we have to proclaim the message in season and out
of season," said Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, the president of the US
Conference of Catholic Bishops, when asked about the potential awkwardness
of issuing pronouncements on sexual morality while being criticized for
failing to prevent sexual abuse. "It is clearly out of season, in the
minds of some people, that the Catholic Church talk about anything."
But Gregory said the church has an obligation to continue to preach its
understanding of God's will on matters such as sexual behavior.
-- Boston Globe, (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/11/13/bishops_condemn_same_sex_unions/)
By Michael Paulson, Nov 13 2003
• Reno priest accused in California lawsuit.
RENO (NV) (AP) :A Reno priest has been named in civil lawsuit that alleges inappropriate
behavior with a girl 31 years ago in San Diego.
The Rev. Robert Buchanan, recently retired as presiding priest at Our Lady
of Snows Church in Reno, denies the allegations, the Reno Gazette-Journal
reported Wednesday.
The civil lawsuit, filed Oct. 14 in California Superior Court by an
unnamed 45-year-old woman, accuses Buchanan of inappropriately touching
her in 1972 when she was a 14-year-old student at a Roman Catholic high
school.
The suit seeks unspecified damages from the Diocese of San Diego, the
boarding school where the woman lived and the high school.
Buchanan is with the diocese of San Bernardino but has been a resident
priest in Reno.
-- San Francisco Chronicle,
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/12/state1101EST0032.DTL)
• Out after 4 1/2 years gaol for molesting more than 40 children.
TEXAS: We have an exclusive story tonight out of Henderson. A former teacher and
pastor, who admitted to molesting more than 40 children, is free, after
serving only four years in jail. Fifty-seven-year-old Kenneth Ward is now
at a Dallas halfway house. The mother of one victim says she'll fight to
change the law against pedophiles.
Stephanie Burt's idea of security was shattered when she learned what
Kenneth Eugene Ward had done to her son, Tommy, when he was only seven
years old. In a signed confession, Ward admitted to molesting Tommy for
about three years. There were similar acts with dozens of other boys. Most
of those parents, like Stephanie, didn't find out about the abuse until
more than a decade after the fact.
"He started shouting at me that I didn't understand, that my best friend's
brother had molested, had hurt him," said Stephanie Burt, as she sat at
her kitchen counter in a house she is moving away from, to try to forget
the bad memories.
-- KLTV, "KLTV EXCLUSIVE: Former Preacher/Child Molester Released,"
(http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1522737)
• Archdiocese leery of grand jury.
CINCINNATI (OH): Church lawyers on Wednesday questioned whether Hamilton County prosecutors could select a fair and impartial grand jury to investigate how the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati handled sexual abuse cases.
The lawyers asked Common Pleas Judge Steven Martin to review transcripts
of the grand jury selection process for any improprieties.
The judge agreed to the request, but said prosecutors traditionally
oversee grand jury proceedings and, in this case, appear to have done
nothing wrong.
Martin also warned archdiocese lawyers that their attempts to get more
involved in the secret grand jury proceedings could lead to a hearing in
open court, which could reveal names of witnesses and individual targets
of the investigation.
"So if you want to contest the entire proceedings and have the entire jury
(selection) done in open court, listing every targeted defendant, make the
motion," the judge said.
-- The Cincinnati Enquirer,
(http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/11/13/loc_archdiocese13.html)
By Dan Horn, Nov 13 03
• Prep reaches out to parents.
ERIE (PA): The letter from Cathedral Preparatory School sends a clear message: The
school grieves for victims of past sexual abuse and is committed to
protecting today's students.
In a two-page letter mailed Wednesday to parents of Prep's nearly 600
students, the headmaster, the Rev. Scott Jabo, detailed a proactive
approach to preventing sexual abuse and asked for prayers "for all victims
of abuse and their family and friends who suffer with them."
The letter was crafted in response to accusations by three Prep alumni who
claim a former teacher molested them nearly 25 years ago.
