Scarsdale, NY, Catholic school coach groomed
child sex victims, according to new lawsuit
Frank Esposito, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
A former coach is accused of using more than one school in Westchester County to groom young boys for sexual abuse, according to a new court filing.
Edwin "Ted" Gaynor is accused of abusing an unnamed plaintiff while teaching at the Church of Saint Bernard's grammar school in White Plains in the early 1960s, according to the Westchester court filing.
Gaynor, a youth sports coach, used his position to foster trust with the young plaintiff, then got him alone in his office and molested him, according to the filing.
The unnamed plaintiff never told his father about the molestation for fear of being removed from various teams at the school, according to the filing.
Eventually the plaintiff's father pulled both him and his brother from the school for unknown reasons, according to the filing.
Saint Bernard closed its grammar school in 1977, according to the church's website.
This marks the eighth case against Gaynor, who worked at several schools in Westchester, including Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Scarsdale.
Archival news reports show him coaching at a Holy Rosary in Hawthorne in 1968, and working at a summer camp in Tarrytown during the late 1970s.
No former students or campers have claimed abuse at either of those sites.
Gaynor's alleged abuse follows the same pattern in each case.
The young boys — eager to impress their coach — would be given special attention or tasks only to allegedly be isolated and abused by Gaynor, according eight separate court filings.
Barbara Hart, of White Plains-based Lowey Dannenberg, expects more cases to be filed against Gaynor.
This is the latest case filed in Westchester County Court under the New York Child Victims Act, a law which allows people to sue for abuse regardless of the statute of limitations.
Pope abolishes 'pontifical secrecy' for sex abuse investigations
Victims hail the move as much overdue and say
it needs to be implemented broadly
Francis has been grappling with the fallout from the sex abuse scandals [File: Remo Casilli/Reuters]
AlJazeera
Advocates for the victims of the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Church for nearly 20 years applauded Tuesday's move as being long overdue, but said it had to be applied broadly.
Pontifical secrecy is a rule of confidentiality designed to protect sensitive information related to Church governance, such as diplomatic correspondence, personnel issues and alleged crimes.
Waiving the practice in sex abuse investigations was a key demand by Church leaders, including Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, at a summit on sexual abuse held at the Vatican in February.
Proponents of the move argued that secrecy in cases of sexual abuse of minors was outdated and that some Church officials were hiding behind it instead of cooperating with authorities.
"This is an epochal decision," Scicluna, the Vatican's most experienced sex abuse investigator, told Vatican Radio on Tuesday.
Two documents issued by the pope support practices that are already in place in some countries, particularly the United States, such as reporting suspicions of sexual abuse to civil authorities where required by law.
However, they stop short of mandating bishops and religious superiors to do so, saying they are obliged to report suspicions of abuse where civil reporting laws require it.
The Vatican has been under increasing pressure to cooperate more with law enforcement and its failure to do so has resulted in unprecedented raids in recent years on diocesan chanceries by police in different parts of the world, from Belgium to Chile.
'At last'
Victims said the decision would allow for more transparency and sharing of information with authorities while keeping a lower level of confidentiality similar to civil legal structures.
"Excellent news ... at last a real and positive change," Marie Collins, who was abused by a priest in her native Ireland as a girl and resigned in frustration from a papal commission on abuse because of what she saw as Vatican resistance, wrote on Twitter.
Anne Barret-Doyle, co-director of the US-based abuse documentation group BishopAccountability.org, said Francis had taken "an overdue and desperately needed step" but that its effect will be determined by how broadly it was applied.
Marie Collins
@marielco
Excellent news. Recommended by PCPM during first term, so good to see it being implement. At last a real and positive change. https://twitter.com/gerryorome/status/1206895679290953729 …
Gerard O'Connell
@gerryorome
Pope Francis abolishes the pontifical secret for sexual misconduct cases https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/17/pope-francis-abolishes-pontifical-secret-sexual-misconduct-cases …
For his part, Scicluna, the archbishop, said the new provisions opened up ways to communicate with victims and cooperate with the state.
"Certain jurisdictions would have easily quoted the pontifical secret ... to say that they could not, and that they were not authorised to share information with either state authorities or the victims," Scicluna said.
"Now that impediment, we might call it that way, has been lifted, and the pontifical secret is no more an excuse," he added.
Francis also raised from 14 to 18 the cutoff age below which the Vatican considers pornographic images to be child pornography. The reform is in response to the Vatican's increasing awareness of the prolific spread of online child porn that has frequently implicated churchmen.
So, does that mean that the Vatican is OK with its priests and bishops viewing pornography, as long as the actors, or victims, are 18 or over? Wow! Being a 'man of God' certainly has lower standards that I ever thought.
