Category: Priests In Trouble

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‘Inquiries’ into sex-abuse allegations going beyond Altoona-Johnstown diocese

By Brad Bumsted

Young christian priest in cassock arrested and handcuffed

HARRISBURG — State investigators are conducting “inquiries” into child-abuse allegations in Roman Catholic dioceses beyond Altoona-Johnstown, which was the subject of a hard-hitting grand jury report in March, Bruce Castor, solicitor general in the attorney general’s office, said Friday.

The grand jury report said nearly 50 priests molested hundreds of children over several decades in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. Castor’s statement in an interview with the Tribune-Review is the first public acknowledgement by Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office that other allegations are getting a serious review.

“Whether they lead to arrests is an open question,” said Castor, the former Montgomery County district attorney.

Besides Altoona-Johnstown, there are Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Allentown, Erie, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Scranton.

As Kane’s top staffer, Castor said he is “getting updates every two weeks from (the prosecutor) in charge” of the inquiries, Deputy Attorney General Dan Dye.

“This is not surprising,” said David Clohessy, spokesman for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.) “How can law enforcement not make inquiries about proven, admitted or credibly accused clerics, regardless of where they are in Pennsylvania?”

“Inquiries are good. Investigations are better,” said Clohessy of St. Louis, who has stated publicly he was a victim of abuse by a priest as a teenager.

Catholic priests are no more likely to abuse a child than people in any other group, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference said.

“Without specifics, I can’t directly respond to Mr. Castor’s statement,” conference spokeswoman Amy Hill said.

“The church has long encouraged all accusations to be reported immediately to law enforcement. We also have a policy that requires us to remove someone from ministry if there are credible allegations made,” Hill said.

But Terry McKiernan, president of Boston-based BishopAccountability.org, said, “The molestation and collusion revealed in the Altoona-Johnstown grand jury report are certainly problems in other dioceses, but secrecy has so far prevailed. The attorney general’s scrutiny is especially needed in the Harrisburg, Greensburg, and Erie dioceses, each of which have larger Catholic populations than Altoona-Johnstown.

“Clearly a broader investigation by the AG is needed,” McKiernan said.

Jerry Zufelt, spokesman for the Greensburg Diocese, said the size of Catholic populations does not determine the likelihood of priest abuse.

“I would say it’s based on how each diocese handles the cases,” Zufelt said. “We’re very comfortable with how we’ve handled them.”

The diocese has had a “zero-tolerance policy” and forwards every allegation to the district attorney, Zufelt said. It’s had that policy in place since the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ so-called “Dallas Report” on priest abuse in 2002, he said.

No charges were filed based on the initial grand jury report, though one of the priests mentioned, the former Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 71, of Somerset County, was convicted by a federal jury last year of traveling to Honduras on mission trips to abuse boys. He was also convicted of possessing child pornography and international money laundering. He is serving a 16-year prison term.

Prosecutors said cases frequently extended beyond statute of limitations for prosecution.

Attorney general’s investigators two weeks after the report charged three former religious leaders for participating in a conspiracy that allowed Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan friar, to abuse more than 100 children. In 2013, Baker killed himself by stabbing himself in the heart. Many of his sex crimes took place at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown. The three former “ministers provincial,” who oversaw personnel within the organization, have denied the allegations. They’ve been held for trial on charges of criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children.

“One important thing that is often left out of these stories is that the Catholic Church does provide support and assistance for survivors and their families,” Hill said. “We have a sincere commitment to the emotional and spiritual well-being of individuals who have been impacted by the crime of childhood sexual abuse, no matter how long ago the crime was committed.”

Complete Article HERE!

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US Catholic church has spent millions fighting clergy sex abuse accountability

Lobbying funds have gone towards opposing bills that would extend statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases or grant temporary windows to take action

Since 2007, the New York bishops’ lobbying arms have poured more than $1.1m into ‘issues associated with timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses’.
Since 2007, the New York bishops’ lobbying arms have poured more than $1.1m into ‘issues associated with timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses’.

