There’s a new twist in Mike McQueary’s whistleblower lawsuit against Penn State.
Attorneys for two former Penn State administrators are fighting the release of documents — even though they’re not named in McQueary’s lawsuit.
On Monday morning, attorneys for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley both filed emergency petitions to intervene.
They’re trying to prevent McQueary’s legal team from accessing a number documents, most notably, several emails between Penn State’s former general counsel, Cynthia Baldwin, and the lawyers who now represent Shultz and Curley.
Curley and Schultz were charged with perjury and failure to report shortly after Jerry Sandusky was indicted on child sex abuse charges on November 4, 2011.
In the latest court documents, Curley’s attorney, Caroline Roberto, says the requested emails are protected by attorney-client privilege and another legal tool known as “work product doctrine.” A similar argument was made by Shultz’ lawer, Thomas Farrell.
The filings point out that both Curley and Schultz have sought to have Baldwin’s grand jury testimony dismissed because they believed that she was representing them at the time she gave that testimony.
Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover ruled that no attorney-client relationship existed but that decision is now being appealed to the superior court.
The emails in question were produced between Nov. 1, 2011 and Nov. 3, 2011 at the height of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Those messages reportedly concern the draft of a statement that was released by Graham Spanier who at that time was Penn State’s president.
In the statement, Spanier says “Tim Curley and Gary Schultz operate at the highest levels of honesty, integrity and compassion. I am confident the record will show that these charges are groundless …”
Attorneys for Curley and Schultz have also filed for protective orders, asking a judge to prevent the release of those requested emails.
Spanier was charged with perjury and failure to report on November 1, 2012. Spanier, Curley and Schultz are also charged with endangering the welfare of children, criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The three men have all vigorously proclaimed their innocence. No trial date has been set.
In June, 2012, Sandusky was convicted on 45 charges of child sex abuse. He was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison.
One of the most controversial aspects of the entire Sandusky scandal was the testimony of former Penn State Assistant Football Coach Mike McQueary. McQueary told the jury that on Feb. 9, 2001, he saw Sandusky in the shower with a young boy. The next day McQueary says he reported the incident to then-head coach Joe Paterno. McQueary says, several days later, he talked with Curley and Schultz about what he had seen.
McQuerary’s coaching contract was not renewed, prompting his whistleblower lawsuit against the university.
Full article here: http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/curley-schultz-fight-release-of-documents-in-mcqueary-lawsuit,1463665/
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-04-21 03:18:222015-04-21 03:18:22Steve Bauer, Curley & Schultz Fight Release of Documents in McQueary Lawsuit, State College
THE ISSUE
State legislators and advocates for sexual assault victims lobbied last week for reforms to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations law. Adult victims of childhood sexual abuse only have until they’re 30 to bring civil action against their abusers. Bills in the state House and Senate would raise that to age 50. That would bring the civil statute in line with the criminal statute of limitations. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the public affairs arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania have lobbied against statute of limitation reform.
Pennsylvania should be on the side of making sure the perpetrators of sexual abuse are held accountable. Pennsylvania should be on the side of making sure victims of sexual abuse who want their day in court get it.
Anything that doesn’t meet that standard is not good enough, no matter how the counterargument is cloaked or framed.
State Rep. M
ark Rozzi is among those leading the charge to do what is right. He tells of being raped by his parish priest when he was 13. He tells the story of two of his childhood friends — sexually abused by the same priest — committing suicide.
It often takes years, even decades, for victims to report childhood sexual abuse. Rozzi says he was in his late 30s when he decided he “couldn’t take it anymore. I was done suffering in silence.”
His rapist had died by then; he died after being charged in Texas with the sexual assault of another child.
Rozzi, a Democrat from Berks County, decided to make helping other victims his mission.
These days, no one would describe him as silent. He’s blunt and zealous, fueled by anger. But it’s a righteous anger.
It’s an anger we all should share, about the toll exacted on our fellow Pennsylvanians by perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse.
There is something we can do to make things, if not right, then better: Insist lawmakers support House Bill 661, introduced by Rozzi, and Senate Bill 582, introduced by Democratic Sen. Rob Teplitz from Dauphin County.
State Rep. Mike Sturla, a Democrat who represents Lancaster city and its suburbs, is a co-sponsor of Rozzi’s bill.
Matt Sandusky, who settled a claim in 2013 with Penn State over allegations that his adoptive father, Jerry Sandusky, sexually abused him as a child, also supports the legislation.
The primary obstacle in the General Assembly to getting such legislation passed has been state Rep. Ron Marsico, a Dauphin County Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Marsico stands on the wrong side of this moral divide.
Rozzi says his bill represents a compromise — his preference would be to eliminate the statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse completely, as proposed in a bill introduced by Rep. Louise Williams Bishop, a Democrat from Philadelphia. (Another bill would establish a two-year window for past victims to press civil claims.)
Rozzi’s bill merely seeks to align the civil statute to the criminal one. Victims barred from pursuing civil action under the old statute would have until they’re 50 to do so.
Catholic bishops have complained in the past that the church would be punished unequally should the civil statute of limitation law be changed.
