Rep. Thomas Caltagirone was disgusted. The veteran Democrat from Reading had been one of the Catholic Church’s staunchest political allies for years, but by March he had hit a breaking point.
Sen. John Rafferty (from left) and colleagues Daylin Leach and Stewart Greenleaf, all of Montco, have yet to make public commitments on a measure whose provisions include relaxing the deadline for civil and criminal cases of child sex abuse. Slideshow icon SLIDESHOW
Altoona-Johnstown abuse changed minds
A state grand jury had exposed clergy sex abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and a bishop who used an internal payment chart to dole out money, correlating to the degree of the victim’s abuse. This, after Jerry Sandusky and two damning grand jury reports in a decade about predator priests in Philadelphia.
Then came another grand jury bombshell from Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane: Leaders in the Franciscan order had allegedly enabled a friar to abuse scores of children at a Catholic high school in Johnstown and remain free to roam as recently as January 2013.
“Enough is enough,” Caltagirone told his colleagues the day Kane announced charges. “We need to enact new laws that will send the strongest message possible: If you commit heinous crimes against children, if you cover up for pedophiles, if you lurk in the shadows waiting for time to run out, we are coming for you.”
His proclamation marked an unexpected shift from a key legislator long resistant to changing the law. It helped persuade others to pass a House bill that for the first time would let victims abused decades ago sue their attackers and institutions that supervised them.
Now the fate of the measure rests with three influential senators, all from Montgomery County. As they return to session Monday, they largely control whether it lives or dies.
“They have a decision to make,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), an abuse victim himself and the bill’s fiercest advocate: Support the bill as it stands or, he warned, or “be seen as protecting pedophiles and the institutions that protect them.”
None of the senators – Republicans Stewart Greenleaf and John Rafferty, and Democrat Daylin Leach – would commit himself last week to supporting or opposing the bill.
Greenleaf, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that he would consider holding a hearing or drafting amendments within two weeks and that the measure could come before the full Senate next month.
“It’s a bill that I would like to support,” he told the Inquirer.
For years, the Catholic Church has vigorously fought efforts to do what Caltagirone urged: make the civil statute of limitations retroactive. The church argues that that would prompt a flood of new claims by middle-age victims that could bankrupt parishes.
As the debate heads to the Senate, the church’s legislative arm, which has more than 40 registered lobbyists, is again engaged.
“This is a very serious issue that could have devastating consequences for Pennsylvania’s three million Catholics, who today worship, educate their children, receive health care, and care for the poor through the parishes, schools, and ministries that will be impacted by this legislation,” Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, said Thursday.
Insiders said the church’s efforts in the House were drowned out by the revelations of abuse in Johnstown-Altoona. Horrified by the disclosures, Christopher Winters, chief of staff to Caltagirone, said some longtime defenders of the church felt betrayed.
“The grand jury report portrayed something completely different than what we were told sitting at the table with lobbyists for the Catholic Conference,” he said. “That they were handling things.”
A repeated push
Then-Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham first called for an expanded civil statute in 2005, after her office’s grand jury probe into the Philadelphia archdiocese.
Investigators documented decades of abuse and predator priests shuffled among parishes. Most victims were barred by the statute of limitations from pursuing civil lawsuits, something the Abraham grand jury recommended should change.
Her successor, Seth Williams, repeated the call after a similar grand jury investigation in 2011. So did last month’s grand jury report on abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and the criminal case against the friars.
Advocates say broadening the window for lawsuits would dissuade institutions from mishandling or concealing crimes against children while also giving victims a sense of closure and justice. Indeed, several other states have passed such laws in the wake of the national clergy abuse scandal.
The current law, which took effect in 2002, gives victims of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania until they are 30 to sue their attackers. The window to bring criminal charges extends until they turn 50, a change made in 2006.
The bill approved April 12 by the House would eliminate the timetable for criminal cases and extend the civil statute 20 years, until victims turn 50. It would also allow them to file for past abuse.
Rozzi, elected in 2013 on a pledge to change the law, spent a year trying to get support for the bill he introduced last year.