"Parents have entrusted their children to Cathedral Prep with the clear
understanding that the school will look out for their children's welfare
and provide a safe environment at all times," Jabo wrote. "I believe our
strong stance, proactive approach and implemented policies and practices
send a clear message to everyone that our students' safety and welfare is
paramount to all we do. Child sexual abuse will not be tolerated in any
form."
Jabo's letter came after he was informed by the Erie Times-News late last
week that three men were negotiating with Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W.
Trautman in regard to payment for counseling. The three Prep alumni -- all
professionals in their late 30s or early 40s -- claim the Rev. Michael
Barletta molested them in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
-- GoErie.com,
(http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031113/FRONTPAGE/111130409)
By Scott Westcott, scott.westcott@timesnews.com ,
and Ed Palattella, ed.palattella@timesnews.com , Nov 13 03
• Ex-Prep priest accused.
ERIE (PA): The Rev. Michael G. Barletta always urged his students to help others.
The former theology teacher at Erie's Cathedral Preparatory School had a
motto: "A person's love lives on in the action of those he touches."
Barletta taught at Prep from 1975 through the 1993-94 academic year.
During his first months at Prep, he started the Teenage Action Club, or
TAC, through which students from Prep and other local Catholic high
schools aided the underprivileged.
Hundreds of teenagers joined TAC. Barletta -- known as "Barts" -- became a
popular teacher who would socialize with students and take some of them on
trips.
"He was very charismatic," one of Barletta's former students recalled. "He
made being Catholic fun. He was kind of a big kid in a lot of ways."
The former student said Barletta was also something else -- a sexual
predator.
The former student, now 39, said Barletta sexually molested him for several years, starting when the man was 15 years old and a sophomore at Prep.
-- GoErie.com ,
(http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031113/FRONTPAGE/111130405)
By Ed Palattella,
ed.palattella@timesnews.com ,
and Scott Westcott,
scott.westcott@timesnews.com .
• Trautman: Review board should focus on good priests.
WASHINGTON (DC): Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman had sharp words for an independent lay review board that is examining the scope of the clergy sexual-abuse
scandal nationwide.
Trautman on Tuesday said he wishes the panel, which the bishops created, had a different task.
He bluntly told the review board in Washington, D.C., that the board would
be better off to focus on writing about the vast majority of dedicated and
generous priests whose only wish is to serve and do good, according to
Trautman's remarks as reported by the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
Bishops responded to Trautman's comments with loud applause, the news
service said.
Trautman was in meetings all day Wednesday and was unavailable for
comment.
Trautman's comments on Tuesday drew criticism.
David Clohessy, co-founder of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by
Priests, or S.N.A.P., said he and two abuse victims were watching Trautman
on television.
Clohessy said the response from him and his friends "was anything but
rousing applause."
-- GoErie.com ,
(http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031113/FRONTPAGE/111130411)
By Ed Palattella,
ed.palattella@timesnews.com ,
and Scott Westcott,
scott.westcott@timesnews.com .
• Prof argues immunity law can't save school from sex-abuse suit.
NEW JERSEY: Until this week, the last time Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence
Lessig had argued a case was in the Supreme Court of the United States.
Yesterday, Lessig stood in a courtroom in Morristown arguing an appeal
against his alma mater, the prestigious American Boychoir School in
Princeton.
"This is a school that institutionalized sex abuse," Lessig said. He urged
three appeals court judges to strip the school of the immunity that
shields it from a lawsuit by another alumnus, John Hardwicke.
Vineland lawyer Jay Greenblatt, who represents the school, argued that it
is protected by the state's 45-year-old Charitable Immunity Act. He urged
the appeals court to uphold a ruling by Superior Court Judge Jack Sabatino
in Mercer County dismissing Hardwicke's lawsuit.
The appeals court, as usual, reserved decision. Its ruling could affect
all charities in New Jersey, including the Catholic Church.
-- Star-Ledger,
(http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/106870652649440.xml)
By Robert Schwaneberg.