The US Catholic church has poured millions of dollars over the past decade into opposing accountability measures for victims of clergy sex abuse, according to state lobbying disclosures.

The lobbying funds have gone toward opposing bills in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland that would extend statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases or grant temporary civil windows for victims whose opportunities for civil action have already passed.

In light of major child sex abuse scandals from Jerry Sandusky to Dennis Hastert, lawmakers nationwide are pushing to give victims other avenues to sue. In Pennsylvania, house representative Mark Rozzi, who was abused as a child by a Catholic priest, has led a campaign to extend the age before which child abuse victims can bring on cases. In New York, assemblywoman Margaret Markey is pushing to grant a temporary one-year window for those whose statute of limitations has already expired.

“Many child sex abuse cases are done gradually, under the guise of love or sex education, and so what happens is most victims don’t even realize until literally decades later,” said David Clohessy, a director with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “The overwhelming majority of us rationalize it. That’s how we as survivors cope with this stunning betrayal. We cope with it by denying and minimizing it.”

Since 2007, the New York bishops’ lobbying arms have poured more than $1.1m into “issues associated with timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses”, nearly half of their total compensation for lobbyists in that period. Another nearly $700,000 also went towards lobbying for a package of church priorities, including but not limited to influencing the climate on “statute of limitations” legislation.

During this same time period, bishops’ conferences spent millions on lobbyists in states where the church is actively opposing similar legislative proposals. Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey spent more than $5.2m, $1.5m and $435,000 respectively on top lobbyists in the state capitols. Opposition efforts ultimately thwarted statute of limitations reform efforts in those states.

These states did not provide breakdowns of how much of that money was spent opposing these particular bills. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference said in a statement: “The list of issues for which we advocate is long – services for the poor, education, access to healthcare especially for the poor, elderly and children, religious liberty, immigration, pro-life issues, death penalty, just to name a few.”

Under existing law, child victims sexually abused in New York have until the age of 23 to press civil charges, but those abused across the border in Connecticut have until the age of 48. In Maryland and Pennsylvania, victims cannot enter into civil suits after turning 25 or 30 respectively, but across the border in Delaware they can do so at any age.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests hold a press conference in Chicago.
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests hold a press conference in Chicago.

“New York is trying to move into the 21st century,” explains Brad Hoylman, a New York state senator sponsoring reform legislation. “How do we expect a 23-year-old to have the wherewithal to take on their church or youth group?”
Reformers have faced staunch opposition from business advocacy groups, the insurance industry, and, most publicly, the Catholic church.

In states such as Pennsylvania and New York, bishops’ organizations make their influence felt particularly among state Republicans, wary of crossing an institution that mobilizes significant pro-life constituencies and channels diocesan revenues into robust lobbying efforts.
“The Republican-dominated Senate has always been the stumbling block for final passage,” said Mike Armstrong, communications director for Markey. “They have blocked even committee consideration of the bill over the past few years.”

Representatives of the church say that the proposals they are opposing go too far in both the time window and the number of institutions they allow individuals to sue.

Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference said: “While it is fair to argue that we should extend the statute of limitations going forward to give victims more time to sue, a wide-open ‘window’ allowing claims that are decades old is fundamentally unjust because the claims are impossible to defend.” Poust added that New York’s bishops support a law that would extend the statute of limitations cut-off date to the age of 28.

Amy Hill of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference worried about protecting other institutions from lawsuits. “We continue to have serious concerns about retroactively extending the civil statute of limitations against non-profit and private institutions, allowing lawsuits for cases involving matters that occurred decades ago,” she said. “In other states, such action has led to the closure of parishes, schools, and vital social service ministries.”

But Hoylman said that while these institutions “can take care of themselves”, victims don’t have the same resources. “Who is looking after these survivors who have had years of deeply seeded personal conflicts over a crime they’re not responsible for?”