The Altoona probes provided a supercharge.
On March 1, a grand jury disclosed that prosecutors, police, and others looked the other way as allegations were brought to their attention in the Rust Belt diocese. Bishops allegedly ignored or hid decades of abuse against hundreds of children.
Rozzi demanded meetings with leaders in the Republican-led House. According to Rozzi, his message was succinct: “We’re going full guns blazing. We’re not backing down.”
On March 14, he led a Capitol rally with Kane and others to demand changing the statute. The next day, after Kane announced charges against three Franciscan leaders near Altoona, Rozzi said he put a hard sell on Caltagirone.
What, Rozzi said he asked his fellow lawmaker from Reading, did he want his legacy to be?
That afternoon, Caltagirone ordered his staff to issue the statement that rocked the Capitol.
John Salveson, an abuse survivor and reform advocate from Wayne, recalled reading it over and over. He had long seen Caltagirone as intractable on the issue. He read the statement incredulously, wondering, “Who are you? And what have you done with Tom Caltagirone?”
Caltagirone was unavailable last week to discuss the bill. But Winters, his longtime aide, and others said his statement proved persuasive with others in the House.
One was Judiciary Committee Chairman Ron Marsico (R. Dauphin), another lawmaker advocates considered a roadblock. Marsico’s committee was the gateway for the legislation. The bill could not move to the full House without his approval.
On April 4, Marsico introduced a bill that got things rolling.
According to Rozzi, he got words of support that day from Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) on the House floor. “Whatever direction you go in, I’m following you,” Turzai told him discreetly, Rozzi said. “We’re doing this.”
Turzai declined an interview request.
Eight days later, the House passed the bill on a 180-15 vote, sending it to the Senate.
An uncertain fate
In an interview last week, Greenleaf shared his own reaction to the horrors outlined in both recent grand jury reports.
“The facts are terrible,” the Willow Grove Republican said. “The facts are not defensible.”
Still, he would not say if he supported the retroactive civil lawsuit provision, even in theory. He said he wanted to examine questions of whether it would be constitutional to allow old abuse cases to be litigated.
The stakes may be higher for his committee vice chairman, Rafferty. Rafferty is the GOP nominee for attorney general, seeking to take over a job in which he would be expected to root out crime and protect its victims.
During an interview at his Collegeville office last week, he called the recent grand jury findings “very disheartening.”
But he was cautious about the bill.
“From a policy standpoint, I support the need for retroactive application of the statute of limitations,” Rafferty said Thursday. “I have a duty to carefully review the constitutional implications of the amended bill as it passed the House.”
In a follow-up email on Friday, Rafferty wrote that he looked forward to examining those issues at a hearing Greenleaf intended to call.
(An aide to Greenleaf would not confirm that such a decision had been made.)
Leach, the committee’s ranking Democrat, was equally noncommittal. The topic has been bandied about the Capitol for a decade, but Leach said he had to learn more.
Upon receiving your letter, I knew that I had to respond to you. I have been a volunteer at St. Joseph’s Prayer Center here on Long Island for the past 25 plus years. The ministry was started by a Jesuit priest over 40 yrs ago. The mission is for inner healing. A large percentage of the people who come in for prayer and healing have been sexually abused. The fact that I want to convey is that a large portion of these people come to the realization well after they have reached adulthood. A lot of them in their 40’s and 50’s. A child protects himself and survives in many different ways. Blocking out the reality is one of those mechanisms. One of the ways to a solid healing for the victim is to make sure that the perpetrator cannot go on doing this in society. So the legal aspect can be very important. The second and very important part of the healing for the victim comes from the ability to forgive the perpetrator and themselves, as hard as that comes across, it is the truth.
I read your letter to our group without your name and gave them the addresses. I hope that they followed through with sending them out.
May God speed with your endeavors—
Sincerely
Louise Kramer”
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http://i0.wp.com/sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/MannyWaksAlbany.jpg?fit=1161%2C206420641161SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2016-05-04 23:08:182016-05-04 23:08:18Honored to meet international child advocate Manny Waks in Albany
Disclaimer: Views do not represent the views of SOL Reform.
