Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, threatens bankruptcy in face of child sex-abuse lawsuits
By Kathianne Boniello
Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre Al Bello/Getty Images
One of the nation’s largest Catholic dioceses is threatening bankruptcy if a Long Island judge doesn’t pause the nearly 100 child sex-abuse lawsuits it faces.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves more than 1.4 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, claims it’s in an “ever-more serious financial situation,” straining under the legal costs of defending itself in court while its income has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, according to court papers.
For two weeks during New York’s months-long virus shutdown, which canceled mass and church gatherings, the diocese received no money from parishioners — donations that usually account for 40 percent of the diocese’s income, it said.
Important dates on the Catholic calendar, including Holy Week and Easter Sunday, brought in a measly $363,000 from Long Islanders, down 60 percent, Rockville Centre claims.
The diocese, currently led by Bishop John Barres, has shelled out $3.7 million so far defending itself against 94 lawsuits filed against it under New York’s Child Victims Act, which provides a legal window to revive decades-old abuse claims. So far, two Catholic dioceses upstate, Rochester and Buffalo, have filed for bankruptcy because of CVA cases.
A bankruptcy proceeding could put all the property owned in the diocese “at risk,” said Michael Dowd, a lawyer for alleged victims who called the threat “callous.”
“They are pitting parishioners against the young people who suffered horrific abuse in a continuing attempt to refuse to accept responsibility,” he said.
The diocese called bankruptcy “a last resort” that is “not an attempt to turn its back on victims or shield predators from any punishment they deserve.”
Rockville Centre lost its challenge to the law’s constitutionality in April when Nassau Supreme Court Justice Steven Jaeger ruled the law “a reasonable response to remedy the injustice of past child sexual abuse.”
The diocese, which is appealing Jaeger’s decision, argues if it must continue to litigate the CVA cases while the appeal is ongoing, it will also be forced to end a program which has so far paid out $57 million to 320 abuse victims.
Rockville Center, NY
Former Mount Loretto resident was sexually abused by priest, religious brother, suit alleges
By Frank Donnelly | fdonnelly@siadvance.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – A former resident who was placed in the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto more than 60 years ago said he only stayed for a few months.
The reason: A priest and a religious brother at the mission sexually abused him multiple times, a lawsuit alleges. So, he ran away back home.
The suit is the latest by a former resident alleging abuse at the one-time Pleasant Plains orphanage decades ago. (Staten Island Advance file photo)
Recently filed against the Archdiocese of New York and Catholic Charities of Staten Island, the suit is the latest claim of sexual abuse brought by a former resident of the Pleasant Plains shelter, which for decades was a haven for homeless and destitute children.
The litigation was filed in state Supreme Court, St. George, under the Child Victims Act.
Enacted last Aug. 14, the law created a one-year window for plaintiffs of any age to sue alleged abusers regardless of when the abuse occurred.
The law also allows victims of sexual abuse to sue their alleged abuser any time before they turn 55.
Last month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a provision extending the filing period to Jan. 14, 2021, citing the statewide limitation of court functions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plaintiff, a Staten Island resident, is listed as John Doe 1.
“It is disappointing and unfortunate that another child, who had nowhere else to go and was entrusted to the priests and brothers at Mt. Loretto, experienced the type of extreme sexual abuse as alleged in this case,” said Bradley L. Rice, the plaintiff’s lawyer.
“This is just another horrific example that for decades the NY Archdiocese and Catholic Charities of Staten Island supervised institutions where pervasive child sexual abuse could and did occur,” Rice said. “Thankfully, because of the Child Victims Act, men like my client are finally able to come forward and seek justice.”
Joseph Zwilling, an Archdiocese spokesman, said the Archdiocese is aware of the suit, and “take(s) all allegations of sexual abuse seriously.” However, the Archdiocese is unable to comment on the specifics of any particular lawsuit, said Zwilling.
A civil complaint alleges that around 1959, the plaintiff and several of his siblings were placed in Mount Loretto because their parents were unable to properly care for them. The plaintiff was 13 then.
Shortly after his arrival, the boy was “targeted” by both a priest and a religious brother who “repeatedly sexually abused, raped and molested” him, alleges the complaint.
The priest would take the teen to a laundry room or dining room where he “forced” the youngster to engage in oral and anal sex, the complaint alleges. Once, the priest sexually molested the boy in his car, alleges the complaint.