• Voice of Faithful more optimistic.
FALL RIVER (MA): Members of the Voice of the Faithful in the Fall River
Diocese welcome the news that Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley has
agreed to meet with the group's leaders in Boston next week.
Robert Gormley of Westport, a spokesman for the Voice of the Faithful in
this area, said O'Malley's decision should be an incentive to Fall River
Bishop George W. Coleman to meet with the Voice of the Faithful in this
diocese.
In an open letter to Coleman published Oct. 12 and which was signed by
about 120 people, the Voice of the Faithful asked the bishop to meet with
its representatives to discuss its goals. It also asked him to allow the
group to hold meetings in parish buildings and to post its meeting notices
in church bulletins.
The Voice of the Faithful, a Roman Catholic lay group, had been meeting on
church property on Cape Cod until May 22, when Coleman directed parish
priests not to communicate with the Voice of the Faithful, not to allow it
to meet on parish property and not to run its announcements in church
bulletins.
--Herald News,
(http://www.heraldnews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10505824&BRD=1710&PAG=461&dept_id=99784&rfi=6)
by Kathleen Durand.
• Grand jury access to abuse list sought.
CINCINNATI (OH): Hamilton County prosecutors asked a court today to allow a special grand jury access to a list of Archdiocese of Cincinnati employees church
officials admit have been accused of abusing children, but Archdiocese
attorneys are resisting, adamant those and other documents are private.
Today's court hearing came at the same time a new special grand jury was
being empanelled to hear evidence in the archdiocese case. The jury pool
was questioned in a closed hearing before presiding Common Pleas Court
Judge Steve Martin. Witnesses will be called starting Monday.
A battle has been raging for more than a year between prosecutors and the
archdiocese to determine if the archdiocese has, as required by law,
turned over allegations of sexual abuse by priests and other employees.
That fight, which found its way today to the Cincinnati-based Ohio First
District Court of Appeals, began last year after Archbishop Daniel
Pilarczyk admitted child abusers remained employed by the archdiocese.
-- The Cincinnati Post,
(http://www.cincypost.com/2003/11/12/arch111203.html)
By Kimball Perry, Wednesday, November 12, 2003
• Abuse victim upset, feels legal system failed him.
SAN DIEGO (CA): In the end, after almost three decades of keeping quiet but finding no solace in his silence, Nick Jordan decided to tell.
Tell what happened to him at a church in Pacific Beach long ago. Tell
church officials, finally, and his mother. Tell police, tell prosecutors --
whomever he had to.
After all that, the least he thought he would get was a day in court.
But it wasn't to be.
One day in June the phone rang in Jordan's Los Angeles home. The caller
was Deputy Attorney General Peter Quon, one of the handful of officials
Jordan had patiently laid out his story to in the previous months.
There would be no day in court, Quon told him.
No day before the bar of justice for Franklyn Becker, the Roman Catholic
priest who Jordan says molested him as a teenager at St. Brigid's Church
in Pacific Beach in the 1970s.
The U.S. Supreme Court had struck down the state law under which Becker,
and others, could face prosecution on allegations they had molested
children years earlier.
-- Union-Tribune,
(http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20031112-9999_1m12clergy.html)
By Greg Moran, November 12, 2003.
• Ex-priest jailed for sex assaults on altar boy [1988-89].
IRELAND: A former priest was sentenced to eight months in jail this afternoon for
sexually assaulting an altar boy on a number of occasions in the church
sacristy as soon as Sunday mass ended.
Patrick Crowley, aged 52, who is originally from Carrignavar in Co Cork,
was a priest in Ballincollig parish church in Cork at the time of the
offences which date back to 1988 and 1989.
The altar boy was in sixth class in school and aged around 11.
Crowley now lives at a treatment centre in Cardington, Athy, Co Kildare.
Judge David Riordan described the details of the three counts, to which
Crowley pleaded guilty, as vile abuse.