Remarks from Harold Siering for Press Conference:
This is my first public telling of my story so please be patient with me.
I was abused by two men, one from Big Brothers and one who was my assistant principal at St. Joseph’s in Babylon. These men impressed my single mother who was looking for a male role model since my biological father left.
I was abused from the ages of 10 and ½ to 17 years of age sometime two or three times in one day. We have estimated they both abused me hundreds of times, not once or twice this was a never ending event.
I was hugged, wrestled with, groped, fondled and abused more ways that you can think about for their own disgusting gratification. I cannot tell you all the details of my abuse they are too graphic for this forum.
These men made their way into my very small family I only had my mother and grandmother; they used my being alone for their sexual abuse on me.
One of my abusers took me all over on trips, to Florida where I saw the test firing of the space shuttle engines while I was being abused in a motel. I was also abused on my first trip to Walt Disney World and many times I was given multiple rum and cokes to drink while under age I still have flashbacks when I hear rum and coke this will ever leave me.
The assistant principal would touch me and fondle me in his classroom, his office he had between the buildings so that no one could see or hear. Many times he would take me into the office, I was told to bring a book so if anyone asked he was helping me with reading. In his private room where he also had a wall of the school pictures of other little boys who were his favorites.
After he was satisfied with his desire he would light up a cigarette I still have flashback to that smell, the match being lighted and the smell of the paper of the cheap cigarette and his first drag as he inhaled.
After a while he also showed up at my house, to talk to my mother allegedly about some school work issue and then ended coming over for dinners, just to sit next to me and, he even abused me in my own bedroom while my mother was in the kitchen………..this is just so wrong.
I kept this all a secret, they both told me that no one would believe a kid over an adult or a “Brother” and they both told me that this is what boys do.
I also feel that this crime is not reported enough, when I called the FBI in March of 2009 I was yelled at, belittled, called a liar, when I was seeking justice. I had to call back since the agent who answered the telephone hung up on me. Thanks to that alleged agent of the FBI I often have flashback to that caller hearing him yell at me. This memory is hard for me with all the crime shows on TV today that is why I don’t watch them. Since I am pretty stubborn and from New York I called back to another agent at the same number I gave them all the information about my abuser to another alleged agent of the FBI. I have not heard from them since and that abuser lives free thanks to them. That is not a Justice Department.
I really hate hearing the phrase “memories faded” it is such an insensitive remark to a survivor like me I wish my memory has faded. There is no magic pill or drug to erase these memories or flashback, there is no magic treatment to forget what I have gone through so maybe those who support the protection of monsters need to think about that.
There is only one way to show all our children in the State of New York that we want to protect them, I urge you all to write and call your New York State Senator today.
I don’t know why NY State Senate thinks its ok to protect the monsters. I think this issue is like the tobacco industry and the NFL concussions scandal; it needs to stop today and now.
And most of all, ironically many of the New York Senators who are against this bills are against abortion, therefore protecting the rights of the unborn children, but then they abandon the children once they are born.
Thank you………any questions?
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 Reform2016-05-04 18:47:412016-05-09 16:47:13Remarks from Survivor Harold Siering from 2016 NY CSA Lobby Day
We, the undersigned rabbis and Jewish leaders, write this letter in support of the Child Victims Act, A2872/S63.
After decades of denial, cover-ups and darkness across New York state, light is finally being shone on the scourge of child sexual abuse. The lasting and far-reaching damage caused by abusers is intolerable, and it is incumbent upon all the citizens of New York State to work to reduce it.
Shockingly, when victims have come forward to seek justice and stop abusers from causing more harm, they have been blocked by current New York State law.
While mental health experts have shown that it can take decades for a victim of child sexual abuse to overcome the fear, shame, and trauma of abuse and be able to come forward to confront their abuser, our current law allows survivors of abuse to pursue criminal or civil justice only until the age of 23, a statute of limitations of, in some cases, only five years.
We are embarrassed that New York state has been ranked among the very worst in the US, alongside Alabama, Michigan and Mississippi, for how the courts and criminal justice system treat survivors of child sex abuse.
