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Robert Blair Kaiser, journalist and inveterate church lover and critic, died at the age of 84 in a hospice center in Phoenix yesterday, on Holy Thursday, with daughter, sons, and grandchildren at his bedside.
Janet Hauter, co-chair of the American Catholic Council, a church reform group, today called Kaiser “a courageous man with the biggest heart of any (church) reformer I ever met; he was dauntless in pushing, prodding and confronting injustice in the church.”
Just a year from ordination into the Jesuit order, Kaiser left and retuned as a journalist, soon moving to Rome to cover the Second Vatican Council for Time magazine. His writing, and passion for church, propelled him forward. For a period he was a staff writer for The New York Times. A half dozen of his books were to focus on the post-conciliar church and the council’s unfulfilled vision of church.
Throughout the decades that followed he was a highly outspoken critic of those he felt were trying to impede or stop the council’s reform agenda, most notably Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and the bishops they were appointing.
He pressed for reform to the last breaths of his life, a computer on his chest while hooked up to oxygen. In recent months he was finishing a book on Dominican Father Tom Doyle, who for forty years has been one of the church’s most outspoken critics of clergy sex abuse. I worked with him, writing an epilogue for that book, “Whistle: Tom Doyle’s Steadfast Witness for Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse,” set to be published in June.
rectangular-logo.jpgCheck out Global Sisters Report’s blog by Jo Piazza, When Nuns Rule. Read it here.
Lecturer and author of 16 books, included two novels, one about Cardinal Roger Mahony called Roger Mahony, Kaiser found every vehicle he could to fan the flames of church reform, often focusing on the need for lay men and women to elect their bishops as they once did a millenium or more back.
He was the editor of Just Good Company, an online journal of religion and culture, and co-founder of takebackourchurch.org, a web community of American Catholics whose stated mission was to seek “ownership and citizenship in the people’s church envisioned at Vatican II.” The group advocated the election of local bishops and the power to dismiss them.
More recently, he co-founded Catholic Church Reform International with which American Catholic Council, another church reform group, is associated. He was an Accelerating Catholic Church Reform (ACCR) Board member and Founding Editor/Publisher of its on-line quarterly magazine OMG!, a Journal of Religion and Culture.
Hauter, writing on the council’s website today, called Kaiser a “powerful force in the reform community partly because of the curmudgeonly personality with which he forcefully and unabashedly delivered his message to the world.”
Kaiser’s reform activities also included a speaker’s bureau he formed in Phoenix. Supported by friends, including current and former Jesuits with whom he had stayed in touch, the bureau for years gave progressive Catholics a forum to share ideas and hopes, allowing Vatican II Catholics to keep these ideas alive in dark times.
It was during the council years in the mid-1960s, a turbulent time in the West and within the church, that Kaiser formed his progressive and eventually radical vision of church: collegiate, even democratic, in nature, open to the world, and endlessly pursuing justice. It was a compelling vision and it stayed with him through his life, passionately shaping his values and writings.
For his supporters, he was a one of a kind energy source, courageously combative and a spokesperson for a church of service and the poor, one that kept the needs of ordinary people foremost in mind, a “peoples’ church.” For his critics, he was an unyielding and arrogant ideologue. Friends and critics alike recognized his propensity for self-promotion, either accepting it as “simply Kaiser,” or viewing it as an off-putting characteristic.
He once wrote: “Clare Booth Luce discovered me when I was a young reporter for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. Soon I was covering the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in Rome, winning prizes and plaudits for my inside reporting on the progress of Pope John’s push to bring the Church up to date. Since then, I’ve done five books on the post-conciliar Church, and a dozen others on various other obsessions.”
Whether one liked Kaiser or did not, there was little question he stayed close to the heat, at the center of church controversy and reform efforts, helping to shape the conversations, probing ideas, organizing efforts aimed at building the Vatican II church he first encountered during the council.
He spent 12 years in the Society of Jesus as a novice and scholastic before leaving to marry. Once in Rome as a young journalist, his Sunday evening dinner parties became a hot ticket item and the scene for lively conversations among journalists, priests and prelates.