-- online.ie ,
(http://www.online.ie/news/viewer.adp?article=%203049464)
Nov 12 2003.
• Abuse lawsuit thrown out in court; new suit filed.
CINCINNATI (OH): A lawsuit against a retired Cincinnati priest was thrown out
of court Nov. 5.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Crush dismissed the lawsuit
against Lawrence Strittmatter, former principal of Elder and pastor of Our
Lady of Vistory Paris in Delhi , and against the Archdiocese of
Cincinnati. The suit, brought last May by six men who claim Strittmatter
abused them as children, was too old to pursue in court because the
statute of limitations expired years ago, Judge Crush ruled. The statute
of limitations for most of the claims was two years (either from the
offense or when the victim reaches the age of 18), and the alleged victims
claim the abuse took place more than 15 years ago.
There are two additional lawsuits, representing 18 other men, against
Strittmatter and the archdiocese which are still pending.
-- The Catholic Telegraph,
(http://www.catholiccincinnati.org/tct/nov1403/111403lawsuit.html)
• 'I' in 'I-Team' stands for 'incomplete'.
CINCINNATI (OH): When you've worked for the Catholic Church for more than two decades, you grow accustomed to a fair number of erroneous reports in the news media
about the institution and its leaders and issues. Few networks, stations
or publications have religion correspondents these days, and even when a
reporter is well-versed in religious beliefs and institutions, space and
time don't often permit a comprehensive look at complex subjects.
And then there are reporters who are simply looking for a scintillating
story with ratings to match -- fair and balanced journalism be damned.
If you caught the local ABC affiliate's "I-Team" investigative report on
the Archdiocese of Cincinnati last week, it's not too hard to figure out
which of the above prevailed.
And since the point of view of the archdiocese and some of its leaders and
faithful were not presented, I'd like to use this space to do that. Too
many erroneous "facts" have been reported in the media to leave
uncorrected.
In the first of three episodes, reporter Laure Quinlivan stated that
"Church leaders apparently protected David Kelley for more than 20 years
as he abused children." She does not balance that statement by noting that
while there are currently allegations against Kelley, he has not been
convicted of any crime. Innocent until proven guilty? Apparently not at
WCPO.
-- The Catholic Telegraph,
(http://www.catholiccincinnati.org/tct/nov1403/111403i-team.html)
By Tricia Hempel.
• New abuse suit filed against priest [1984].
MISSOURI: A suit filed today in St. Clair County Circuit Court accuses a Catholic
priest and author of sexually molesting a 13-year-old boy at a school in
Belleville.
Defendants are the Rev. Kenneth Roberts, the dioceses of Belleville and
Dallas and the St. Louis Archdiocese.
The plaintiff, identified in the suit as John Doe, alleges in the suit
that he was 13, in 1984, when Roberts sexually assaulted him at St. Mary's
School in Belleville.
Roberts, then a priest in Dallas, had been in Belleville to give a
lecture. He was known as the author of a book, "From Playboy to Priest."
-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
www.stltoday.com ,
By Tim Bryant, Nov 12 2003.
• Belleville Priest Charged With Sexual Abuse.
MISSOURI: The St. Louis and Belleville Diocese are the target of a new
sexual abuse lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Father Kenneth Roberts, a priest and author, allegedly molested a teenage
boy 14 years ago at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Belleville.
At the time, Roberts was working with the St. Louis Archdiocese.
Pat Noaker, the victim's attorney, claims Roberts was moved to St. Louis,
despite being accused of misconduct in Dallas and Peoria, "What is
significant here is the fact this situation could have been prevented.
They knew that Father Roberts was a childhood sexual abuser."
A spokesman for the Belleville Diocese was unavailable for comment.
The St. Louis Archdiocese released a written statement saying Father
Roberts was always assigned by the Dallas Diocese.
-- KSDK,
(http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article_lc.asp?storyid=50045)
• Clergy sex abuse lawsuit names author-turned-priest, three dioceses.