Therefore, we urge you to help New York join states like California, Delaware, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois and Florida that have recently passed legislation extending or eliminating the statute of limitations, thus creating windows for survivors to come forward.
This legislation will no doubt bring justice, but, it will also prevent further abuse. When similar legislation was passed in California, over 300 previously unknown abusers were identified.
Many rabbis and Jewish leaders have seen in our communities the wounds caused by sexual predators; wounds whose pain cannot be overstated, wounds that may never be fully healed. We also painfully acknowledge that rather than being a source of healing for victims of child sexual abuse, religious institutions have too often been a part of the problem.
Though we cannot undo the pain that was done, we can stand with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in their quest for justice. We can and must stand with survivors of child sexual abuse in their quest for justice. We stand with all those children who are still at risk from abusers still at large because of our broken statute of limitations laws. We ask you to do the same: help all survivors of child sexual abuse receive the justice they deserve and help deter future abuse by supporting the Child Victims Act.
Title Name Affiliated organization
1. Rabbi Ari Hart Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
2. Rabbi Yosef Blau Yeshiva University
3. Mr Manny Waks Kol v’Oz
4. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
5. Rabbi David Dunn Bauer Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
6. Rabbi Jill Jacobs T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
7. Mrs Ruth W. Messinger Former Manhattan Borough President
8. Rabbi Michael Fessler Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
9. Rabbi Brian Fink JCC Manhattan, Director of Engage Jewish Service Corps
10. Rabbi Lina Zerbarini Sid Jacobson JCC
11. Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg Retired
12. Rabbi Joe Potasnik
13. Rabbi Pesach Sommer
14. Rabbi/Pro f Benny Forer Jewish Community Watch
15. Rabbi Micha Berger The AishDas Society
16. Rabbi Shmuel Skaist Yeshivas Isser v’Yitzchak at IDT
17. Mr Chaim Levin Kol v’Oz
18. Rabbi Jonah Geffen Congregation Shaare Zedek
19. Rabbi Joshua Hess Congregation Anshe Chesed
20. Rabbi Sam Reinstein Congregation Kol Israel
21. Mr Eli Nash Survivor and Victim Advocate
22. Rabbi Ysoscher Katz Prospect Heights Shul
23. Rabbi Mordechai Harris Baron Hirsch Congregation
24. Rabbi Zelig Mandel
25. Rabbi Rachel Esserman
26. Rabbi Chuck Davidson International Rabbinic Fellowship
27. Rabbi Kleinberg
28. Rabbi Michael Rothbaum Congregation Beth El Berkeley
29. Rabbi Asher Lopatin Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
30. Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz Kehilath Jeshurun
31. Rabbi (stu) Gabriel Kretzmer Seed Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
32. Mr Ed Landesman
33. Cantor Adina Frydman
34. Rabbi Menachem Creditor Congregation Netivot Shalom
35. Rabbi Joshua Yuter
36. Rabbi Paula Marcus
37. Rabbi Debbie Israel Congregation Emeth
38. Rabbi Dr Zev Farber Project TABS
39. Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
40. Mr Mordechai Levovitz JQY
41. Rabbi Gil Student
42. Mr David Zinberg Columnist
43. Rabbi Yehoshua Looks
44. Maharat Ramie Smith Yeshivat Maharat
45. Rabbi Aaron Potek Hillel
46. Rabbi David Bauman US Navy
47. Rabbi Mel Gottlieb Academy for Jewish Religion, California
48. Rabbi Zachary Truboff Cedar Sinai Synagogue
49. Mr Mark Meyer Appell Voice of Justice
50. Rabbi Sarah Freidson Temple Beth Shalom
51. Rabbi Dr Yehudah Mirsky
52. Rabbi Dr Michael Chernick Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
53. Rabbi David Kalb Jewish Learning Center of New York
54. Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz Uri L’Tzedek
55. Rabbi Dov Linzer Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
56. Rabba Dr Anat Sharbat Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
57. The Hon Dov S. Zakheim Former Under Secretary of Defense
58. Rabbi Sarit Horwitz B’nai Jeshurun
59. Rabbi Jason Herman International Rabbinic Fellowship
60. Rabbi Yonah Berman
61. Rabbi Barry Gelman
62. MD Michelle Friedman Director of Pastoral Counseling, Yrshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
63. Mrs Dina Naijman The Kehila
64. Mr David Cheifetz Mi Li
65. Rabbi (stu) Daniel Atwood Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
66. Rabbi Aviad Bodner Statnton Street Shul
67. Ms Rahel Bayer Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
68. Mr Jordan Hirsch Torah Academy of Bergen County
69. Rabbi Ben Greenberg
70. Rabbi Dr Marc Gopin George Mason University
71. Rabbi Jeremy D. Sher Harvard Divinity School
72. Rabbi David Ingbar Romemu
73. Rabbi Iris Richman
74. Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller IRF
75. Rabbi Avram Mlotek Base Hillel Downtown
76. Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen
77. Rabbi Adam Baldachin Rockland Clergy for Social Justice
78. Rabbi Jon Kelsen
79. Rabbi Raquel S. Kosovske Beit Ahavah
80. Rabbi Howard Stecker Temple Israel of Great Neck
81. Rabbi Will Keller Yeshivah Chovevei Torah
82. Ms Anna Shpilkovskaya United Support Network
83. Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman Union Temple of Brooklyn
84. Ms Judy Mitzner Survivor and Victim Advocate
85. Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein 14th Street Y
86. Rabbi Marc Margolius West End Synagogue
87. Rabbi Ari Kahn
88. Rabbi Matti Futterman Temple Beth El, Cedarhurst
89. Rabbi Yosef Goldman Temple Beth Zion
90. Rabbi Daniel Brenner
91. Rabbi Daniel Geretz Maayan of West Orange
92. Rabbi Maya Resnikoff Nursingatshul.wordpress.com
93. Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin Israel Center of Conservative Judaism
94. Rabbi Uri Regev Hiddush
95. Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun
96. Mr Ariel Weisz
97. Rabbi Ariel Russo Congregation Sons of Israel
98. Rabbi Pinchos Woolstone
99. Mr Naftuli Moster Yaffed
100. Dr Sharon Weiss-Greenberg Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
101. Ms Tully Harcsztark SAR High School
102. Rabbi Paul Drazen United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
103. Ms Shanie Reichman
104. Ms Victoria Jacobi
105. Mrs Chaya Schneps Young Israel of West Hempstead
106. Rabbi Rachel Weiss Congregation Bit Simchat Torah
107. Ms Lani Santo Footsteps
108. Rabbi David Gelfand Temple Israel of the City of New York
109. Rabbi Guy Austrian Fort Tryon Jewish Center
110. Attorney Ellliot B. Pasik Jewish Board of Advocates for Children
111. Rabbi Suzanne Singer Temple Beth El, Riverside, CA
112. Rabbi Dr David A. Teutsch Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
113. Rabbi David Lerner Rabbinical Assembly
114. Rabbi (stu) Melanie Levav The Jewish Theological Seminary
115. Mr Larry Marx The Children’s Agenda
116. Ms Ava Katz
117. Dr Karen Abrams Gerber
118. Rabbi Maurice Appelbaum Congregation Ahavas Israel – Greenpoint Shul & Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
119. Ms Cindy Chazan
120. Rabbi Amy Eilberg
121. Rabbi Goldie Milgram Reclaiming Judaism
122. Rabbi Dr Leslie Schotz Academy for Jewish Religion and Aleph
123. Ms Rena Blatt
124. Rabbanit Devorah Zlochower Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
125. Ms Dove Kent Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
126. Ms Lea New Minkowitz
127. Rabbi Moishe Feiglin The Aliya Institute
128. Rabbi Jean Eglinton B’nei Sholom Congregation
129. Mr Joshua Chadajo Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
130. Mr Dorron Katzin Mi Li
131. Rabbi Fred Hyman
132. Rabbi Aaron Panken Hebrew Union College
133. Rabbi Barry Dolinger Congregation Beth Sholom
134. Ms Rivka Joseph Survivor and Advocate
135. Rabbi Serena Eisenberg Hillel at Stanford
136. Rabbi Michael Melchior Former Cabinet Minister and Chairman of the Committee for Children’s Rights in the Knesset
137. Rabbi Scott Glass Temple Beth-El, Ithaca, NY
138. Rabbi Fred Hyman
139. Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff Congregation B’nei Tikvah
140. Rabbi Laura Geller Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills
141. Ms Susan Canter
142. Mr Barry Grandj Uri Tzedek
143. Rabbi Dan Ornstein Congregation Ohav Shalom, Albany, NY
144. Rabbi Barbara Penzner Temple Hillel B’nai Torah, Boston
145. Rabbi Tzvi Sinensku Kohelet Yeshiva High School
146. Ms Grace B. White
147. Mr Jason Rubenstein Mechon Hadar
148. Rabbi Cecilia Beyer Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael, Springfield, NJ
149. Rabbi Avi Killip Mechon Hadar
150. Rabbi Gary Katz UES Hebrew School
Please click here if you’re a rabbi or Jewish leader and would like to sign this document.