Rozzi’s bill addresses this complaint: It removes immunity from public employers — such as school districts — so they face the same rules as private employers. And employers would be liable only in cases of gross negligence.
“We as victims have done everything they’ve asked,” Rozzi says. “It’s time for them to take that step toward us.”
We agree. His bill is more than reasonable, and important, and it deserves broad-based support.
In an interview with LNP last year, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer said there was no statute of limitations in church law.
If an accusation were to be made about a priest abusing a child decades ago, “that would be examined as though it happened yesterday,” he said.
That standard should be applied to Pennsylvania law, too. All victims of childhood sexual abuse deserve such consideration — and nothing less.
Disgraced tennis titan Bob Hewitt sat before a sentencing judge Friday a broken man, a 75-year-old convicted child molester stripped of his Hall of Fame glory, his exalted social status from Flushing Meadows to Monte Carlo, his comfy retirement on a lush South African citrus farm. He slumped in the defendant’s box, propping up his head with his withering hand.
“Don’t you think he’s too old to go to prison?’’ a schoolgirl recently asked Suellen Sheehan, who was 12 when Hewitt, then 42, raped her in 1982.
“Don’t you think I was too young to have sex when I was 12?’’ Sheehan replied.
Mercy may come to Hewitt if an appeals court tosses his convictions or the judge who found him guilty of raping two South African girls he coached and sexually assaulting another spares him from spending his final days behind bars. His sentencing was postponed Friday until May 18, when a defense psychologist will make a case for leniency rather than a possible 15-year prison term.
But there has been little mercy for the women whose innocence Hewitt plundered, whose lives he tattered, whose families he fractured. The former tennis great has left a trail of trauma since he allegedly waged a predatory spree from Boston to the former African republic of Bophuthatswana from the 1970s to the ’90s.
View Story
Sentencing postponed for disgraced tennis star
Hewitt, a former Boston area tennis instructor, was convicted last month on rape and sexual assault charges in South Africa.
Disgraced tennis star Bob Hewitt convicted of rape
Hewitt accused in abuse of young girls
In 1976, Heather Crowe Conner was 14 when Hewitt began coaching her at a Danvers racquet club after he played for the Boston Lobsters. She said he began raping her soon after.
Conner, who triggered a 2011 Globe investigation that led to the criminal charges in South Africa, was unable to attend Friday’s hearing. But like Hewitt’s South African victims, she lives daily with the aftershocks of her experience with him.
‘I am doing whatever I can to get back what he took from me.’
Suellen Sheehan, a victim of Bob Hewitt
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A married mother of two girls who teaches at Reading Memorial High School, Conner has long battled severe emotional distress she attributes to his “hijacking my life.’’
“I would say I suffer from identity confusion, depression, and exhaustion from living with the pretense that I am doing great,’’ Conner said.
“I’m working to gain control so he will no longer have any hold on me,’’ she said. “I experience isolation, no close friendships, fear, hypervigilance, and intense symptoms of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder].’’
Conner is unable to discuss Hewitt with her family because it has proven too painful. Sheehan is estranged from her closest relatives, including her son and two grandchildren. And Theresa “Twiggy” Tolken, who was 13 in 1980 when Hewitt raped her at the Sun City resort in Bophuthatswana, now part of South Africa, said “he has taken so much from my family’’ — serenity, stability, a sense of security.
Heather Crowe Conner has long suffered emotionally because of Bob Hewitt.
WENDY MAEDA/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2011
Heather Crowe Conner has long suffered emotionally because of Bob Hewitt.
Hewitt also factored in the evolution of Tolken’s sexuality. She has twin 8-year-old girls with her female partner of nearly 20 years. She previously was married to a man, but she said she was unable to sustain the relationship, partly because of her lingering disgust with Hewitt raping her.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t trust men,’’ she said. “At the end of the day, I believe everybody who is gay was born gay, but there are certain things in your life that make you come out with it. I don’t think there was any way the experience with [Hewitt] did any good to who I am.’’
Had Hewitt been prosecuted in an American court, as Conner hoped when she filed a criminal complaint against him in 2010, his victims could offer an impact statement before his sentencing. But the High Court of South Africa does not afford victims that opportunity, so while Hewitt’s legal team prepares to offer medical and psychological testimony to try to reduce his sentence, his victims can do little but observe.
Tolken cannot tell the court about her own hypervigilance. She said she is so fearful of a predator exploiting her children as Hewitt abused her that her girls never have spent the night at a friend’s house, never have been alone with another adult.
“My partner or I are with them all the time,’’ Tolken said. “All my friends think I am crazy. Sometimes they get a bit offended because they don’t understand why they can’t take the kids.’’
Tolken’s parents were close friends of Hewitt and never imagined he would sexually molest their daughter before she was old enough to know what “rape’’ meant. The most compelling evidence against him at trial seemed to be several secret love letters he wrote her at the time, which she saved.
“I am cross with you for not trusting me,’’ one letter stated. “I can only assume you think of me as a sex maniac. Believe me, I’m not. My heart is going faster and faster because in 40 minutes I will see you again.’’
At the end of his next note to the 13-year-old, Hewitt wrote, “Destroy this [letter] and the last one NOW. I love you.’’