Marci Hamilton, a professor at Cardozo Law School, says fears about unjust lawsuits are overblown. ‘“Reviving expired statute of limitations has identified hundreds of hidden predators across the United States, but the number of cases has been modest. Out of a population of 35 million in California, only 1,150 claims were filed and in Delaware 1,175 claims were filed but 1,000 of those claims were against a single pediatrician, Dr Earl Bradley … False claims are a fantasy issue made up by church and insurance lobbyists.”
As many as 100,000 US children may have suffered clerical sex abuse, according to an estimate by insurance experts presented at a 2012 Vatican conference. Nonetheless, only several thousand members of the US Catholic clergy have ever been accused of sexual assault, and only about 300 have ever been convicted.
In past few years, the church has helped shoot down similar reform attempts in New Jersey, Colorado and Maryland. And over the past decade, bishops have opposed similar reform efforts in places such as Iowa, Virginia and Washington DC.

Many legal advocates and survivor groups have been particularly disappointed with the bishops’ lobbying efforts given the new era of reform promised by Pope Francis. “The pope announced last June he would be setting up a tribunal to investigate bishops who protected predators, but the tribunal reportedly hasn’t even been created yet,” says Anne Barrett Doyle of the watchdog group BishopAccountability.org.

In March, new revelations of abuse delivered fresh momentum for reform in Pennsylvania.

A Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed that as many as 50 church officials in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown had for five decades helped cover up the abuse of hundreds of children in collusion with police and county officials. In April, following some of the grand jury’s recommendations, the Pennsylvania state house overwhelmingly passed an extensive reform bill, abolishing the criminal statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases and permitting child sexual abuse victims as old as 50 to file civil claims.

Despite the momentum stemming from the scandal, local observers expect the church will continue to lobby vehemently against the bill in the state senate.

“If the bishops continue to win,” says Clohessy, the survivors network director, many victims will “behave in destructive ways because they were violated as kids … And we as society tell them ‘tough shit’.”

Complete Article HERE!

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Priest guilty of trying to lure girl

14-year-old said a strange man told her to get into his car

By Jessica Prokop

Michael T. Patrick
Michael T. Patrick

A Catholic priest entered a guilty plea Friday, court records show, to trying to lure a 14-year-old girl into his car as she was walking home from school in Vancouver’s Image neighborhood.

Michael T. Patrick, 59, the former pastor of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Scappoose, Ore., entered the plea in Clark County Superior Court to attempted luring but did not admit to the conduct. Patrick initially faced a charge of luring in connection with the 2014 incident.

David Renshaw, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Portland, said Tuesday that Patrick is not assigned to a parish and has not been since his arrest. Renshaw said Patrick’s status will not change until the Archdiocese has completed its investigation.

Patrick will be sentenced May 23 in Superior Court. He could face up to a year behind bars and two years’ probation. However, the prosecution will recommend that he serve six months in jail and a year of probation, court records show. The defense is free to argue for a lesser sentence.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court, the teen was walking west on Northeast 28th Street near 138th Avenue on March 10, 2014, when she noticed a man looking at her “strangely” from inside a blue 2007 Honda Pilot that was traveling east on 28th Street.

A short time later, the girl said the vehicle passed her again, but this time it was headed west on the street. The vehicle then pulled over in the bike lane, and the driver opened the window and told her to get inside, the affidavit said.

She told the driver “no” and began walking faster. The man, later identified by police as Patrick, drove alongside her, asking her several more times if she wanted a ride, according to court records. She declined each time. Patrick continued to follow her as she turned north on Northeast 132nd Avenue, court records said.

Patrick allegedly said, “Come on, cutie,” which alarmed the girl and prompted her to run to an in-home day care center on the east side of the street, according to court documents. There, she called her mother for advice.

Her mother said the girl was crying and sounded frightened. The girl waited at the residence until the man drove away, then ran home, the affidavit said.

Vancouver police located Patrick the same day, based on his license plate number. He denied the accusations.

Police then brought the girl to the front of his Vancouver residence, and she identified him as the man who had attempted to lure her, according to court records. She said he was still in the clothes he had worn earlier when he spoke to her.