ST. LOUIS (MO): An Illinois man on Wednesday sued a once-prominent Roman
Catholic priest who authored an autobiography "Playboy to Priest," saying
he was sexually abused by the former multimedia cleric as an eighth-grader
two decades ago.
Wednesday's lawsuit - filed in nearby Belleville, Ill., where the accuser
attended school - also names as defendants the archdiocese of St. Louis,
and the dioceses of Belleville and Dallas, which all had some involvement
with former priest Kenneth Roberts, 73.
Roberts, allegedly with a history of sexual misconduct dating to just a
few years after his 1966 ordination, has been barred from priestly duties
by the Dallas diocese since 1998.
The accuser - now a southern Illinois firefighter and paramedic,
identified publicly only as John Doe A - alleges he was 13 and attending
St. Mary's school in Belleville in early 1984, when Roberts spent a week
as a guest priest and speaker.
After Roberts spoke of sex education, the accuser - admiring of Roberts
and already familiar with his writings - approached him for advice about
pursuing the priesthood but was molested hours later when the two met
-- Kansas City Star,
www.kansascity.com ,
by Jim Suhr, Associated Press.
• Murphy 'Upset' Over How Catholics See Him.
LONG ISLAND (NY): Describing himself as "deeply upset and saddened" by how some Catholics view him, Bishop William Murphy issued a lengthly statement Wednesday
seeking to address concerns in the Diocese of Rockville Centre ranging
from the priest sex abuse scandal to how donations are used to the need to
provide English elocution lessons to foreign-born priests.
Murphy also reaffirmed his refusal to recognize the Voice of the Faithful [VOTF],
a national organization of lay people and priests with a very large and
active contingent locally who want a more active role in church
governance.
While saying that the 1,600 members of the Long Island Voice of the
Faithful have his prayers and respect, Murphy said he will not allow them
to meet on church property because he is still unsure of their position on
"hot-button issues such as the ordination of women or the reinterpretation
of certain moral issues."
But Dan Bartley, co-chair of the Long Island chapter, said Murphy's
failure to lift the ban is "a sad but strong indication that nothing has
changed. Bishop Murphy's assertions about VOTF postions on church
teachings are false. To make such accusations is harmful to the healing
process we were all hoping for."
--Newsday,
(http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-libish1113,0,5520141.story?coll=ny-li-vertical-headlines)
By Rita Ciolli, November 12, 2003.
• 'Enormous' hurdles seen in screening foreign priests.
WASHINGTON, DC (KRT): The Catholic Church must overcome "enormous" hurdles
involved in doing criminal background checks on foreign-born priests if it
is to stave off another sexual abuse crisis, U.S. bishops were told
Wednesday.
The bishops, meeting this week, heard a sobering report about the
difficulties of screening foreign priests, who make up an estimated 16 to
18 percent of the nation's 44,000 Catholic priests.
Only two countries - Poland and China - have screening systems that allow
access to information about a priest's background throughout the country,
the bishops were told. Many others only allow checks on the most recent
place of residence.
"It's absolutely critical that we deal with this and deal with it now,"
said Bishop John Gaydos of Jefferson City, Mo., who's leading a committee
drawing up guidelines - not requirements - for screening foreign priests.
Bishop Patrick McGrath of San Jose, Calif., called for creation of a
central office to handle screenings, because small dioceses often lack the
resources to do them. Some small dioceses - such as Tyler's - are
disproportionately reliant on foreign priests.
-- Sun Herald,
(http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7246859.htm)
By Susan Hogan/Albach, The Dallas Morning News.
• Accusers left out of abuse pact hope church amenable.
BOSTON (MA): As a former paralegal for one of the country's largest corporate law firms, Tony Cotillo knew all too well the perils of being a plaintiff in a lawsuit.
So, wary of being buried in legal paperwork, subjected to bruising
depositions, and having his family scrutinized by private investigators,
Cotillo wavered for nearly a year over whether to sue the Catholic Church
for the sexual abuse he said he suffered at the hands of a priest when he
was a 9-year-old parochial school student.