Tolken’s mother, Colleen, said she has been anguished for more than 30 years by the episode.
“It’s something I can never forget,’’ she said. “It’s a nightmare.’’
Tolken’s sister, Karen, the first person she told about the rape, spent many years in South Africa helping victims of sexual assault. She now lives in Hewitt’s native Australia, while Twiggy and her mother have settled in New Zealand.
Conner went on to win a Massachusetts high school singles championship at Masconomet Regional, a national collegiate title at Indiana University, and played professionally against the stars of the 1980s until she retired at 28. She suspects her family also has been shaken by her abuse, though she is unable to discuss it with them.
“I don’t live in their shoes, but I imagine my parents were hurt only as parents of a child can be,’’ she said. “And as a sister to three siblings, I can imagine that seeing their baby sister being hurt in this way is unconscionable.’’
In Hewitt’s heyday, he established himself as one of the all-time great doubles players, a 15-time Grand Slam champion in the 1960s and ’70s, when professional tennis ranked among the world’s most popular sports. He played among such superstars as Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Bjorn Borg, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992 (he was removed in 2012 because of the abuse allegations).
Arrogant and often insulting on the court, Hewitt was described by legendary Globe tennis writer Bud Collins as possessing “one of the vilest tempers in sports.’’
He sometimes paid for his provocations. In 1969, a British rival, Roger Taylor, laid out Hewitt with a vicious uppercut. In 1970, he was pummeled and hospitalized by an angry, elderly spectator. And in 1975 he exchanged blows with an opponent during his star turn with the Lobsters.
But in his secret life, Hewitt possessed what a prosecutor described as the cunning of a pedophile. Seven women have now agreed to be publicly identified by the Globe as having been sexually assaulted or harassed by Hewitt after he preyed on them as minors he was coaching.
The most recent is Leigh-Ann Taylor, who said Friday she was prompted to disclose the abuse while following Hewitt’s trial. He coached her during the same period as Tolken and Sheehan.
“I buried what he did to me for 33 years and was prepared to keep it buried until I saw him stand up, looking perfectly sane, and say, ‘Not guilty,’ ’’ Taylor said. “Gee whiz, that got to me.’’
Like others who have shared their stories, Taylor has felt re-victimized since coming forward.
“In some ways, I was better off keeping quiet,’’ she said. “This has been worse.’’
The disclosure has upset her family and disturbed her.
“I didn’t have to think about it for all those years,’’ Taylor said. “Now, I’ve even had a dream about a guy trying to molest my 10-year-old daughter.’’
The women who came forward have changed the legal and cultural landscape from Massachusetts to South Africa for child sex abuse victims. In Massachusetts, Conner successfully campaigned to change the statute of limitations on suing an alleged abuser to age 53 from 21, and she has filed a suit against Hewitt in state court.
In South Africa, advocates said child sex abuse victims have been empowered by Hewitt’s convictions to come forward, regardless of how long ago the crimes occurred. Legal authorities said his conviction, if upheld on appeal, will set a precedent that victims of long-ago abuse can gain convictions without medical or scientific evidence.
Sheehan said Hewitt’s abuse caused her years of distress, including severe depression and several suicide attempts. Since she came forward four years ago, she has dedicated herself to raising awareness of child sexual abuse, which remains a lower priority in South Africa than America. She has joined numerous public campaigns and is contributing to a book on the scandal.
She said, “I am doing whatever I can to get back what he took from me.’’
Full article here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/04/18/pain-continues-for-bob-hewitt-child-sex-abuse-victims/GZPVTSO3Cj7CQYxSNzrQ6M/story.html
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-04-20 03:07:122015-04-20 03:07:12Bob Hohler, Pain continues for Bob Hewitt’s child sex abuse victims, The Boston Globe
Seek Help of Pope Francis to Enact SOL Reform in New York
Assemblywoman Markey Asks Him to Meet with NY Legislators and Advocates for Reform of Child Sex Abuse Codes; Seeks Help to Convince NY Bishops to Align Their Policies with Vatican and End Opposition to Reform of State’s Archaic Statute of Limitations
Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has asked Pope Francis to schedule a meeting with New York survivors of childhood sexual abuse when he comes to the U.S. in September.
After news that the Holy Father has planned to visit New York City in September she wrote to him saying: “Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.
She said that meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state “would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.“
The Assemblywoman has not yet received an official response to her request, but she said this visit is a unique opportunity for the Catholic Church to take leadership in addressing the crisis in how poorly New York treats victims of childhood sexual abuse. The state currently ranks among the very worst of all states in America in how it deals with victims of child sexual abuse crimes, right at the bottom of all 50 states along with Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Indiana, according to a survey by the Cardozo Law School.
Under current law victims of child sex abuse in New York must come forward to bring criminal or civil charges within five years of their 18th birthday or lose the opportunity to ever bring charges against their abuser. Many other states either have no or extended statute of limitations, including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Delaware and Connecticut.
The Child Victims Act of New York (A2872-Markey/S63-Hoylman) seeks to completely eliminate the civil and criminal statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse crimes. In addition, it would completely remove the civil statute of limitations for one year in order to give older victims an opportunity to get justice and expose predators who have been hidden and remain free to abuse new generations of children.