Last year, a Vatican court sentenced a Catholic priest to five years in jail for possessing child pornography while he was based in the US as a diplomat.
The numerous scandals have battered the Church's image internationally [File: David McNew/Reuters]
In this legal system, the most severe punishment a priest can incur is being defrocked or dismissed from the clerical state.
Francis has promised zero tolerance for offenders but victims of abuse want him to do more and make bishops who allegedly covered up the abuse accountable.
In May, the pope passed a landmark measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse to report it to their superiors, a move expected to bring even more cases to light.
In Tuesday's announcement, issued on the Argentine pontiff's 83rd birthday, Francis spelt out the new obligations. "The person who files the report, the person who alleged to have been harmed and the witnesses shall not be bound by any obligation of silence with regard to matters involving the case," he wrote.
Also on Tuesday, Francis accepted the resignation of Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Holy See's ambassador to France, who has been accused of sexual molestation. Ventura turned 75 last week, the mandatory retirement age for bishops.
Well, wasn't that nice of the Pope to wait until the paedophile was retirement age before accepting his resignation. In other words, no consequences from the Vatican for his alleged child molestation.
The Catholic Church has yet to deal with the reality that so many of their priests were/are paedophiles, and, even worse, so many paedophiles rose within the church to the levels of archbishop and even Cardinal. What a disgrace. God's judgment will not go well for the Catholic Church.
Child sexual abuse substantiated against
ex-Oklahoma priest
by Ken Miller, The Associated Press AccountabilityOKLAHOMA CITY — The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City said December 16 it has substantiated an allegation of child sexual abuse against another priest.
The archdiocese said it notified the Diocese of Baker in Oregon, where Pasala was serving as pastor and that the Oregon diocese removed him from the ministry on Dec. 6. Oklahoma City archdiocese spokeswoman Diane Clay said Pasala has returned to India for disciplinary action by the Diocese of Nellore and had no way of contacting him for comment.
Disciplinary action gets you sent to India!!!?? Hmmm.
The Diocese of Baker said in a news release that Pasala "will no longer be allowed to minister in the United States."
The release from the Very Rev. Richard O. Fischer, vicar general of the Diocese of Baker, said there have been no allegations against Pasala during his time there, where he had served since 2014 after returning to the U.S. from India.
In a report released in October, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City said allegations of child sexual abuse had been substantiated against 11 of its clerics from 1960 to 2018.
The archdiocese said the allegation against Pasala was not substantiated during the previous investigation. The archdiocese's list of those with substantiated sex abuse allegations says Pasala served at St. Monica Catholic Church in Edmond.
The Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma also released a list of 11 clerics who were found to have credible child sexual abuse allegations against them dating to 1973.
Child sexual abuse lawsuit to be filed next year
against San Diego Diocese
BY CITY NEWS SERVICESAN DIEGO — Four sexual assault victims of a convicted and now-deceased Catholic priest will sue the Diocese of San Diego early next year, as recently-enacted legislation allows the men to sue for damages even though the abuse occurred outside of the statute of limitations, the attorney representing the victims said Wednesday.
Following his removal from the priesthood, Rodrigue pleaded guilty in 1998 to molesting an 11-year-old developmentally disabled boy and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Rodrigue died in 2009.
Due to recently-enacted AB 218 — co-authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego — the plaintiffs in the latest suit will be allowed to sue the Diocese despite the abuse occurring in the 1960s and 1970s. AB 218 opens the window for similar lawsuits for a three-year period starting Jan. 1, 2020.
Kevin C. Eckery, vice chancellor and diocese spokesman, released a statement Wednesday regarding the litigation, in which the Diocese urged Rodrigue’s victims to contact the church for compensation and counseling, which they can receive whether or not they decide to take legal action.
“Former San Diego and San Bernardino priest Anthony Rodrigue was a destructive sexual predator active in the ’60s,’70s and ’80s who rightfully was sent to prison for his crimes. Our hearts and prayers and deepest apologies go out to his victims and all victims of clergy sex abuse,” the statement read.
“Regardless of the legal issues involved, we have a moral obligation to provide help to any victim-survivor of that abuse and we would urge their attorney to contact us so that counseling can be arranged at our expense. There are no prior conditions and the offer of counseling stands whether or not they sue the diocese.
“We would also invite them to participate in the Independent Compensation Program established this fall as an additional avenue they can use to pursue their legal claims. There are no costs or obligation to victims. If they go through the compensation program and reject the compensation offer they receive, they have not given up their right to pursue their claim in the courts. In most cases, a victim-survivor will receive an offer within 90 days of their claim being finalized.
“No amount of money can make up for the evil done to victims of priestly sex abuse. However, the San Diego Diocese continues to work diligently to support the victim-survivors and to prevent such crimes from ever occurring again.”
