Accountability and transparency for the crimes of childhood sexual abuse today and in the future absolves no one from the accountability and transparency for the sexual crimes committed against children in the past.
Deep pockets denied the rights of all those who were sexually abused as children.
Their right to access justice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was denied them by groups that had much to lose; the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese along with the other Pennsylvania dioceses as well as the insurance industry and and several business lobby groups.
Mostly, however, the opposition to the retroactive measure, statute of limitation reform, was led by Archbishop Charles Chaput, by way of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference which he leads, and the heads of the Pennsylvania dioceses who dutifully follow orders.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
And why? Is it money? Hardly.
Keep in mind that about $10 million dollars has been spent defending Msgr. William Lynn.
One can only guess at how much the public relations firm and the lobbyists from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference are costing [the church]. That will likely never be known.
Then what is it?
It’s the fact that the bishops, the members of the hierarchy, will continue to do whatever they have to do, and what they have done for decades if not centuries.
And that is to do whatever it takes to protect a powerful institution and its secrets.
The safety and protection of the most vulnerable, the children, was never their priority regardless of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brian Gergely (right) was sexually abused by his priest for years. Gergely, 46, took his own life on Friday. He is pictured here with Kevin Hoover in 2003 after filing a lawsuit against the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.
He was 10 years old, the product of a devout Catholic family that worshipped at Holy Name Catholic Church in Ebensburg.
An altar boy, Brian Gergely should have been preoccupied with the task of assisting his priest with the rites of Mass. Instead, he was consumed with the idea of escaping the monster behind the black robe who sexually abused him in the sacristy and the confessional.
“I was standing in the sacristy and he pinned me to the desk. I was just a little guy,” Gergely said during an interview in March with The Guardian, recounting the violent abuse at the hands of Monsignor Francis McCaa.
“My parents were patrons,” Gergely said. “They were going door to door raising money for the church. The community put Monsignor McCaa on a pedestal.”
As an adult, Gergely shared his story of abuse with others — from his high school biology class, where he first broke the news of his abuse, to national and international media covering the worldwide clergy sex abuse scandal.
On Friday, Gergely, 46, took his own life. He hanged himself. His father found him.
His friends, other survivors of sexual abuse and victims advocates point to the fact that his death comes just days after the state Senate voted in favor of a bill that reforms the state’s child sex crimes law.
Last week, the Senate stripped House Bill 1947 — by a 49-0 vote — of a measure that would have allowed victims of past abuse whose legal rights had expired to seek justice in the courts.
“It’s a very hopeless feeling when you are floundering and you want to have someone believe you, someone external,” said Kevin Hoover, who along with Gergely and scores of other boys at Holy Name, was abused by McCaa.
“You want to be able to go to the legal system and say this happened, help me bring these people to justice. To have those doors slam in your face when your trust has already been shattered by another system — that’s a devastating and hopeless and helpless feeling.”
In March, a grand jury report on an investigation into systemic child sex abuse of children by priests from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese called McCaa a “monster.” Investigators found he sexually abused 15 victims between 1961 and 1985.
Gergely’s abuse began when he was 10. The abuse was still going on when he was attending Bishop Carroll High School.
“It’s the physical death of the spiritual death that was done to us,” Hoover said of his former classmate’s death. “They have environment that allow these heinous acts to occur rather than dealing with it. It leaves these damaged souls in their wake.”
House Bill 1947, which returned to the House this week for a vote of concurrence before making its way to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk, would widely reforms the statute of limitations. It would eliminate all criminal statute of limitations for such crimes in the future and widen the civil time limits on civil actions.
But the bill no longer offers a “look-back” measure that would have allowed past victims to sue their perpetrators.
Former friend and school mate at Bishop Carroll Michele Gonsman said Gergely was certain to have looked at the measure as a last hope for other victims. Gonsman described him as a “tormented soul,” who in spite of going public with his abuse, never found peace and struggled throughout the years with drug and alcohol abuse.
“All he wanted was justice,” said Gonsman, herself a survivor of child sex abuse by a neighbor. “They decimated the bill and he struggled and struggled, and he killed himself.”
Judith Weiss Collins, a survivor of clergy sex abuse out of Allentown Diocese, said the defeat of the retroactive measure in the bill “took away all hope” for victims.
“It’s the losing the hope that is so devastating,” said Collins, who at 64, would not have benefitted from the look-back measure in the bill. “That was a hit. That was a huge blow to me.”