Patrick was arrested April 2, 2014, on a warrant at Los Angeles International Airport when he re-entered the United States after a trip to Australia. He was then extradited to Clark County.

Complete Article HERE!

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A long overdue quest for healing and justice

Brian McDonnell, 70, was abused by a priest at the now-closed St. Gregory's in West Philadelphia.
Brian McDonnell, 70, was abused by a priest at the now-closed St. Gregory’s in West Philadelphia.

by Mike Newall

There is a bill before the state Senate that would do something real – something lasting – for survivors of sexual abuse. Something that would allow so many the opportunity for justice they have long been denied. Something that could help them heal – that could help them ease and carry their burdens.

Passed by the House on April 12, H.B. 1947 would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for sexual abuse and extend the civil statutes by 20 years, until victims turn 50. It would allow victims to sue over abuse that occurred decades ago.

The bill does not go far enough. As written, it would offer no recourse to the many victims of the Catholic Church abuse scandal who are older than 50. But it would represent real and significant progress.

“It would be a big victory,” said John Salveson, an abuse survivor from Wayne and the founder of the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse. “We have been trying to do this for years. The resistance has just been impossible to overcome.”

It has, of course, taken way too long for legislators to get to the point where the impossible now seems possible.

It took two scathing Philadelphia grand jury reports – one in 2005, another in 2011 – outlining decades of sexual abuse of children by priests and other clergy and decades of cover-up by the church hierarchy.

More recently, it took the equally indefensible revelations in a March grand jury report on the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, where church leaders, prosecutors, and police reportedly ignored decades of abuse allegations.

It took the indictments, a few weeks later, of three Franciscan leaders in Johnstown who prosecutors say covered up for a friar who abused at least 100 children over two decades.

It took too much.

And the bill would not be even a possibility if it were not for the committed leadership of State Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), the bill’s driving force and an abuse victim himself, who told the Inquirer that he is pushing for its passage with “full guns blazing.”

That is welcome news.

I have covered this story since the first whispers of scandal seeped from the Philly Archdiocese in 2002, first for Philly’s alternative weekly newspapers and then as a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. Over the years, I have spoken with dozens of survivors.

People like Brian McDonnell, 70, who was abused by a priest at the now-closed St. Gregory’s in West Philadelphia. Brian suffered years of mental illness, the manifestations of which, his doctors said, were inextricably intertwined with his abuse. His family had to fight the archdiocese to help navigate the maze of mental health treatment.

Brian died in April, apologizing to his relatives for being a “burden.” He was the furthest thing from that to the people who loved him. But how could you blame him for thinking it? It’s exactly how the church he loved so much treated him.

I have spoken, too, with relatives of victims who did not survive, but were lost to drugs or suicide, to the toxic shame and anger that swallow so many victims.

People a bill like this could have helped.

Like James Spoerl, who was 44 and lived in Northeast Philadelphia. He suffered through years of depression and addiction stemming from abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest as a 9-year-old altar boy at St. Cecilia Parish.

The statute of limitations had expired when James stepped forward in 2002. It was too late for a civil suit. His mother, Catherine, became her son’s advocate, struggling with the archdiocese, she says, to get him the proper therapy and addiction treatment he needed.

“Their response has always been cold and formal,” she said of the archdiocese, a sentiment echoed by many Philadelphia survivors. “They have lacked compassion, attentiveness, empathy, and a repenting spirit.”

Meanwhile, James documented his anguish in his journals.

“I forgive you [expletive] for the cover-up of abuse and all the children you sent to hell here on earth,” he wrote of the church on one page.

James Spoerl died March 30, after battling diabetes and other illnesses.

His mother is now fighting for other mothers’ sons.

“My son did not live long enough to see a change,” she said of the bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations. “But I hope that others who are waiting to be heard are soon granted this right. No human being should be denied this right.”

No, they should not.

Complete Article HERE!