Zalkin said church officials were made aware of Rodrigue’s inclinations as early as his years in the seminary and did nothing despite the Diocese having “an avalanche of knowledge and notice of his propensities to abuse children.”
The attorney said that despite numerous complaints from parents, he was not disciplined, but rather moved from one parish to another and given more opportunities to abuse children.
Marvin Mayne, one of Rodrigue’s victims at a parish in Calexico, said he came forward now to help stop any future abuse of children, which he said was ongoing. “This isn’t done for money. It’s being done for what’s right,” Mayne said. “If anybody thinks it stopped, it hasn’t. It needs to stop.”
Man sues Catholic archdiocese over
child sexual abuse by priest in SF
Plaintiff Genaro Licea calls for release of names of abusive priests
LAURA WAXMANN SFExaminer
A survivor of child sexual abuse by a former priest at St. Finn Barr School is suing the Archdiocese of San Francisco in an effort to force the release of a long-promised list of names of clergy accused of sexual misconduct.
The lawsuit, filed by now 53-year-old Genaro Licea in San Francisco Superior Court on November 27, is also seeking damages for negligent supervision of a minor, among other things.
Standing on a sidewalk outside of The City’s archdiocese headquarters on Thursday, Licea said he was molested for a three-year period starting at age 7 by a now-deceased former priest at St. Finn Barr, Father John Kavanaugh. He decided to come forward to “speak out for those who cannot speak out for themselves right now.”
“I have been struggling with this for a long time. And I don’t want to be hidden anymore,” said Licea. “I want to make sure that my molester is on that list. They should release the list. They should not be hiding it.”
Licea alleges that two nuns and his teacher, to whom he reported Kavanaugh’s misconduct while he was still a student at the school, failed to intervene.
“That church protected him and left me out,” said Licea, adding that there are likely many others who have survived Kavanaugh’s abuse but have yet to step forward.
Licea’s attorney, Joseph George of the Law Offices of Joseph C. George, PH.D., said that apart from monetary compensation for Licea, the lawsuit is seeking to uncover evidence of additional misconduct and subsequent cover up by church officials, as well as a list of names of “credibly accused perpetrators” within the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Examiner reported previously that the Archdiocese of San Francisco is named in a separate lawsuit that could force church officials to release the names of alleged abusers and provide documents on clerical offenders.
While most of the state’s diocese have made public their lists of names, San Francisco and Fresno have not yet done so, according to George. San Francisco church officials initially said they would make their list public last November. More than a year later, it remains under wraps.
Obviously, they don't think it is important. Victims still come below the church and the criminals in the diocese's order of importance.
Mike Brown, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said on Thursday that he could not comment on Licea’s lawsuit because the church had not yet been served.
He added that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has “commissioned an independent analyst to go through 4,000 clergy files since the 1950s.”
According to Brown, that “analysis is almost complete.” He said that results will most likely be published “after the first of the new year.”
But Licea’s supporters said that the church is buying time.
“It’s just incredibly irresponsible of church officials to do this, and to claim they are compiling a list. We would and should be outraged if local district attorney said, ‘Well, I’m going after this drug gang with a long violent track record but I’m not going to announce anything until I have every single member identified,” said David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
“That puts the public at risk. And that’s what the San Francisco archbishop is doing with this continued secrecy,” added Clohessy. “Every single day the archdiocese hides a predator.”
Licea said that an internal investigation by the church launched years ago failed to hold his alleged abuser — and those who protected him — accountable. In 2005, he reported Kavanaugh to the Archdiocese of San Francisco and was interviewed by an investigator.
Some nine months ago, with the support of his attorney, he reported the abuse to state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
Assembly Bill 218, signed into law in October by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will give sexual abuse survivors of all ages three years to bring civil lawsuits that would have otherwise been blocked by existing statutes.
“It’s the longest window any state in the country has had. This week, New Jersey is opening a similar window. Most of them are one year. In California, we had a window in 2003, one year. So California is historic in that regard,” said Maricar Pascual, an attorney who is also representing Licea.
She added that dioceses across the country have been releasing lists of accused clergy because “they are feeling some pressure.”
But Clohessy said that the “crux of the crisis” is that “while many predator priests have been exposed, suspend and some have been prosecuted,” there are “virtually no consequences whatsoever for church officials who don’t own their promises, who don’t live up to the national policy, who continue to act recklessly and in secret.”
He urged parishioners to use the “power of the purse” to donate to organizations that support survivors of clerical abuse.
“We would encourage Bay Area Catholics to donate elsewhere until the archbishop comes clean and to give to organizations that expose and fight abuse, instead of an institution that enables and conceals abuse,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment