- In Australia, Ireland and Canada victims of sexually
abusive priests often speak of wanting an apology. In the United States
money talks. Victims want, and get, huge sums.
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- The crisis in the Catholic Church in the US is providing
steady employment for a growing number of lawyers seeking to specialise
in this new, lucrative area.
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- One of them, the Massachusetts-based Jeffrey Newman,
has filed 400 lawsuits on behalf of people who say they were abused by
priests.
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- Another, Stephen Rubino, has represented about 250 victims.
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- His office fielded 15 telephone calls or emails a day
from them, he said.
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- Already, the church has set aside $US30 million ($56
million) for victims of John Geoghan, who is accused of molesting 130 children
over 30 years. He is serving a nine-year term for abusing one boy.
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- In Texas, the diocese of Dallas has paid out $US31 million
to 11 plaintiffs, after Rudolph Kos was convicted on seven counts. In New
Mexico, the diocese of Santa Fe paid $US50 million to victims after 20
priests were removed from duties. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, the diocese
settled a civil case against six priests, for undisclosed millions. In
Santa Rosa, California, four plaintiffs were awarded $US1.6 million.
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- In an earlier case, victims sued the Catholic Church
after a Louisiana priest, Gilbert Gauthe, was found guilty of molesting
37 boys. During his trial it became clear that church officials had known
about his tendency since the 1970s, and had moved him from parish to parish,
rather than reporting him to police. Settlements reportedly ran into hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
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- In most of the cases that have resulted in large payouts
the church itself has been implicated, accused of protecting priests it
knew were molesting children.
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- That is why Mr Newman has announced that he intends to
sue the Holy See.
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- Nobody has ever successfully sued the Vatican, but Mr
Newman has in his corner an important witness, the Rev Thomas Doyle, a
priest who co-authored a 1985 report to US bishops, warning them about
the level of abuse by priests.
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- Mr Doyle is a canon-law expert. He previously worked
in the Vatican embassy in Washington, but now gives evidence for plaintiffs.
He has agreed to be an expert witness for Andersen, and will say that when
he worked in the embassy he regularly sent information about sexual abuse
to the Vatican.
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- His confidential 1985 report is now on the Internet.
Victims groups say it proves the church was aware as far back as 1985 that
abuse by priests was a problem, and that it chose to "manage"
rather than confront it.
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- The report was written by the Rev Michael Peterson, who
was openly gay before he converted to Catholicism and became a priest.
Peterson, who died in 1987, founded a private Catholic hospital that treats
priests for sexual problems.
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- His report was dismissed by US bishops. Some may have
thought he was touting for business for his clinic. Others regarded him
as extreme.
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- The report now reads now like prophecy.
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- The church was facing "extremely serious financial
consequences" and "significant injury" to its image as a
result of the "sexual molestation of children by clerics, priests,
permanent deacons and transient deacons, non-ordained religious, lay employees
and seminarians" in 1985, it warned.
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- At that time, more than $US100 million in claims had
been made against one diocese as a result of sexual contact between a priest
"and a number of minor children".
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- The report says the settlement for seven cases, including
fees and expenses, had exceeded $US5 million, and that "the average
settlement for each case was nearly $US500,000".
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- The report estimates that "total projected losses
for the decade" could be $US1 billion.
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- The report also warned that television and newspaper
reporters were on to the story and that the American Bar Association and
plaintiff lawyers were "conducting studies ... about this new, developing
area of law".
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- "The potential exposure to the Catholic Church ...
is very great," the report added.
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- It recommended that clerics accused of abuse should not
be permitted to function "in any priestly capacity".
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- News organisations this week reported that dozens of
priests convicted of sex abuses were conducting Easter Mass last Sunday.
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- This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/06/1017206269472.html
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