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Devout Catholic catalogues clergy’s crimes, offers victims comfort

Sylvia MacEachern’s website go-to gathering place for church abuse victims

By Simon Gardner

Sylvia MacEachern has dedicated years of her life to tracking and cataloguing convicted child molesters and alleged abusers connected to the church.
Sylvia MacEachern has dedicated years of her life to tracking and cataloguing convicted child molesters and alleged abusers connected to the church.

Mike Fitzgerald is a 60-year-old truck driver who grew up on a farm near Bancroft, Ont.

mike-fitzgerald-ottawa
Mike Fitzgerald, 60, was in his teens when he says he was sexually assaulted by a priest in Bancroft, Ont.

It’s with some trepidation that I ask him if we can meet at the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, a grand Catholic church located in Ottawa’s ByWard Market. He readily agrees, but when I meet him and his wife Marla on the steps of the cathedral he admits to feeling uncomfortable.

“The good father destroyed my faith in the Catholic Church forever,” he explains.

When I hear about what happened to Fitzgerald when he was a teenager in the early 1970s, his bitterness comes as no surprise.

Fitzgerald grew up in a devout Catholic family. There was even talk of him becoming a priest.

He was musical, and when he turned 17 he agreed to help the parish priest, Father Henry Maloney, form a choir.

Because his family’s farm was about 35 kilometres from Our Lady of Mercy Church in Bancroft, it was decided Fitzgerald would move into a room in the church rectory.

He says he and his family had no idea he was about to fall into the clutches of a child molester.

‘You are going to sleep with me now’

“I remember very clearly the day I came home to the rectory and Father had moved all my personal belongings into his bedroom and said, ‘You are going to sleep with me now,'” Fitzgerald recalls.

Father Henry Maloney was a member of the clergy until he died in 1986.
Father Henry Maloney was a member of the clergy until he died in 1986.

In his lawsuit against the Pembroke Diocese, he claimed Maloney repeatedly sexually assaulted him.

“It started out with groping, fondling and it eventually culminated in August of that year with anal rape. And there was some physical damage the next day. I had to go and see a doctor and [Maloney] told me I should not go to my own family doctor. I should go to his doctor, who turned out to be just the same.”

The lawsuit against the diocese was settled last year. The terms are confidential and Fitzgerald will only say it’s given him some degree of financial security.

In their original statement of defence, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pembroke said it had no knowledge of any abuse by Maloney, denied anything occurred, and said that if there was abuse — the diocese was not to blame.

The archdiocese declined to comment for this story. (During negotiation between the diocese and Fitzgerald’s lawyer, it was revealed that another lawsuit claiming abuse by Maloney was filed. The allegations, which have not been proven in court, date back to the late 1940s.)

Fitzgerald’s focus is now on recovery. For years he was angry, bitter and racked with sexual insecurities.

Rogues’ gallery of abusers, suspects

Though unable to forgive, these days Fitzgerald seems more at peace.

He credits much of his recovery to an unlikely saviour: a grandmother of 11 who maintains a website from her home in Fitzroy Harbour, a community on the outskirts of Ottawa.

People who meet Sylvia MacEachern are typically struck by her intensity, her deep outrage at the plight of abuse victims —  and her unshakable devotion to the Catholic faith..

For years MacEachern has been a familiar face at trials and investigations into church abuse scandals. As a result, she’s amassed a huge collection of files, transcripts and other documents.

Sylvia’s Site, as she calls it, is a WordPress-based blog and database launched in 2010.

Sylvia MacEachern runs her website from her home in Fitzroy Harbour, Ont.
Sylvia MacEachern runs her website from her home in Fitzroy Harbour, Ont.

Since then, the website has showcased an ever-expanding rogues’ gallery of Catholic Church abusers or suspects. As well, the site is increasingly becoming a conduit for victims to describe their painful memories, and often, to express their anger.

Father Maloney is one of about 350 people listed in the “accused” section of MacEachern’s website. The alphabetical catalogue includes clergy members who were charged and convicted for their crimes, but also those who have successfully appealed, who reached settlements with their alleged victims, or who have simply been named in investigations.