"The litigation process can make a plaintiff's life hell," said Cotillo,
27, of Randolph, who now works in the information technology department of
a Boston-area mutual fund company. "I saw people who were worn down both
financially and emotionally. I was not willing to put my family through
that."
His hesitation might cost him dearly.
Cotillo and up to 24 other alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse are now
on the outside looking in at the historic settlement between sexual abuse
victims and the Archdiocese of Boston, lawyers and advocates say.
Because their claims were not formalized before July 30, alleged victims
such as Cotillo are not eligible for the more than $80 million that will
be paid to more than 530 alleged abuse victims under the agreement.
Now, neither they nor their lawyers know if they will be compensated for
the abuse they allegedly suffered, although they say they are hopeful the
archdiocese will honor their claims.
Church officials, meanwhile, say they cannot think about additional claims
until the intensive, three-month process of arbitrating the first group of
claims is over next year and settlement checks have been issued.
--Boston Globe, (http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/316/metro/Accusers_left_out_of_abuse_pact_hope_church_amenable+.shtml)
By Ralph Ranalli, Nov 12 2003.
• Church abuse report slated.
WASHINGTON (DC): A report detailing sexual abuse cases within the Catholic
Church that reaches back a half century is being prepared for release in
February along with a narrative on what leads to the sexual abuse of
minors by the clergy.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, convened yesterday at the Hyatt
Hotel on Capital Hill for a four-day meeting, heard a progress report from
Anne M. Burke, the bishop's National Review Board's acting chairwoman.
Burke, a federal appellate court judge in Chicago, and two other board
members spoke about the ongoing data gathering and interviewing process
surrounding sexual abuse cases.
"We are thoroughly convinced that the remaining study, the 'Causes and
Context,' research is essential so that we can understand the underlying
causes for the current crisis within the Catholic Church in the United
States," Burke told the bishops at their afternoon session.
"Each one of us is sustained by faith, but motivated by justice," Burke
said. "Neither can ever be permitted to become so endangered again."
The nation's bishops gave the lay review board the authority and finances
to conduct the review last year. The National Review Board commissioned
the John Jay College in New York to prepare Part I of the report, a
"nature and scope study." The study will count the number of abuse cases
since 1950 and calculate related costs for legal settlements with the
victims, therapy for victims and offenders and attorney fees.
-- The Republican,
(http://www.masslive.com/news/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1068626966212560.xml)
By Jo-Ann Moriarty and Bill Zajac.
• Top court to get slaying files plea.
SPRINGFIELD (MA): The Republican will ask the state Supreme Judicial Court to
reverse a decision to keep sealed the investigation files of the 1972
slaying of Daniel Croteau, a 13-year-old altar boy befriended by a priest
who became the primary suspect in his death.
State Appeals Court Judge John H. Mason Monday overturned an order by
Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis to open case files, except for
the names and addresses of witnesses. Mason's decision supports a 1996
Appeals Court order impounding the files.
Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski also is seeking the information in a
lawsuit for a male client, yet to be identified, who says the Rev. Richard
R. Lavigne molested him. The priest, convicted of child molestation in two
cases, was at one time the chief suspect in the killing of Croteau, who
was beaten to death.
Wayne Phaneuf, executive editor of The Republican, said the decision to
appeal to the state's high court is in keeping with the newspaper's
history of using its resources to shed light on important cases.
"For over a decade we have been using every avenue necessary, including
the courts, to lift the cloak of secrecy from the sexual abuse scandal and
the allegations against the Rev. Lavigne," Phaneuf said. "We believe Judge
Velis rendered a thoughtful decision that protected the privacy rights of
individuals without compromising the investigation."
-- The Republican,
(http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1068626961212560.xml)
By Michael McAuliffe,
mmcauliffe@repub.com .
(Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter)
//////////////////// End of www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Thursday, November 13, 2003
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