“This abuse occurred so often that plaintiff is unable to recall the exact number of instances of rape and abuse,” the complaint contends. The molestation was so pervasive the boy ran away from Mount Loretto and returned to his parents’ home, alleges the complaint.
The Archdiocese and Catholic Charities “took no steps to prevent or stop plaintiff’s abuse,” the complaint alleges. The plaintiff alleges he suffered “emotional and psychological trauma and humiliation” due to the purported abuse.
The suit is one of several filed over the past year in which a number of one-time Mount Loretto residents allege they were abused at the hands of nuns, priests and lay employees at the former orphanage. Some of the alleged incidents date as far back as the 1950s, with the last extending into the early 1990s.
As the suits became public last year, several former Mount Loretto residents rallied to the mission’s defense. They told the Advance/SILive.com they were unaware of any sexual abuse that allegedly occurred on the grounds, nor had they ever heard of such incidents.
If they were 'good Catholics' they would have rejected any such complaints as absurd.
Mount Loretto served as a children’s shelter beginning in the late 1800s and fostered thousands of children over its 100-plus year history. Many were wards of the court, either orphaned or from broken homes and other dire circumstances.
By 1964, it was the largest child-care institution in the U.S. The average stay for most youngsters was three years, but some could spend their entire teenage years at the facility.
The end of foster-care service was announced in 1994. Today, the campus is run by Catholic Charities of Staten Island and is home to two public schools, a senior and a community center, a food pantry and a day-care facility.
The lasting toxic effects of former NZ Catholic Marist brother Kevin Healy
Georgia-May Gilbertson
Former Marist brother Kevin Healy, outside Napier District Court, shortly after pleading guilty to historical sex offending.
STUFF
A Catholic Marist Brother told a girl he sexually assaulted to push rotten tomatoes into her face because she was so "ugly".
The victim no longer lives in New Zealand, but the toxic memories of Kevin Healy's offending are a constant reminder of betrayal, fear and anger.
The 81 year old, previously known as ''Brother Gordon'', was sentenced to nine months of home detention when he appeared in the Napier District Court on June 5, after pleading guilty to four charges of indecency between a man and boys aged 12 and 13, and one of indecency with a girl aged under 12.
The offending occurred between 1976 and 1977 when Healy was a member of the Marist Brothers and an active school teacher in Wairarapa.
The female victim was just nine years old when he began assaulting her and her father notified the church about Healy's offending.
"Parents of the parish had a meeting about it and as a result highlighted it to church officials, my father being one of them. Brother Gordon was moved on from the school and parish, as was another offending Marist Brother," she said.
Healy was confronted by the church in 2003 after the victim made an official complaint, but denied all knowledge of the offending, including knowing her family. "This angered me into proceeding with charges as my father and mother were very prominent, faithful members of our parish," she said.
The woman said she felt as though the church had "turned their back" on her.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and a breakdown followed her throughout life. The Church offered counselling at the time of her complaint and, later, a $5000 payout..
"I believe the church knew about the abuse. He [Healy], like others, was simply moved on. I was one in a long chain of abuse."
"One has to understand that being a Catholic is not like a membership into a tennis club or something similar. It is a way of life, it is spiritually that one is taught to live by."
Unfortunately, for thousands of Catholic priests is was merely a performance to gain the trust of parents and access to their children.
The woman said Healy "normalised" his actions in that the children believed "he was a man of God". "I heard others talking about him and how he had touched them, and somehow that normalised it. However, I could not make sense of the fear I had around him."
The Catholic Church’s National Office for Professional Standards (NOPS) said it would look at all aspects of how the Marists dealt with complaints about Healy and another Marist brother, Michael Beaumont, in the 1970s.
Beaumont, a former Marist Brother, had been teaching and working in the Masterton community when he sexually abused the children.
He abused the 9-year-old girl while her family
had their eyes closed in prayer
Beaumont was sentenced at the North Shore District Court last year to 12 months' home detention for indecent assault and possessing obscene fantasy literature.
NOPS National Director Virginia Noonan said "Ms A" made formal complaints against the two men in the early 2000s to the Marist Brothers’ own abuse protocol body, but they were not upheld when the men denied them. “We will get an outside reviewer to look thoroughly at what was done and not done with Ms A’s complaints,” Noonan said.
“The Church has nothing but compassion and regret for what happened to Ms A. It is deeply disturbing that her ordeal has gone on for so many decades. We want to assure her that we will work with the Marist Brothers to address her very valid concerns.”
Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust manager Ken Clearwater said he'd spoken to "hundreds if not thousands" of abuse survivors from the church STUFF
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was also investigating issues and neglect in faith-based institutions, including the Catholic Church.
"We encourage all victims/survivors of abuse in care to contact the commission with information that will assist our investigation," a spokesperson said.
" I offered to speak to them directly but that was declined. Their lawyers offered $5000 (for Healy and Beaumont's crimes) if I signed a wavier," the victim said.
She tried to speak to the Marist order directly, but her request was declined by its lawyers.
Ken Clearwater, from the National Advocate for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust, said he had spoken to "hundreds if not thousands of male victims" of sexual abuse from the Church during the years.
"Imagine if you're a 5-9 year old boy and you've got a priest telling you all these things [sexual acts] are bad, then they're made to do them, they have nowhere to go."
Clearwater said many victims from a church background who confronted their parents often "got a hiding" for saying "horrible things" about the priests.
"It's hard enough for your average survivor in general to come back from abuse, but to have that added burden of clergy embedded in you is absolutely horrendous and one of the biggest betrayals of trust to ever happen."
Numerous victims of childhood sex abuse
file lawsuits against Diocese of Trenton
Caution: graphic details in this story
By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman sulaiman@Trentonian.com
TRENTON — The Diocese of Trenton is facing numerous lawsuits alleging it failed time and again to prevent the sexual abuse of children.
These civil-action complaints in Mercer County Superior Court are a microcosm of the widespread sex abuse scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.
“It’s an epidemic in the Catholic Church, and it has been going on for centuries,” attorney John W. Baldante told The Trentonian in an interview. “The Catholic Church has largely ignored this behavior.”
Baldante represents at least 10 plaintiffs in lawsuits accusing the Diocese of Trenton of negligence, saying the institution failed to provide a safe environment and protective culture to children and other parishioners within the churches, sacristies, schools, rectories and other facilities overseen by the diocese.
Airing its dirty laundry, the Diocese of Trenton last year publicly identified 31 former clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor.
“Anyone who was sexually victimized as a minor by a priest or deacon of the Diocese of Trenton is strongly encouraged to participate in the IVCP,” the diocese says on its website, referring to the New Jersey Independent Victim Compensation Program that compensates eligible victims who were sexually abused while minors by clergy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Baldante says the IVCP initiative is a “thinly veiled effort to settle atrocities cheaply.”
All of Baldante’s clients demand more than $50 million in damages for the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of former Trenton-area priests.
“When a child is sexually abused they are diminished,” Baldante said. “The humanity is diminished; their self-worth is diminished.”
“This process,” he said of the litigation, “is to really force the church to respect them as a person, to restore the self-esteem, and to restore the humanity.”
The lawsuits
Two of Baldante’s cases highlight the abusive ways of Francis M. McGrath, 69, a former Diocese of Trenton priest at Saint Anthony Catholic Church in Hamilton and an ex-teacher at McCorristin Catholic High School, now known as Trenton Catholic Academy.
McGrath has been credibly accused of sexual abuse on multiple victims and was removed from ministry, according to the diocese’s accountability list.
McGrath previously molested a 17-year-old boy on four separate occasions inside his rectory bedroom at St. Anthony’s in 1983, according to one of the lawsuits, which says the ex-priest exposed his penis and masturbated in front of the victim before fondling the victim and performing oral sex on him.
Known as Father McGrath, the ex-priest in 1978 sexually abused an 11-year-old altar boy on multiple occasions and in multiple venues, including his car and the rectory and sacristy of the church, according to another lawsuit, which says McGrath penetrated the victim’s rectum with his fingers on approximately eight occasions.
Another lawsuit exposes Gregory Vaughan, a former priest at St. Raphael’s in Hamilton and one of the Diocese of Trenton’s ex-clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse against minors. Before being removed from ministry, Vaughan anally penetrated an 8-year-old altar boy in 1987 on multiple occasions and forced the victim into performing oral sex thereafter, the complaint alleges.
Douglas Hermansen, a former Notre Dame High School chaplain also known as Father Doug, has been credibly accused of sexual abuse on one minor and is newly accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a 15-year-old altar boy in 1975 well before becoming an ordained priest in 1979. Hermansen is currently removed from ministry. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Mercer County Superior Court, alleges Hermansen anally penetrated the victim more than 100 times.
Four lawsuits mention the sexual exploits of the late Frank Iazetta, a former Notre Dame High faculty member credibly accused of sexual abuse on multiple victims. Iazetta, who died in 2007, molested minors in the 1970s, including the act of touching and massaging the vagina of a 7-year-old girl in 1975, according to one of the lawsuits.
Two additional lawsuits describe the debauchery of the late Ronald Becker, a former Diocese of Trenton priest credibly accused of sexual abuse on multiple victims. Becker, who died in 2009, targeted boys in the 1970s and ’80s, according to the complaints.
The Trentonian generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
A Diocese of Trenton spokesperson had no comment for this story, saying: “We don’t comment on matters of litigation. Thank you.”
Baldante, who represents at least 10 plaintiffs suing the Diocese of Trenton, said the Catholic Church should have known about the widespread sexual abuse on children and should have stopped it well before the 21st century.
“They created this environment,” he said Tuesday in an interview. “The Catholic Church has known for centuries their priests were sexually abusing children and did absolutely nothing to change the situation and protect those children.”
Criminal prosecution
State Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal in September 2018 formed the Clergy Abuse Task Force to investigate allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey.
Former priest Thomas P. Ganley, 65, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence at the Central Reception and Assignment Facility after admitting he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the early 1990s. The Clergy Abuse Task Force secured his guilty plea last year.
Lawrence Township resident Brendan Williams, who appears on the list of credibly accused clergy, has been arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault last September on allegations he molested an underage girl in the late 1990s.
The New Jersey Clergy Abuse Task Force filed the criminal case against Williams, who has been removed from ministry and formally laicized by the church.
Victims of Catholic Church sex crimes in New Jersey may contact the Clergy Abuse Hotline at (855) 363-6548.
Wyoming bishop accused of abuse won’t be charged
Christopher White Crux Now
Bishop Joseph Hart anoints a newly ordained priest on Thursday, May 11, 2000. Hart, former bishop of Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyo., was accused by multiple men of sexual misconduct while he was a priest in Kansas City. (Credit: Wyoming Tribune via AP.)
NEW YORK - Following a decision by Wyoming prosecutors not to charge retired Bishop Joseph Hart for sexual abuse against minors, his alleged victims are looking to the Church’s canonical process as the last chance for the 88-year-old prelate to be brought to justice.
As first reported by the Kansas City Star on Tuesday, and confirmed by Crux on Wednesday, a Wyoming witness coordinator informed one of Hart’s accusers that the prosecutor would not advance the case, citing insufficient evidence. This comes nearly two years after the Diocese of Cheyenne deemed the allegations from the same individual to be credible in 2018.
In a statement on Thursday, Bishop Steven Biegler, the current bishop of Cheyenne, said he stands by the diocese’s determination and noted that Hart’s case is still under review in Rome.
“This decision not to pursue a criminal case does not mean that the victims are not credible,” he said. “Once again, I commend the victims who have spoken courageously about their abuse. I also stand behind the determination made by the Diocese of Cheyenne that allegations of sexual abuse against former Bishop Hart are credible.”
Hart, who served as bishop of Cheyenne from 1978-2001, has twice been investigated by the police over abuse-related allegations. The first investigation took place in 2002 but following a two month investigation, a Natrona County prosecutor closed the investigation. A second investigation began in 2018, and in August 2019 the Cheyenne Police Department recommended to prosecutors that charges be made against the bishop.
“Wyoming is unique in that it does not have a statute of limitations, and therefore these crimes, which were committed in the 1970s and 1980s, can still be investigated and prosecuted,” a press release from the police department noted at the time.
But, only if there is a will to do so.
Following those recommendations, Laramie County District Attorney Leigh Ann Manlove recused herself from the case and forwarded it to Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen to serve as a special prosecutor on the case.
When Crux reached the alleged victim on Wednesday, he said he received a voicemail on Friday from the witness coordinator for Itzen. On Monday, the two connected and he was told that the prosecutor would not bring the case forward.
(It is the policy of Crux not to identify the victims of sexual abuse who do not want to be named.)
The victim told Crux that he found the news “mind-boggling,” citing a conversation with detectives two years ago who assured him that criminal charges would be brought against Hart and even being told that they have “more files on Hart than they possess for double homicide cases.”
Despite repeated requests, Itzen has declined to speak to the alleged victim to further explain his reasoning not to bring charges.
“The idea that you could drop the case without speaking to the person who was going to be in the witness stand is outrageous,” he said on Thursday.
He also said since he came forward, 6 other victims have come forward in Cheyenne with allegations against the retired bishop.
Prior to being named a bishop, Hart had served in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for the first two decades of his priesthood following ordination in 1956. Although his ecclesial career spanned over five decades, serving in two states where he was widely popular, he has been trailed by allegations of serial abuse - which he has consistently denied - dodging both civil and canonical adjudication for more than two decades.
Tom Jubin, a Cheyenne-based attorney for Hart, declined Crux’s request for comment on Thursday.
A 2019 Crux investigation chronicled accounts of alleged victims in both Missouri and Wyoming who charge that Hart regularly groomed and then abused young men dating back to his earliest days as a priest. As of 2019, the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph had settled 10 cases of abuse against Hart.
Upon hearing the news from Cheyenne, Darrel Hunter, who believes he was one of Hart’s earliest victims, told Crux that he believed the decision not to prosecute stems from “a lack of political courage.”
Hunter, who resides in Kansas City, Missouri, is the son of Hart’s long-time secretary, Stella Hunter. Darrel has previously told Crux that he was the victim of misconduct by Hart at age 12, along with his two brothers, Kevin and Mike.
The Hunter family first approached church officials in 1992 with allegations against Hart and nearly 30 years later, with numerous new complaints against the bishop, he’s dismayed that the prelate has evaded prosecution from civil authorities and a removal from the priesthood by ecclesial authorities.
Hunter noted that it wasn’t until 2018 with the arrival of the new bishop, James Johnston, who began regularly meeting with the family, that the allegations from the Hunter family were finally deemed as credible.
During his lengthy tenure in Wyoming, Hart developed a number of ties with state and local officials where even today he is remembered fondly by some area Catholics - a fact that his victims believe has complicated the judicial process with too many conflicts of interest.
“The idea that the police recommended charges and they’re still not going to charge him with anything - how is this criminal justice?,” asked one of his accusers in an interview with Crux on Thursday.
Both he, along with Hunter, said that putting Hart in jail was never their desired goal, noting that given his advanced age, it was unlikely that he would live through the trial and appeals process. Instead, they said they wanted charges brought and a public hearing of their case - one in which they noted that Hart, too, would be given due process.
Upon being named to Cheyenne in 2017, Biegler was briefed by his predecessor, Archbishop Paul Etienne, now in Seattle, on the history of Hart and informed him that he had written to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2010 to alert them of the matter, but the case seemed stalled. Biegler went on to re-open the investigation at a diocesan level and in 2019, Pope Francis green-lighted a penal process against Hart by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. If found guilty, Hart could face removal from the priesthood.
“The Diocese of Cheyenne is adamant in a sincere quest for justice for everyone. A just resolution is essential for the victims and their family members, but also for the clergy and laity in the Diocese of Cheyenne and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph’s,” wrote Biegler in his statement Thursday.
He said that he hopes the district attorney’s office will “offer an adequate account of the reasons for its decision not to pursue criminal charges. This would assist the public in understanding why such a decision was reached,” he said, while also noting that he has not received any updated information from the Vatican on the case.
For Hart’s accusers, who say that for years, the Church was a roadblock to justice, they now believe this is an opportunity to get things right - even as they say that civil authorities are failing to hold Hart accountable.
“I don’t want him to be in a prison cell, but he represents something that’s wrong,” Hunter told Crux. “Now, we’ll have to wait and see what the Vatican says.”
“Everyone just seems to be waiting around for him to die so that they don’t have to deal with this,” Hart’s victim told Crux on Thursday. “But if the Vatican acts and actually removes him from the priesthood, that would be earthly and heavenly justice.”
No! Heavenly justice will happen regardless of what happens here on earth. He would be far better off to face the truth now, rather than wait until he faces Jesus Christ.
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