He published Pope, Council and World: The Story of Vatican II, in 1963, telling the story of the struggle between progressive clerical forces and old guard-bishops as the council took shape. His writings and those of “Xavier Rynne” (Redemptorist Francis X. Murphy) in The New Yorker helped bring to wider audiences the high stakes story, the very struggle for the future of the Catholic church, that was going on at the Vatican.
The council was a high mark in Kaiser’s life, shaping it indelibly. It was also one of its darkest chapters. During those years, Kaiser and his wife hosted a friend, Jesuit Father Malachi Martin, who betrayed Kaiser, running off with his wife. That betrayal tortured Kaiser for many years. Four decades after the episode he wrote about it in a personal book called “Clerical Error.”
If Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI were primarily responsible for thwarting the winds of conciliar reform in Kaiser’s eyes, Pope Francis, now two years into his pontificate, has been its principle prelate conveyor of fresh hope.
Kaiser was particularly proud of having written, “The Politics of Sex and Religion,” the story of the Pope John XXIII appointed lay commission and how its “Majority report” called for the church to change official teachings on birth control. Instead Pope Paul VI followed the “Minority report,” which became the basis for his 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae. The Kaiser book, originally published in 1985, was republished as an e-book in 2012.
Last year, Kaiser published “Inside the Jesuits: How Pope Francis Is Changing the Church and the World,” a work in which the author argued that Francis’ “Jesuit DNA” is central to understanding his vision of church and its place in the wider world.
Throughout the book Kaiser emphasized not only that Francis is different from his predecessors, but also that the nature of this difference lies precisely in the fact that he is a Jesuit. The book once again allowed Kaiser to write personally about his own experience as a Jesuit, an experience that shaped his own DNA.
Kaiser was among the last of the journalists to have reported the Second Vatican Council. With his death, a rich and lonely living memory of that epic church event is being silenced, the reforms Kaiser sought still remaining to be fulfilled.
The family announced on Kaiser’s Facebook page a wake and celebration of his life will be held at 6:30 p.m., Thursday April 9 at Santa Lucia Yaqui Church, 5445 E Calle San Angelo, in Guadalupe, AZ 85283. A Mass will be celebrated at 1:30 p.m., Friday April 10 at Francis Xavier Church, 4715 N Central Ave., in Phoenix, AZ 85012.
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 Reform2015-04-06 15:56:012015-04-06 15:56:01Thomas Fox, Robert Blair Kaiser dies at 84 on Holy Thursday, National Catholic Reporter
Someone must have said that to the Oregon Legislature this year because laws surrounding sexual assault and humiliation are ubiquitous in the Capitol this year. So many have been introduced and discussed, it’s hard to keep track of them all.
The bills below reflect changing technology and a changing society.
Smartphones and social media have made sharing photos and videos easier than ever before, even ones meant for intimate consumption only. They have also made it far easier to take photos no matter the circumstances.
At the same time, people have become more open about sexual assault and rape, and society has struggled to define and understand those issues. Political leaders seem to be becoming more aware of legal questions around those issues that need to be addressed.
Here is a sampling of bills related to sex crimes the legislature has tackled this year.
Oregon law currently allows sexual assault survivors six years to report the crime. This bill would extend the statute of limitations, but with three proposals on the table, no one has decided what the new limit will be.
Lawmakers have proposed 12 years, 20 years and indefinitely.
It was inspired partly by a woman named Brenda Tracy, who told the Oregonian last year that she had been raped by four Oregon State University football players in 1998. She reported the crime to the university as well, but the statute of limitations had run out, and they were never prosecuted.
The bill had its first public hearing on Wednesday and is scheduled for another on Tuesday.
The practice of posting some naked or otherwise explicit photos and videos on social media is known colloquially as “revenge porn.” There is currently no law against it unless the subject is under 18 years old, in which case it is child pornography.
SB 188 would create a law against revenge porn, and it was introduced at the request of Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.
Her legislative director Aaron Knott told the legislature earlier this year that the images involved are usually obtained during the course of a romantic relationship, but after the breakup, they are uploaded to the Internet without the consent of the person depicted.
They often include the person’s name, address, workplace, email and social media contact information, Knott said.