The New York Catholic Conference of Bishops has been among the most vociferous opponents of the Child Victims Act since it was first advanced in the State Legislature. The measure has been adopted in one form or another by the Assembly four times since 2006, but has never come to the floor of the State Senate.
In her letter to Pope Francis, the Assemblywoman said, “Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message… to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children…. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.”
She added, “In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York. In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.”
The national organization, the Catholic Whistleblowers, has targeted reform of New York’s codes as a priority in 2015. The group of canon law experts and religious leaders contends that all criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse should be removed so as to better protect children and to do justice. In a recent message to the Bishops of New York State, they point to changes in the church’s own statute of limitations concerning both the crime of sexual abuse of a minor and also actions to recover compensation for damages incurred because of the crime. The statement by the group’s Steering Committee said, “Now therefore, is the time for the Catholic Bishops of New York State to follow the example of Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and voice support for the Child Victims Act to become Law in New York State.”
For media information, call Assemblywoman Markey’s Office, Mike Armstrong, 718-651-3185, 518-455-4755, armmic@earthlink.net.
Contacts for the Catholic Whistleblowers: Rev. James Connell (414-940-8054); Sr. Sally Butler, OP (718-237-0905)
Following is the text of Assemblywoman Markey’s letter to Pope Francis:
His Holiness, Pope Francis, Apostolic Palace, 00120 Vatican City
Most Holy Father:
Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message of February 2, 2015, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children.
Reports after the first meeting of the Commission said there was a strong sentiment for recommendations to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups or failing to prevent abuse. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.
In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York.
In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.
We are all delighted to know that you will be coming to New York City in September. Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.
Meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.
New York ranks among the very worst of the 50 American states in how it deals with child sex abuse crimes and opposition of New York Bishops continues to prolong the agony of victims, delay justice for them, and leave perpetrators free to continue their abuse.
Respectfully, Margaret M. Markey
CC: Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Chair of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
His Holiness, Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
Most Holy Father:
Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message of February 2, 2015, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children. Reports after the first meeting of the Commission said there was a strong sentiment for recommendations to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups or failing to prevent abuse. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.
In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York.
In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.
We are all delighted to know that you will be coming to New York City in September. Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.
Meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.
New York ranks among the very worst of the 50 American states in how it deals with child sex abuse crimes and opposition of New York Bishops continues to prolong the agony of victims, delay justice for them, and leave perpetrators free to continue their abuse.
I look forward to hearing from you about the possibility of this meeting. Please contact my office for further information at 718-651-3185, markeym@assembly.state.ny.us
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-04-20 02:43:532015-04-20 02:43:53Pope: tell bishops to back off and let victims go to court
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston has reportedly made known to Pope Francis, in the guise of bishop accountability, the concerns of members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors over the pope’s appointment of a Chilean bishop who has been accused of covering up abuse.
Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins, who will be the keynote speaker at the 2015 National Assembly of the Voice of the Faithful in Hartford on April 18, was one of three members who flew to Rome over the weekend to meet with O’Malley. O’Malley heads the Vatican commission and was in Rome for a meeting of the Council of Cardinals that advises the pope on reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.
According to the Catholic news website CruxNow, O’Malley spoke with both Francis and the council on the accountability of bishops who fail to report sexual abuse.
Francis met with six survivors of church sexual abuse last summer, asking their forgiveness for the actions of pedophile priests, and saying in a homily that “all bishops must carry out their pastoral ministry with the utmost care in order to help foster the protection of minors, and they will be held accountable.”
Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi is reported as telling the National Catholic Reporter that the cardinals have put the issue “on the table” after being presented with it by O’Malley. Lombardi is quoted as saying the cardinals’ “intention is now to find a way to proceed in the deepening of the competence in these cases.” Lombardi’s quotes in NCR do not directly mention the Chilean bishop whose appointment the Vatican has defended despite weeks of demonstrations and protest in Chile.
While the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has enacted its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People to provide guidelines for reporting abuse and maintaining a safe environment, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, has called upon Francis to keep children safe by “firing the bishops who have been complicit and who are transferring predators.”
Francis appointed Bishop Juan Barros Madrid in January. Barros is not accused of molesting children, but of covering up the actions of the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a once prominent charismatic priest in Chile, who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for sexually abusing minors. Barros has denied the allegations.
In the appointment, Voices of the Faithful, whose mission includes support for survivors of clergy abuse, said “Francis appears to be going back on his word to hold bishops accountable for covering up clergy sexual abuse.”
Other participants in Saturday conference include the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a long time advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse and a former canon lawyer for the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C.
Full article here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/04/cardinal_omalley_at_vatican_raises_issue_of_bishop_accountability_in_reporting_sexual_abuse_though_chilean_bishop_remains.html
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2015-04-19 04:07:462015-04-19 04:07:46Ann Gerard-Flynn, At Vatican, Cardinal O'Malley raises issue of bishop accountability in reporting sexual abuse, though Chilean bishop remains, Mass Live
Steve Bauer, Curley & Schultz Fight Release of Documents in McQueary Lawsuit, State College
/in Pennsylvania /by SOL ReformThere’s a new twist in Mike McQueary’s whistleblower lawsuit against Penn State.
Attorneys for two former Penn State administrators are fighting the release of documents — even though they’re not named in McQueary’s lawsuit.
On Monday morning, attorneys for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley both filed emergency petitions to intervene.
They’re trying to prevent McQueary’s legal team from accessing a number documents, most notably, several emails between Penn State’s former general counsel, Cynthia Baldwin, and the lawyers who now represent Shultz and Curley.
Curley and Schultz were charged with perjury and failure to report shortly after Jerry Sandusky was indicted on child sex abuse charges on November 4, 2011.
In the latest court documents, Curley’s attorney, Caroline Roberto, says the requested emails are protected by attorney-client privilege and another legal tool known as “work product doctrine.” A similar argument was made by Shultz’ lawer, Thomas Farrell.
The filings point out that both Curley and Schultz have sought to have Baldwin’s grand jury testimony dismissed because they believed that she was representing them at the time she gave that testimony.
Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover ruled that no attorney-client relationship existed but that decision is now being appealed to the superior court.
The emails in question were produced between Nov. 1, 2011 and Nov. 3, 2011 at the height of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Those messages reportedly concern the draft of a statement that was released by Graham Spanier who at that time was Penn State’s president.
In the statement, Spanier says “Tim Curley and Gary Schultz operate at the highest levels of honesty, integrity and compassion. I am confident the record will show that these charges are groundless …”
Attorneys for Curley and Schultz have also filed for protective orders, asking a judge to prevent the release of those requested emails.
Spanier was charged with perjury and failure to report on November 1, 2012. Spanier, Curley and Schultz are also charged with endangering the welfare of children, criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The three men have all vigorously proclaimed their innocence. No trial date has been set.
In June, 2012, Sandusky was convicted on 45 charges of child sex abuse. He was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison.
One of the most controversial aspects of the entire Sandusky scandal was the testimony of former Penn State Assistant Football Coach Mike McQueary. McQueary told the jury that on Feb. 9, 2001, he saw Sandusky in the shower with a young boy. The next day McQueary says he reported the incident to then-head coach Joe Paterno. McQueary says, several days later, he talked with Curley and Schultz about what he had seen.
McQuerary’s coaching contract was not renewed, prompting his whistleblower lawsuit against the university.
Full article here: http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/curley-schultz-fight-release-of-documents-in-mcqueary-lawsuit,1463665/
Lawmakers: Reform statute of limitations in childhood sexual abuse cases, Lancaster Online
/in Pennsylvania /by SOL ReformTHE ISSUE
State legislators and advocates for sexual assault victims lobbied last week for reforms to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations law. Adult victims of childhood sexual abuse only have until they’re 30 to bring civil action against their abusers. Bills in the state House and Senate would raise that to age 50. That would bring the civil statute in line with the criminal statute of limitations. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the public affairs arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania have lobbied against statute of limitation reform.
Pennsylvania should be on the side of making sure the perpetrators of sexual abuse are held accountable. Pennsylvania should be on the side of making sure victims of sexual abuse who want their day in court get it.
Anything that doesn’t meet that standard is not good enough, no matter how the counterargument is cloaked or framed.
State Rep. M
ark Rozzi is among those leading the charge to do what is right. He tells of being raped by his parish priest when he was 13. He tells the story of two of his childhood friends — sexually abused by the same priest — committing suicide.
It often takes years, even decades, for victims to report childhood sexual abuse. Rozzi says he was in his late 30s when he decided he “couldn’t take it anymore. I was done suffering in silence.”
His rapist had died by then; he died after being charged in Texas with the sexual assault of another child.
Rozzi, a Democrat from Berks County, decided to make helping other victims his mission.
These days, no one would describe him as silent. He’s blunt and zealous, fueled by anger. But it’s a righteous anger.
It’s an anger we all should share, about the toll exacted on our fellow Pennsylvanians by perpetrators of childhood sexual abuse.
There is something we can do to make things, if not right, then better: Insist lawmakers support House Bill 661, introduced by Rozzi, and Senate Bill 582, introduced by Democratic Sen. Rob Teplitz from Dauphin County.
State Rep. Mike Sturla, a Democrat who represents Lancaster city and its suburbs, is a co-sponsor of Rozzi’s bill.
Matt Sandusky, who settled a claim in 2013 with Penn State over allegations that his adoptive father, Jerry Sandusky, sexually abused him as a child, also supports the legislation.
The primary obstacle in the General Assembly to getting such legislation passed has been state Rep. Ron Marsico, a Dauphin County Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
Marsico stands on the wrong side of this moral divide.
Rozzi says his bill represents a compromise — his preference would be to eliminate the statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse completely, as proposed in a bill introduced by Rep. Louise Williams Bishop, a Democrat from Philadelphia. (Another bill would establish a two-year window for past victims to press civil claims.)
Rozzi’s bill merely seeks to align the civil statute to the criminal one. Victims barred from pursuing civil action under the old statute would have until they’re 50 to do so.
Catholic bishops have complained in the past that the church would be punished unequally should the civil statute of limitation law be changed.
Rozzi’s bill addresses this complaint: It removes immunity from public employers — such as school districts — so they face the same rules as private employers. And employers would be liable only in cases of gross negligence.