‘The Mother Theresa of Fitzroy Harbour’

MacEachern’s mission to document alleged crimes by Catholic clergy has made her a thorn in the side of the Church.

But her status as an outspoken critic predates her website. I recall speaking with a senior Church official about 25 years ago who was incensed over a publication called The Orator.

The magazine exposed divisions within the Church and criticized the more liberal practices that were taking hold. MacEachern was its editor.

“They don’t love me,” she says with a sly grin.

Hundreds of victims who have stumbled across Sylvia’s Site and made contact with her feel differently.

“I call Sylvia the Mother Theresa of Fitzroy Harbour, Ontario,” says Fitzgerald. “She has been the shoulder that hundreds of us have leaned on. I don’t know where she gets her patience from. She has been a godsend to us.”

MacEachern now describes herself as “Orthodox Catholic,” but she was born in Northern Ireland into a staunchly Protestant family. Much to the shock of her father, she married a Catholic man and converted to the faith.

Her doubts about the Church started in the early 90s when a popular and respected Ottawa priest was charged with molesting boys at a summer camp for underprivileged kids.

MacEachern says she was shocked by the “abysmal” way the archdiocese treated the victims, and disgusted by the level of denial among parishioners even after the priest pleaded guilty.

At first she didn’t realize how important the site would become to victims.

Website unites victim, alleged abuser’s relative

Father Henry Maloney died in 1986, but Sylvia’s Site has now drawn together Mike Fitzgerald and one of Maloney’s relatives.

“I got a telephone call from Sylvia. She said you are not going to believe this but an extended member of your abuser’s family has contacted me and would like me to release your telephone number to her,” says Fitzgerald.

He says he’s since formed a “warm relationship” with the priest’s relative. The messages between them, he says, are full of “love, compassion, kindness, everything I have been looking for for some time.”

There are now plans for the two to meet in person, possibly as soon as the mid-May. Fitzgerald predicts it will be an emotional moment.

MacEachern says she’s never seen a relative reach out to a victim like this, but she wishes it would happen more often.

Film Spotlight ‘stirring something in a lot of them’

MacEachern says the number of victims contacting her is growing. She credits the acclaimed film Spotlight.

Mike Fitzgerald grew up on his family's farm near Bancroft, Ont.
Mike Fitzgerald grew up on his family’s farm near Bancroft, Ont.

The movie centres around a group of investigative journalists at The Boston Globe who expose how the Catholic Church covered up abuse perpetrated by a network of nearly 90 priests in the Boston area.

“It’s stirring something in a lot of victims. They are suddenly getting in touch,” MacEachern says.

MacEachern says Fitzgerald is one of hundreds of victims she’s communicated with since starting Sylvia’s Site.

“You will have a grown man or woman who one day decides to Google the name of their priest molester. Most of them can’t explain why. They hit the site and discover, ‘Gosh, he’s already been charged and convicted, gosh, he’s dead, but there has been several lawsuits.’ They suddenly realize, ‘I am not the only one.'”

She adds that many victims take their secrets to the grave, or only disclose their experiences near the end of their lives. It’s rare for her to hear from men in their 20s or 30s, she says.

Church ‘hijacked’

About a year ago, an 82-year-old man from Toronto contacted her and covertly described being abused in his youth by a priest.

“This man got in touch with me and had very specific instruction to call him at a certain time of day when his wife would be sleeping. He did not want her to know and he’s 82 years old. He had never told a soul. He didn’t want his wife to know because she is a practicing Catholic and he was afraid it would destroy her faith.”

Some question how she keeps her own faith, but she insists it’s not her devotion to Catholicism that’s been shaken, but her confidence in those in charge.

“I tell people our Church has been hijacked by these fellows.”

MacEachern firmly believes the only way forward is to clean house. She says clergy members who abuse children must be defrocked.

“Any priest who lays a wayward hand on any child, or on an adult for that matter, he doesn’t belong in the priesthood. Get him out.”

Complete Article HERE!