“This has the dual effect of exposing the victim to anonymous criticism and harassment via all forms of digital communication, as well as guaranteeing that an Internet search of that person made by any employer, landlord, family member or friend would likely reveal the explicit images,” he said.
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Revenge porn, student data raise legal questions
The Oregon Senate passed the bill on Feb. 26, but it has been sitting in the House Committee on Judiciary since March 6 and has not been scheduled for a hearing.
Right now, a man or woman who reports a sexual assault to his or her university has no guarantee the report and information contained in it will be kept confidential.
This bill would change the law and require universities to consider those reports privileged information. It would apply to people “seeking services related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking,” and to victim services programs and advocates.
This idea also came from Rosenblum’s office, and the point of it is to make sure sexual assault victims feel comfortable making a report without fearing retaliation from the school or others. If those reports are not confidential, the identity of the victim is not necessarily confidential either.
The practice of taking photos known as “up-skirting” or “down-blousing” seems to have been growing.
This bill would make that behavior a crime, classified under “invasion of personal privacy.”
The House of Representatives passed it on Thursday, and it will now head to the Senate. It hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing yet.
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 Reform2015-04-04 13:26:042015-04-04 13:26:04Hannah Hoffman, Oregon Legislature takes on sex in a modern world, Statesman Journal
If fC.Tound the testimony of Del. C.T. Wilson both brave and inspirational (“In hope of helping others, delegate reveals abuse as child,” March 27). I agree that the damage caused by pedophiles is lasting and does not end, but I disagree that he is broken. He is aware of the impact this trauma has had on his life and appears to be doing the best he can to help others and serve his community in politics. An example is testifying to extend the statute of limitations on sex abuse civil cases.
As for the Catholics who oppose such a change — the Catholic Church protected monsters; if you wish to now protect the Catholic Church from their responsibility to victims, what does that make you? I can guarantee that any victims of sexual abuse are not calling in to oppose this legislation. Only those who had the good fortune to escape the clutches of a pedophile in their childhood.
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 Reform2015-04-04 13:09:002015-04-04 13:09:00Betsy Schindler, Delegate's story of abuse can help others, Baltimore Sun
The Hidden Predator Act, or House Bill 17, received final passage today, the 40th and final day of the 2015 legislative session. Sponsored by State Representative Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine), House Bill 17 was passed in the Senate with slight changes on Tuesday, March, 31; the House then agreed to the Senate changes, sending HB 17 to Governor Deal for consideration.
“The Hidden Predator Act has had a long journey in the legislative process this year under the Gold Dome,” said Rep. Spencer. It has taken nearly two years to pass the final product that received approval from the House of Representatives. This legislation will move Georgia out of the worst category of states who deny justice to victims of childhood sexual abuse and into a more favorable position. The state is on new legal footing with this reform policy to change the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. The Hidden Predator Act will provide a path to justice for child sexual abuse so that the court house doors can be unlocked. Unlocking the court house doors will expose the child sexual predators that live among us who will never have criminal charges brought against them or ever be placed on a sex offender registry.”
Governor Deal’s Floor Leader, State Representative Chad Nimmer (R-Nimmer), spoke to the bill’s final passage in the House. Rep. Nimmer expressed his support and appreciation for the work that has gone into this legislation and spoke to the bill’s significance of providing justice to victims across the state.
“Georgia now has the ability to now protect children from adult sexual predators and to help adults who unfortunately, have to try and remake their lives,” said State Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford), who sponsored HB 17 in the Senate. “This new law will give both children and adults the tools to make heinous crimes against them right and deter future predators because they know they will have to pay the consequences in Georgia courts. We will no longer be at the bottom of the barrel hiding pedophiles with antiquated laws that have protected them instead of the victims.”
The final provisions of HB 17, as passed by the House and Senate include:
The bill still gives an individual who was a victim of childhood sexual abuse under the age of 18 has until age 23 to file a claim, which is consistent with current law.