“We as victims have done everything they’ve asked,” Rozzi says. “It’s time for them to take that step toward us.”
We agree. His bill is more than reasonable, and important, and it deserves broad-based support.
In an interview with LNP last year, Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer said there was no statute of limitations in church law.
If an accusation were to be made about a priest abusing a child decades ago, “that would be examined as though it happened yesterday,” he said.
That standard should be applied to Pennsylvania law, too. All victims of childhood sexual abuse deserve such consideration — and nothing less.
Lawmakers_ Reform statute of limitations in childhood sexual abuse cases – LancasterOnline_ Editorials
Bob Hohler, Pain continues for Bob Hewitt’s child sex abuse victims, The Boston Globe
/in Massachusetts /by SOL ReformDisgraced tennis titan Bob Hewitt sat before a sentencing judge Friday a broken man, a 75-year-old convicted child molester stripped of his Hall of Fame glory, his exalted social status from Flushing Meadows to Monte Carlo, his comfy retirement on a lush South African citrus farm. He slumped in the defendant’s box, propping up his head with his withering hand.
“Don’t you think he’s too old to go to prison?’’ a schoolgirl recently asked Suellen Sheehan, who was 12 when Hewitt, then 42, raped her in 1982.
“Don’t you think I was too young to have sex when I was 12?’’ Sheehan replied.
Mercy may come to Hewitt if an appeals court tosses his convictions or the judge who found him guilty of raping two South African girls he coached and sexually assaulting another spares him from spending his final days behind bars. His sentencing was postponed Friday until May 18, when a defense psychologist will make a case for leniency rather than a possible 15-year prison term.
But there has been little mercy for the women whose innocence Hewitt plundered, whose lives he tattered, whose families he fractured. The former tennis great has left a trail of trauma since he allegedly waged a predatory spree from Boston to the former African republic of Bophuthatswana from the 1970s to the ’90s.
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Sentencing postponed for disgraced tennis star
Hewitt, a former Boston area tennis instructor, was convicted last month on rape and sexual assault charges in South Africa.
Disgraced tennis star Bob Hewitt convicted of rape
Hewitt accused in abuse of young girls
In 1976, Heather Crowe Conner was 14 when Hewitt began coaching her at a Danvers racquet club after he played for the Boston Lobsters. She said he began raping her soon after.
Conner, who triggered a 2011 Globe investigation that led to the criminal charges in South Africa, was unable to attend Friday’s hearing. But like Hewitt’s South African victims, she lives daily with the aftershocks of her experience with him.
‘I am doing whatever I can to get back what he took from me.’
Suellen Sheehan, a victim of Bob Hewitt
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A married mother of two girls who teaches at Reading Memorial High School, Conner has long battled severe emotional distress she attributes to his “hijacking my life.’’
“I would say I suffer from identity confusion, depression, and exhaustion from living with the pretense that I am doing great,’’ Conner said.
“I’m working to gain control so he will no longer have any hold on me,’’ she said. “I experience isolation, no close friendships, fear, hypervigilance, and intense symptoms of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder].’’
Conner is unable to discuss Hewitt with her family because it has proven too painful. Sheehan is estranged from her closest relatives, including her son and two grandchildren. And Theresa “Twiggy” Tolken, who was 13 in 1980 when Hewitt raped her at the Sun City resort in Bophuthatswana, now part of South Africa, said “he has taken so much from my family’’ — serenity, stability, a sense of security.
Heather Crowe Conner has long suffered emotionally because of Bob Hewitt.
WENDY MAEDA/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2011
Heather Crowe Conner has long suffered emotionally because of Bob Hewitt.
Hewitt also factored in the evolution of Tolken’s sexuality. She has twin 8-year-old girls with her female partner of nearly 20 years. She previously was married to a man, but she said she was unable to sustain the relationship, partly because of her lingering disgust with Hewitt raping her.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t trust men,’’ she said. “At the end of the day, I believe everybody who is gay was born gay, but there are certain things in your life that make you come out with it. I don’t think there was any way the experience with [Hewitt] did any good to who I am.’’
Had Hewitt been prosecuted in an American court, as Conner hoped when she filed a criminal complaint against him in 2010, his victims could offer an impact statement before his sentencing. But the High Court of South Africa does not afford victims that opportunity, so while Hewitt’s legal team prepares to offer medical and psychological testimony to try to reduce his sentence, his victims can do little but observe.
Tolken cannot tell the court about her own hypervigilance. She said she is so fearful of a predator exploiting her children as Hewitt abused her that her girls never have spent the night at a friend’s house, never have been alone with another adult.
“My partner or I are with them all the time,’’ Tolken said. “All my friends think I am crazy. Sometimes they get a bit offended because they don’t understand why they can’t take the kids.’’
Tolken’s parents were close friends of Hewitt and never imagined he would sexually molest their daughter before she was old enough to know what “rape’’ meant. The most compelling evidence against him at trial seemed to be several secret love letters he wrote her at the time, which she saved.
“I am cross with you for not trusting me,’’ one letter stated. “I can only assume you think of me as a sex maniac. Believe me, I’m not. My heart is going faster and faster because in 40 minutes I will see you again.’’