Collins, who was abused for seven years as a child, and again as an adult, said that while she has never been suicidal, the idea consumes the mind of most survivors.
“Talk to anyone who has been abused and the suicidal idealization is always there,” she said. “It’s just wretched … but loss of hope that is it … knowing you can’t do anything. That we can’t do anything to gain back anything that was lost.”
Gergely’s attorney, Richard Serbin, said his client had been vocal and public about his advocacy on behalf of victims. Serbin on Sunday said that while Gergely would not have personally benefitted from the retroactive measure he was motivated by a desire to help others.
“People don’t appreciate that every time a victim loses the opportunity to file a claim, you lose the opportunity to stop a child predator,” he said. “Every time a sex abuse victim loses the opportunity to remove a predator from their access to children, when we take that right away, we take away the opportunity to identify a molester. It sends the wrong message.”
Serbin said he last spoke with Gergely about 10 days ago. An Altoona-based attorney who has represented more than 300 victims of child sex abuse, said that for victims almost anything can trigger powerful memories and emotions, from a television program to a wedding at a church.
“Those triggering events can bring back the demons, the dark thoughts that they try to forget,” he said.
In the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal out of the Boston Archdiocese, Hoover, Gergely and several others in 2005 settled a civil suit against the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, Bishop Joseph Adamec, and former Bishop Joseph Hogan. The suit claimed the church should have known about the abuse and was negligent. Gergely and the others won their suit, but filed a release waiving future rights to claim. The retroactive measure would not have allowed him to file another claim. Hoover said it would have accomplished something else.
“We won but that doesn’t make the issues go away,” Hoover said. “It helps reduce the amount of self blame.”
Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, who spearheaded child sex crime laws reform legislation in the House, said he was heartbroken over the news about Gergely.
“This is why I’m so passionate about my legislation,” said Rozzi, himself a survivor of clergy sex abuse. “Victims of childhood sexual abuse continue to endure immeasurable pain daily. Brian’s suicide is just one example of how victims deal with their everyday struggle. Some are barely hanging on.”
Rozzi, who in the House, had pushed for retroactivity in the reform legislation, said the defeat of the retroactive measure in the bill for victims “dashed their hopes of ever having their voices heard in a court of law.”
“The removal of the retroactive statute was a devastating blow to many of these past victims,” he said. “The Senators used constitutionality as the guise for the removal of that language. That decision should be left to the PA Supreme Court to make, not Senators pretending to be justices.”
House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin said Gergely’s death was a “tragedy and terribly unspeakable that it came to that.”
“Obviously with the retroactivity there were those who believe it was unconstitutional,” he said. “That’s where we have been for a number of years. But the fact remains that the Supreme Court has never specifically decided on these cases on retroactivity. The feeling was in the House let’s get this done. Let’s give the the victims a chance. Let’s let the courts decide. The Senate obviously felt differently.”
Miskin said he could not anticipate what the House will do with the amended bill.
Marci Hamilton, a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder of CHILD USA, pointed out the scientific evidence that the incidence of suicide among survivors of child sex abuse is significantly higher than the general population.
“One of the most difficult aspects of dealing with the stress of statute of limitations reform in the state legislatures is the fragility and vulnerability of some of the survivors who bravely come forward,” Hamilton said. “This is heartbreaking and a warning to society that there is much at stake in denying survivors justice.”
Hamilton said the amended HB1947 “froze out” a generation of victims.
“They were informed repeatedly about the studies showing that these victims have a higher rate of suicide, PTSD, depression, and addiction,” she said. “Those are irrefutable facts. The horrific part is that the Senators did it for greedy insurance lobbyists and the corrupt bishops who covered up for all of the Brians in Pennsylvania. Worse, he is not the only survivor struggling to keep his head above water after ten years of Pennsylvania lawmakers dithering and obfuscating.”
The retroactive measure in the bill was widely defeated under the argument that reviving expired statutes of limitations violated the state’s Constitution. That argument was made several times by a handful of expert witnesses at hearings, including state Solicitor General Bruce Castor, as well as Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R‑Jefferson County, who introduced the amendments to the bill, including the elimination of retroactivity
Opposition to the retroactive measure was mounted largely by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the insurance industry and several business lobby groups – all of which argued that the measure would be detrimental to their interests and singled them out unfairly.
Scarnati on Sunday said: “We empathize with all victims of child-sex abuse — young and old — and their families. We continue to work to provide an effective and permanent law that offers another important tool for prosecutors and protections for survivors of abuse and future victims.”
He noted that under his amendment, HB 1947 expands the criminal and civil statue of limitations for child-sex abuse survivors. The bill provides those who have been abused in the past for whom the statute of limitations has not expired the ability to sue organizations until they turn 50. Those who are abused on or after the effective date of the bill will have until age 50 to sue organizations, and beyond that time will be able to sue individuals. Survivors will also be able to sue governmental defendants, if applicable, by lowering the standard from “gross negligence” to “negligence,” meaning it is easier for survivors to seek recourse.
In a written statement, Amy Hill, spokeswoman for the conference said: “Words cannot express the sorrow that comes with the tragic loss of Brian Gergely. Brian and his family are in our prayers. We stress that help is available to all survivors of childhood sexual abuse. All 10 Pennsylvania dioceses financially cover the expenses of counseling or treatment services offered through local resources not affiliated with the Church. Anyone who is abused should immediately contact law enforcement and anyone who is struggling should contact their county’s crime victim support services office, or a group like www.MaleSurvivor.org, www.1in6.org, www.rainn.org, and others.”
Hill reiterated the details of the assistance provided by the church to sexual abuse survivors. The assistance that survivors receive through the dioceses, Hill noted, is directed by counselors and professionals independent of the church.
“We will pay for these services no matter how long ago the crime was committed and for as long as necessary,” she said.
Hamilton urged lawmakers to make reform of the statute of limitations a “non-controversial pathway to healing and justice.”
She urged the House to restore a retroactivity measure to HB1947.
More than three dozen states across the country have installed similar reforms.
“The sky has never fallen in a state that took this important step, and it won’t in Pennsylvania either,” Hamilton said.
Gonsman said she fears other victims like Gergely will succumb to the feelings of hopelessness.
“You have victims who are very fragile,” she said. “A lot of them have been following the statute of limitations reform and hanging on every word, every hearing. I know they have to be devastated.”
Hoover said he had a message for the General Assembly with regards to the reform legislation and the abuse of children: “This is terrorism. We have been terrorized and they are terrorists. They need to get strong on the church and do what is right and expand the ability for people to have a sense of justice. It’s not going to solve emotional elements but you will have sense of justice….and it’s on the record that someone believes us.”
Gergely was the son of Esther and Jerry Gergely Sr. His sister, Brenda, and brothers, Jerry Jr. and Mark, are all of Ebensburg
Gergely graduated in 1988 from Bishop Carroll High School, where he was a star running back. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in 1992. He also is a graduate of the Applied Behavioral Analysis Institute of Pennsylvania and went on to pursue a career in the mental health field.
He was an advocate for victims of sexual abuse within the church, and wrote a book, “The Last Altar Boy: A Memoir,” which was in the process of being published.
French Archbishop Philippe Barbarin attends a Good Friday mass in Saint-Jean Cathedral in Lyon, France, March 25, 2016.
The Roman Catholic cardinal-archbishop of Lyon said on Thursday he had suspended four priests accused of paedophile activities and said their cases were known to French judicial authorities.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin said in a statement that the four had been working in the Lyon region in central France but gave no further details about them.
He also said other priests were the “object of special measures” without elaborating or saying how many were involved.
The Roman Catholic Church has been rocked in the past two decades by sexual abuse scandals involving its priests in a number of countries worldwide, including France.
Earlier this month police questioned Cardinal Barbarin for more than 10 hours over the activities of a paedophile priest, Father Bernard Preynat, in the early 1990s and why they had not been reported to the civil authorities.
Authorities placed Preynat under judicial investigation in January for his alleged sexual abuse of Catholic boy scouts in 1991. Preynat’s lawyer said he had admitted to sexually abusing the boys. He has been released from custody on bail.
Several victims of alleged paedophile abuse have filed complaints against Cardinal Barbarin for failing to report incidents to the authorities and for leaving accused priests in place.
Barbarin has denied any wrongdoing, but in a statement in April he acknowledged “errors in the management and appointment of some priests”.
New policy, which includes church workers and volunteers, intended as ‘safety net’ against allegations of sex abuse, but critics say move is ‘too little, too late’
The Basilica of Notre-Dame in the Place d’Armes in Old Montreal in Quebec, Canada.
Catholic priests in Montreal will be banned from being alone with children to provide a “safety net” against allegations of abuse.
Archbishop Christian Lepine has issued a decree to implement the policy, which also covers lay workers and volunteers.
According to the decree, the move was to “ensure the safety and integrity of the people to whom we bring the Gospel message and offer our pastoral care”. But, it added, it was also “to preserve the integrity, security and good reputation of God’s people”.
In an accompanying letter, Lepine said: “Recent events brought to light the horrific reality of abuse of minors and vulnerable people by members of the church. These intolerable situations have shocked and shaken the Universal Church as well as the entire population.”
Pope Francis and his predecessors had issued clear instructions that every Catholic diocese must take necessary measures to prevent the abuse of children and vulnerable adults, the letter said.
Implementation of the policy is to begin with a pilot project involving a dozen parishes from September, and will subsequently be rolled out across the diocese.
“Imagine if you are alone in a room and a child accuses you of hitting them, how will you react?” Sarrazin said. “Whether it’s true or not, you need a witness. Not being in the room alone with someone who is vulnerable is simply being prudent.”
But Carlo Tarini, representing survivors of abuse by priests, said the move was “too little, too late”, and the church was trying to protect itself from legal action.
In February, the church agreed a $30m settlement after around 150 people claimed they had been abused by the Clerics of St Viateur, who ran a school for deaf children in Montreal between 1940 and 1982.
The policy was dismissed as “window dressing” by David Clohessy of the US-based Snap (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
“The single most effective step would be to publicly disclose and discipline every cleric who committed or concealed child sex crimes. That immediately protects children,” he said.
“We’ve literally seen hundreds of policies, procedures, protocols and pledges like this that sound good on paper but are virtually never enforced. So we are extremely sceptical.”
The new policy is thought to be unprecedented in the Catholic church, although the Anglican church in Australia has had similar guidelines in place since 2004, said Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Abuse victims in many countries have been demanding such a policy, in the case of Canada at least since 2007,” he said.
The new measures “provide safeguards for vulnerable children against the assaults of paedophile priests or other church workers. Given the volume of cases across time and place, it’s quite shocking that such measure[s] haven’t been adopted in all dioceses across the globe, if for no other reason than for the church to preclude future lawsuits which have cost it billions of dollars in Canada and the US alone.
“Despite its tardiness, the new policy in Montreal should be universally adopted, above all for the protection of children at Catholic churches and organisations.”
Globally, the Catholic church has paid tens of millions of dollars in compensation and costs relating to child sex abuse. An investigation by the National Catholic Reporter last year concluded that the US church alone had incurred costs of nearly £4bn.
The issue was the subject of a recent Hollywood movie, Spotlight, which chronicled the expose of abuse by Catholic priests by reporters at the Boston Globe.
Clergy process into the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, ahead of the papal mass in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 26 September 2015.
The Catholic church in Pennsylvania has been accused of employing “mafia-like” tactics in a campaign to put pressure on individual Catholic lawmakers who support state legislation that would give victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.
The lobbying campaign against the legislation is being led by Philadelphia archbishop Charles Chaput, a staunch conservative who recently created a stir after inadvertently sending an email to a state representative Jamie Santora, in which he accused the lawmaker of “betraying” the church and said Santora would suffer “consequences” for his support of the legislation. The email was also sent to a senior staff member in Chaput’s office, who was apparently the only intended recipient.
The email has infuriated some Catholic lawmakers, who say they voted their conscience in support of the legislation on behalf of sexual abuse victims. One Republican legislator, Mike Vareb, accused the archbishop of using mafia-style tactics.
“This mob boss approach of having legislators called out, he really went right up to the line,” Vareb told the Guardian. “He is going down a road that is frankly dangerous for the status of the church in terms of it being a non-profit.”
Under US tax laws, organisations like churches that are classified as non-profit groups are not supposed to be engaged in political activity, though they are allowed to publish legislators’ voting records in some cases.
At stake in the contentious fight is a state bill that would allow victims of sexual abuse to file civil claims against their abusers, and those who knew of abuse, until they are 50 years old. Under current law, victims can only file suit until they are 30 years old. The proposal overwhelmingly passed the state lower house in a bipartisan vote in April but appears to have stalled in the state senate, where some believe it might not pass.
If it does pass and is signed by the governor, the legislation could cost the Catholic church tens of millions of dollars following a spate of abuse allegations in the state, including a devastating report released earlier this year by a grand jury that detailed how two Catholic bishops in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese covered up the abuse of hundreds of children by more than fifty priests over a 40-year period.
But it is the church’s personal targeting of legislators, rather than the legislation itself, that is drawing the most scrutiny, particularly among a small group of lawmakers who are both Republican and Catholic – and say they have steadfastly supported the church’s positions on other issues such as abortion and private Catholic schools.
A church bulletin called out Nick Miccareli for his support of a bill to allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.
Catholic lawmakers interviewed by the Guardian expressed dismay, shock and anger at the treatment they have received, particularly because they were targeted after the bill already passed in the lower house. All said they supported the legislation because they believed survivors of sexual abuse often needed decades to come to grips with the abuse they suffered.
One Catholic state representative named Martina White went on a local talk radio programme to describe how she had been “crushed” when she was disinvited to several planned events at local Catholic parishes because of her support for the bill.
Another representative, Nick Miccarelli, said he was baffled and upset when he learned that his support for the proposed legislation was included in his church’s bulletin under the heading “Just So You are Aware”, including information that he said was blatantly misleading about the nature of the bill.
“I’ve never had anything but good things to say [about my parish], so it was a heck of a shot, when you are out there telling people how much you think of a place, and that place doesn’t even give you a phone call before they print … something that was not an accurate statement,” he said. Miccarelli was angered by the bulletin’s suggestion that the lawmakers had sought to protect public institutions while targeting private ones like churches.
Rep Thomas Murt, who attends mass daily, told a colleague he was “devastated” when the priest at his church spoke about Murt’s support of the legislation, even as Murt was sitting in the pews. The priest’s discussion of the legislation went on for 40 minutes.
“Tom was really upset that no where did the priest mention the kids. Anyone who knows Tom knows he is extremely sincere on this issue. He just wants to do what is right,” the colleague said, asking not to be named.
Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput celebrates mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia on 18 February 2015.
Ken Gavin, a spokesman for Chaput, rejected claims that the archdiocese was attempting to “shame elected officials from the pulpit”.
Gavin said the Philadelphia archbishop had sent a letter explaining the church’s opposition to the bill to 219 parishes throughout the area, which had been read or made available during Mass.
“I am not aware of any situations involving a pastor lambasting an elected official and they weren’t directed to do so. I do know of many instances where pastors shared with parishioners how representatives voted on [the bill]. They shared knowledge that is already public,” Gavin said.
Chaput’s criticism of the bill is centred on claims that the Philadelphia archdiocese already has a “genuine and longstanding commitment” to abuse victims; that it is committed to protecting children now; and that the new law would only apply to churches and private institutions, but still make public institutions like schools and prisons immune from similar retroactive civil suits in abuse cases.
But the Catholic lawmakers who support the bill reject that claim as a red herring, because public institutions like schools receive some immunity from lawsuits in order to protect taxpayers. All said they had been deeply moved by the testimony of fellow legislator Mark Rozzi, who was raped by a priest when he was 13 years old and said the bill would offer victims some justice after years of being “stonewalled”.
Critics of Chaput’s strategy say the archbishop used the same tactics to successfully derail similar legislation in Colorado, where he previously served as archbishop. Joan Fitz-Gerald, the former Democratic head of the state senate in Colorado who had introduced the bill, recalled it was the most vicious and difficult experience of her life, with Chaput allegedly telling one of his lobbyists that he did not believe Fitz-Gerald would be going to heaven.
“He is the most vehement supporter of the secrecy of the Catholic church over pedophiles. He fights any authority over his own, even when it is a matter of criminal law,” Fitz-Gerald said.
One expert, Marci Hamilton, the chair of public law at Cardoza School of Law, said similar legislation that has passed in four other states, including California, has only been used by a relatively small number of victims.
“This is a way for the whole culture to say to survivors that they matter and that they are believed. Because when a survivor comes forward, in most states they are beyond the statute of limitations [to bring civil claims] and the message they get from the law is that what happened to you doesn’t matter,” she said.
Hamilton claimed that Chaput had been brought to Pennsylvania after helping to kill similar legislation in Colorado.
“It is clear they [the church] have bought into this strategy, which is to turn the church into the victim and to portray the victims as just seeking money and triangulating the parishioners against the victims, by saying the parish will go bankrupt and have to close schools,” Hamilton said.
Jamie Santora, the Republican legislator who several people said received the email from Chaput, declined to comment on the email specifically. But he acknowledged he had been accused by a high ranking church official of betraying his church.
“I don’t feel I did betray my church. Growing up Catholic gave me the ability to vote the way I did. To me that was the morally correct vote, by choosing victims over abusers,” he said.
Asked to comment, the spokesman for the Philadelphia archbishop said: “Elected officials are accountable to the people who elected them. There’s nothing odd in that. It’s how the system works.”