· HB 17 creates a two year “discovery rule” that would allow victims who have been locked out of the courts due to Georgia’s short limitation to go to court until they understood that their problems in life (i.e.: depression, sexual deviancy, inability to hold a job, etc.) were a result of past sexual abuse. The language in the bill gives the survivor two years from the date the victim knew that the abuse was the reason for their injury (i.e., depression, addiction, etc.), which must be verified by a medical or psychological evaluation before any pre-trial discovery commences. The discovery language is only applied in cases going forward after July 1, 2015 if the bill becomes law.
· The bill allows the courts to determine from admissible evidence in a pre-trial finding when the discovery of alleged abuse occurred and that determination shall be required from the court within six months. This is another due process measure in the bill.
· Also included are two separate negligence standards that will apply differently to the perpetrator and towards a potential negligent entity or third party/vicarious defendant that knew of, or covered-up childhood sexual abuse within their organization. The perpetrator will be subjected to a simple negligence standard, while the potential negligent entity/third party will be subjected to a gross negligence standard.
· Additionally, there will be a retroactive civil “window” open for 2 years to anyone who has a claim to bring forward against their perpetrator if they were locked out of courts due to Georgia’s current short statute of limitations. That window will open on July 1, 2015 and close on July 1, 2017 if HB 17 becomes law. The window will not apply to cases where settlements have already been reached, litigated to finality on the merits in court or towards entities or vicarious defendants.
· Lastly, the victim of child sexual abuse or their guardian will be able to access any investigation file if they or their child was the subject of an investigation only if a criminal case is closed in order to use the records as evidence in civil proceedings. Currently, Georgia law seals records of childhood sexual abuse indefinitely.
An elite New York City prep school has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against it in New Jersey.
Plaintiff attorney Rosemarie Arnold confirmed to the Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/1F8z8PS) that the settlement with the Horace Mann School had been reached. However, she declined to provide specifics.
The school wouldn’t comment.
Arnold represented a man who was in his 50s when he claimed a now-deceased music teacher had sexually abused him in the 1970s.
The Bronx district attorney’s office and the New York Police Department launched a 10-month investigation into allegations of abuse in 2013 after a 2012 New York Times Magazine article said the academy was plagued by teachers who sexually abused children in the 1970s.
Investigators traveled to California, Colorado and Vermont and identified more than 25 alleged victims and more than 12 suspected abusers.
A systemic pattern of suspected sexual abuse existed from the 1970s until the mid-1990s, but the statute of limitations to prosecute them has expired, New York City prosecutors said.
New Jersey’s limits are less restrictive.
However, all reported sexual abuse occurred beyond the state’s statute of limitations.
In a letter posted on its website in May 2013, Horace Mann apologized for abuse by former teachers and administrators between 1962 and 1996 and said it had reached settlements with nearly everyone, even though the school said they had no legal claim.
“We sincerely apologize for the harm that was caused by the teachers and administrators who abused anyone during their years at Horace Mann School,” wrote Board Chairman Steven Friedman and Head of School Thomas Kelly in the three-page letter. “These unconscionable betrayals of trust never should have happened.”
Louisiana’s religious oppression bill is now available
/in Louisiana /by SOL ReformRead the full text of the document below.
Religious Freedom bill (1)
Thomas Fox, Robert Blair Kaiser dies at 84 on Holy Thursday, National Catholic Reporter
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformHannah Hoffman, Oregon Legislature takes on sex in a modern world, Statesman Journal
/in Oregon /by SOL ReformLet’s talk about sex.
Someone must have said that to the Oregon Legislature this year because laws surrounding sexual assault and humiliation are ubiquitous in the Capitol this year. So many have been introduced and discussed, it’s hard to keep track of them all.
The bills below reflect changing technology and a changing society.
Smartphones and social media have made sharing photos and videos easier than ever before, even ones meant for intimate consumption only. They have also made it far easier to take photos no matter the circumstances.
At the same time, people have become more open about sexual assault and rape, and society has struggled to define and understand those issues. Political leaders seem to be becoming more aware of legal questions around those issues that need to be addressed.
Here is a sampling of bills related to sex crimes the legislature has tackled this year.
Oregon law currently allows sexual assault survivors six years to report the crime. This bill would extend the statute of limitations, but with three proposals on the table, no one has decided what the new limit will be.
Lawmakers have proposed 12 years, 20 years and indefinitely.