At the end of his next note to the 13-year-old, Hewitt wrote, “Destroy this [letter] and the last one NOW. I love you.’’
Tolken’s mother, Colleen, said she has been anguished for more than 30 years by the episode.
“It’s something I can never forget,’’ she said. “It’s a nightmare.’’
Tolken’s sister, Karen, the first person she told about the rape, spent many years in South Africa helping victims of sexual assault. She now lives in Hewitt’s native Australia, while Twiggy and her mother have settled in New Zealand.
Conner went on to win a Massachusetts high school singles championship at Masconomet Regional, a national collegiate title at Indiana University, and played professionally against the stars of the 1980s until she retired at 28. She suspects her family also has been shaken by her abuse, though she is unable to discuss it with them.
“I don’t live in their shoes, but I imagine my parents were hurt only as parents of a child can be,’’ she said. “And as a sister to three siblings, I can imagine that seeing their baby sister being hurt in this way is unconscionable.’’
In Hewitt’s heyday, he established himself as one of the all-time great doubles players, a 15-time Grand Slam champion in the 1960s and ’70s, when professional tennis ranked among the world’s most popular sports. He played among such superstars as Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Bjorn Borg, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992 (he was removed in 2012 because of the abuse allegations).
Arrogant and often insulting on the court, Hewitt was described by legendary Globe tennis writer Bud Collins as possessing “one of the vilest tempers in sports.’’
He sometimes paid for his provocations. In 1969, a British rival, Roger Taylor, laid out Hewitt with a vicious uppercut. In 1970, he was pummeled and hospitalized by an angry, elderly spectator. And in 1975 he exchanged blows with an opponent during his star turn with the Lobsters.
But in his secret life, Hewitt possessed what a prosecutor described as the cunning of a pedophile. Seven women have now agreed to be publicly identified by the Globe as having been sexually assaulted or harassed by Hewitt after he preyed on them as minors he was coaching.
The most recent is Leigh-Ann Taylor, who said Friday she was prompted to disclose the abuse while following Hewitt’s trial. He coached her during the same period as Tolken and Sheehan.
“I buried what he did to me for 33 years and was prepared to keep it buried until I saw him stand up, looking perfectly sane, and say, ‘Not guilty,’ ’’ Taylor said. “Gee whiz, that got to me.’’
Like others who have shared their stories, Taylor has felt re-victimized since coming forward.
“In some ways, I was better off keeping quiet,’’ she said. “This has been worse.’’
The disclosure has upset her family and disturbed her.
“I didn’t have to think about it for all those years,’’ Taylor said. “Now, I’ve even had a dream about a guy trying to molest my 10-year-old daughter.’’
The women who came forward have changed the legal and cultural landscape from Massachusetts to South Africa for child sex abuse victims. In Massachusetts, Conner successfully campaigned to change the statute of limitations on suing an alleged abuser to age 53 from 21, and she has filed a suit against Hewitt in state court.
In South Africa, advocates said child sex abuse victims have been empowered by Hewitt’s convictions to come forward, regardless of how long ago the crimes occurred. Legal authorities said his conviction, if upheld on appeal, will set a precedent that victims of long-ago abuse can gain convictions without medical or scientific evidence.
Sheehan said Hewitt’s abuse caused her years of distress, including severe depression and several suicide attempts. Since she came forward four years ago, she has dedicated herself to raising awareness of child sexual abuse, which remains a lower priority in South Africa than America. She has joined numerous public campaigns and is contributing to a book on the scandal.
She said, “I am doing whatever I can to get back what he took from me.’’
Full article here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/04/18/pain-continues-for-bob-hewitt-child-sex-abuse-victims/GZPVTSO3Cj7CQYxSNzrQ6M/story.html
SOL activities Wed Aug 22. albany NY
/in New York /by SOL ReformSeek Help of Pope Francis to Enact SOL Reform in New York
Assemblywoman Markey Asks Him to Meet with NY Legislators and Advocates for Reform of Child Sex Abuse Codes; Seeks Help to Convince NY Bishops to Align Their Policies with Vatican and End Opposition to Reform of State’s Archaic Statute of Limitations
Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has asked Pope Francis to schedule a meeting with New York survivors of childhood sexual abuse when he comes to the U.S. in September.
After news that the Holy Father has planned to visit New York City in September she wrote to him saying: “Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.
She said that meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state “would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.“
The Assemblywoman has not yet received an official response to her request, but she said this visit is a unique opportunity for the Catholic Church to take leadership in addressing the crisis in how poorly New York treats victims of childhood sexual abuse. The state currently ranks among the very worst of all states in America in how it deals with victims of child sexual abuse crimes, right at the bottom of all 50 states along with Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Indiana, according to a survey by the Cardozo Law School.
Under current law victims of child sex abuse in New York must come forward to bring criminal or civil charges within five years of their 18th birthday or lose the opportunity to ever bring charges against their abuser. Many other states either have no or extended statute of limitations, including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Delaware and Connecticut.
The Child Victims Act of New York (A2872-Markey/S63-Hoylman) seeks to completely eliminate the civil and criminal statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse crimes. In addition, it would completely remove the civil statute of limitations for one year in order to give older victims an opportunity to get justice and expose predators who have been hidden and remain free to abuse new generations of children.
The New York Catholic Conference of Bishops has been among the most vociferous opponents of the Child Victims Act since it was first advanced in the State Legislature. The measure has been adopted in one form or another by the Assembly four times since 2006, but has never come to the floor of the State Senate.
In her letter to Pope Francis, the Assemblywoman said, “Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message… to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children…. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.”
She added, “In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York. In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.”
The national organization, the Catholic Whistleblowers, has targeted reform of New York’s codes as a priority in 2015. The group of canon law experts and religious leaders contends that all criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse should be removed so as to better protect children and to do justice. In a recent message to the Bishops of New York State, they point to changes in the church’s own statute of limitations concerning both the crime of sexual abuse of a minor and also actions to recover compensation for damages incurred because of the crime. The statement by the group’s Steering Committee said, “Now therefore, is the time for the Catholic Bishops of New York State to follow the example of Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and voice support for the Child Victims Act to become Law in New York State.”
For media information, call Assemblywoman Markey’s Office, Mike Armstrong, 718-651-3185, 518-455-4755, armmic@earthlink.net.
Contacts for the Catholic Whistleblowers: Rev. James Connell (414-940-8054); Sr. Sally Butler, OP (718-237-0905)
Following is the text of Assemblywoman Markey’s letter to Pope Francis:
His Holiness, Pope Francis, Apostolic Palace, 00120 Vatican City
Most Holy Father:
Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message of February 2, 2015, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children.
Reports after the first meeting of the Commission said there was a strong sentiment for recommendations to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups or failing to prevent abuse. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.
In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York.
In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.
We are all delighted to know that you will be coming to New York City in September. Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.
Meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.
New York ranks among the very worst of the 50 American states in how it deals with child sex abuse crimes and opposition of New York Bishops continues to prolong the agony of victims, delay justice for them, and leave perpetrators free to continue their abuse.
Respectfully, Margaret M. Markey
CC: Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Chair of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
4-20-15 Invite Pope Francis to Meet in NY
Pope: tell bishops to back off and let victims go to court
/in New York /by SOL ReformFebruary 11, 2015
His Holiness, Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
Most Holy Father:
Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message of February 2, 2015, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children. Reports after the first meeting of the Commission said there was a strong sentiment for recommendations to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups or failing to prevent abuse. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.
In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York.
In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.
We are all delighted to know that you will be coming to New York City in September. Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.
Meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.
New York ranks among the very worst of the 50 American states in how it deals with child sex abuse crimes and opposition of New York Bishops continues to prolong the agony of victims, delay justice for them, and leave perpetrators free to continue their abuse.
I look forward to hearing from you about the possibility of this meeting. Please contact my office for further information at 718-651-3185, markeym@assembly.state.ny.us
Respectfully,
Margaret M. Markey
CC: Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston
2-11-15 – Markey Letter to Pope Francis
Ann Gerard-Flynn, At Vatican, Cardinal O’Malley raises issue of bishop accountability in reporting sexual abuse, though Chilean bishop remains, Mass Live
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformCardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston has reportedly made known to Pope Francis, in the guise of bishop accountability, the concerns of members of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors over the pope’s appointment of a Chilean bishop who has been accused of covering up abuse.
Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins, who will be the keynote speaker at the 2015 National Assembly of the Voice of the Faithful in Hartford on April 18, was one of three members who flew to Rome over the weekend to meet with O’Malley. O’Malley heads the Vatican commission and was in Rome for a meeting of the Council of Cardinals that advises the pope on reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.
According to the Catholic news website CruxNow, O’Malley spoke with both Francis and the council on the accountability of bishops who fail to report sexual abuse.
Francis met with six survivors of church sexual abuse last summer, asking their forgiveness for the actions of pedophile priests, and saying in a homily that “all bishops must carry out their pastoral ministry with the utmost care in order to help foster the protection of minors, and they will be held accountable.”
Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi is reported as telling the National Catholic Reporter that the cardinals have put the issue “on the table” after being presented with it by O’Malley. Lombardi is quoted as saying the cardinals’ “intention is now to find a way to proceed in the deepening of the competence in these cases.” Lombardi’s quotes in NCR do not directly mention the Chilean bishop whose appointment the Vatican has defended despite weeks of demonstrations and protest in Chile.
While the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has enacted its Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People to provide guidelines for reporting abuse and maintaining a safe environment, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, has called upon Francis to keep children safe by “firing the bishops who have been complicit and who are transferring predators.”
Francis appointed Bishop Juan Barros Madrid in January. Barros is not accused of molesting children, but of covering up the actions of the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a once prominent charismatic priest in Chile, who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for sexually abusing minors. Barros has denied the allegations.
In the appointment, Voices of the Faithful, whose mission includes support for survivors of clergy abuse, said “Francis appears to be going back on his word to hold bishops accountable for covering up clergy sexual abuse.”
Other participants in Saturday conference include the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a long time advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse and a former canon lawyer for the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C.
Full article here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/04/cardinal_omalley_at_vatican_raises_issue_of_bishop_accountability_in_reporting_sexual_abuse_though_chilean_bishop_remains.html