It was inspired partly by a woman named Brenda Tracy, who told the Oregonian last year that she had been raped by four Oregon State University football players in 1998. She reported the crime to the university as well, but the statute of limitations had run out, and they were never prosecuted.
The bill had its first public hearing on Wednesday and is scheduled for another on Tuesday.
The practice of posting some naked or otherwise explicit photos and videos on social media is known colloquially as “revenge porn.” There is currently no law against it unless the subject is under 18 years old, in which case it is child pornography.
SB 188 would create a law against revenge porn, and it was introduced at the request of Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.
Her legislative director Aaron Knott told the legislature earlier this year that the images involved are usually obtained during the course of a romantic relationship, but after the breakup, they are uploaded to the Internet without the consent of the person depicted.
They often include the person’s name, address, workplace, email and social media contact information, Knott said.
“This has the dual effect of exposing the victim to anonymous criticism and harassment via all forms of digital communication, as well as guaranteeing that an Internet search of that person made by any employer, landlord, family member or friend would likely reveal the explicit images,” he said.
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Revenge porn, student data raise legal questions
The Oregon Senate passed the bill on Feb. 26, but it has been sitting in the House Committee on Judiciary since March 6 and has not been scheduled for a hearing.
Right now, a man or woman who reports a sexual assault to his or her university has no guarantee the report and information contained in it will be kept confidential.
This bill would change the law and require universities to consider those reports privileged information. It would apply to people “seeking services related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking,” and to victim services programs and advocates.
This idea also came from Rosenblum’s office, and the point of it is to make sure sexual assault victims feel comfortable making a report without fearing retaliation from the school or others. If those reports are not confidential, the identity of the victim is not necessarily confidential either.
It has broad bipartisan support and had its first hearing on March 26 and has a work session scheduled for Monday.Oregon Legislature takes on sex in a modern world
The practice of taking photos known as “up-skirting” or “down-blousing” seems to have been growing.
This bill would make that behavior a crime, classified under “invasion of personal privacy.”
The House of Representatives passed it on Thursday, and it will now head to the Senate. It hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing yet.
Betsy Schindler, Delegate’s story of abuse can help others, Baltimore Sun
/in Maryland /by SOL ReformIf fC.Tound the testimony of Del. C.T. Wilson both brave and inspirational (“In hope of helping others, delegate reveals abuse as child,” March 27). I agree that the damage caused by pedophiles is lasting and does not end, but I disagree that he is broken. He is aware of the impact this trauma has had on his life and appears to be doing the best he can to help others and serve his community in politics. An example is testifying to extend the statute of limitations on sex abuse civil cases.
As for the Catholics who oppose such a change — the Catholic Church protected monsters; if you wish to now protect the Catholic Church from their responsibility to victims, what does that make you? I can guarantee that any victims of sexual abuse are not calling in to oppose this legislation. Only those who had the good fortune to escape the clutches of a pedophile in their childhood.
Ian Margol, Hidden Predator Act Heads to Gov. Deal, WSAV
/in Georgia /by SOL ReformThe Hidden Predator Act, or House Bill 17, received final passage today, the 40th and final day of the 2015 legislative session. Sponsored by State Representative Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine), House Bill 17 was passed in the Senate with slight changes on Tuesday, March, 31; the House then agreed to the Senate changes, sending HB 17 to Governor Deal for consideration.
“The Hidden Predator Act has had a long journey in the legislative process this year under the Gold Dome,” said Rep. Spencer. It has taken nearly two years to pass the final product that received approval from the House of Representatives. This legislation will move Georgia out of the worst category of states who deny justice to victims of childhood sexual abuse and into a more favorable position. The state is on new legal footing with this reform policy to change the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. The Hidden Predator Act will provide a path to justice for child sexual abuse so that the court house doors can be unlocked. Unlocking the court house doors will expose the child sexual predators that live among us who will never have criminal charges brought against them or ever be placed on a sex offender registry.”
Governor Deal’s Floor Leader, State Representative Chad Nimmer (R-Nimmer), spoke to the bill’s final passage in the House. Rep. Nimmer expressed his support and appreciation for the work that has gone into this legislation and spoke to the bill’s significance of providing justice to victims across the state.
“Georgia now has the ability to now protect children from adult sexual predators and to help adults who unfortunately, have to try and remake their lives,” said State Senator Renee Unterman (R-Buford), who sponsored HB 17 in the Senate. “This new law will give both children and adults the tools to make heinous crimes against them right and deter future predators because they know they will have to pay the consequences in Georgia courts. We will no longer be at the bottom of the barrel hiding pedophiles with antiquated laws that have protected them instead of the victims.”
The final provisions of HB 17, as passed by the House and Senate include:
The bill still gives an individual who was a victim of childhood sexual abuse under the age of 18 has until age 23 to file a claim, which is consistent with current law.
· HB 17 creates a two year “discovery rule” that would allow victims who have been locked out of the courts due to Georgia’s short limitation to go to court until they understood that their problems in life (i.e.: depression, sexual deviancy, inability to hold a job, etc.) were a result of past sexual abuse. The language in the bill gives the survivor two years from the date the victim knew that the abuse was the reason for their injury (i.e., depression, addiction, etc.), which must be verified by a medical or psychological evaluation before any pre-trial discovery commences. The discovery language is only applied in cases going forward after July 1, 2015 if the bill becomes law.
· The bill allows the courts to determine from admissible evidence in a pre-trial finding when the discovery of alleged abuse occurred and that determination shall be required from the court within six months. This is another due process measure in the bill.
· Also included are two separate negligence standards that will apply differently to the perpetrator and towards a potential negligent entity or third party/vicarious defendant that knew of, or covered-up childhood sexual abuse within their organization. The perpetrator will be subjected to a simple negligence standard, while the potential negligent entity/third party will be subjected to a gross negligence standard.
· Additionally, there will be a retroactive civil “window” open for 2 years to anyone who has a claim to bring forward against their perpetrator if they were locked out of courts due to Georgia’s current short statute of limitations. That window will open on July 1, 2015 and close on July 1, 2017 if HB 17 becomes law. The window will not apply to cases where settlements have already been reached, litigated to finality on the merits in court or towards entities or vicarious defendants.
· Lastly, the victim of child sexual abuse or their guardian will be able to access any investigation file if they or their child was the subject of an investigation only if a criminal case is closed in order to use the records as evidence in civil proceedings. Currently, Georgia law seals records of childhood sexual abuse indefinitely.
Hidden Predator Act Heads to Gov
Sex Abuse Lawsuit Settled Against Elite NYC Prep School, ABC News
/in New Jersey, New York /by SOL ReformAn elite New York City prep school has settled a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against it in New Jersey.
Plaintiff attorney Rosemarie Arnold confirmed to the Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/1F8z8PS) that the settlement with the Horace Mann School had been reached. However, she declined to provide specifics.
The school wouldn’t comment.
Arnold represented a man who was in his 50s when he claimed a now-deceased music teacher had sexually abused him in the 1970s.
The Bronx district attorney’s office and the New York Police Department launched a 10-month investigation into allegations of abuse in 2013 after a 2012 New York Times Magazine article said the academy was plagued by teachers who sexually abused children in the 1970s.
Investigators traveled to California, Colorado and Vermont and identified more than 25 alleged victims and more than 12 suspected abusers.
A systemic pattern of suspected sexual abuse existed from the 1970s until the mid-1990s, but the statute of limitations to prosecute them has expired, New York City prosecutors said.
New Jersey’s limits are less restrictive.
However, all reported sexual abuse occurred beyond the state’s statute of limitations.
In a letter posted on its website in May 2013, Horace Mann apologized for abuse by former teachers and administrators between 1962 and 1996 and said it had reached settlements with nearly everyone, even though the school said they had no legal claim.
“We sincerely apologize for the harm that was caused by the teachers and administrators who abused anyone during their years at Horace Mann School,” wrote Board Chairman Steven Friedman and Head of School Thomas Kelly in the three-page letter. “These unconscionable betrayals of trust never should have happened.”
Horace Mann’s alumni include media mogul Samuel Newhouse and O.J. Simpson lawyer Barry Scheck.Sex Abuse Lawsuit Settled Against Elite NYC Prep School – ABC News