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Washington—Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) today introduced the Extending Justice for Sex Crime Victims Actto extend the civil statute of limitations for minor victims of federal sex crimes, including sex abuse, sex trafficking and child pornography.
Under current federal law, sex abuse victims must file suit against their abusers within 10 years of the offense or by age 21. Cases filed later are dismissed, even though many victims do not come forward about their abuse until later in life. The bill would extend the statute of limitations until age 28. This is already the case for victims of federal sex-trafficking crimes. A similar provision was recently included in the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016, at Feinstein’s request. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
The bill also clarifies that the civil statute of limitations does not begin to run until the victim discovers the violation or injury. For example, a child whose image is used in pornography may not become aware of it for years; a child who is sexually abused may not understand what happened until later in life.
“It often takes years for victims of child sexual abuse to come forward,” said Senator Feinstein.“They are traumatized. They feel alone. They may not fully understand what happened to them. To bar these victims from seeking justice when they process their abuse and are ready to come forward is wrong. Extending the statute of limitations is the right thing to do for young victims of these horrific crimes.”
“While the federal criminal justice system is effective at punishing those who commit crimes, too often victims are not given the support they need to begin the healing process. By extending the civil Statute of Limitations, this legislation will allow victims of some of the most horrifying child abuse crimes to seek justice against sexual predators,” Senator Cornyn said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this bill forward.”
The bill is supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Crime Victims Center and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
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Maria Panaritis, Altoona-Johnstown abuse changed minds, Philly.com
/in Pennsylvania /by SOL ReformAltoona-Johnstown abuse changed minds
Rep. Thomas Caltagirone was disgusted. The veteran Democrat from Reading had been one of the Catholic Church’s staunchest political allies for years, but by March he had hit a breaking point.
Sen. John Rafferty (from left) and colleagues Daylin Leach and Stewart Greenleaf, all of Montco, have yet to make public commitments on a measure whose provisions include relaxing the deadline for civil and criminal cases of child sex abuse. Slideshow icon SLIDESHOW
Altoona-Johnstown abuse changed minds
A state grand jury had exposed clergy sex abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and a bishop who used an internal payment chart to dole out money, correlating to the degree of the victim’s abuse. This, after Jerry Sandusky and two damning grand jury reports in a decade about predator priests in Philadelphia.
Then came another grand jury bombshell from Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane: Leaders in the Franciscan order had allegedly enabled a friar to abuse scores of children at a Catholic high school in Johnstown and remain free to roam as recently as January 2013.
“Enough is enough,” Caltagirone told his colleagues the day Kane announced charges. “We need to enact new laws that will send the strongest message possible: If you commit heinous crimes against children, if you cover up for pedophiles, if you lurk in the shadows waiting for time to run out, we are coming for you.”
His proclamation marked an unexpected shift from a key legislator long resistant to changing the law. It helped persuade others to pass a House bill that for the first time would let victims abused decades ago sue their attackers and institutions that supervised them.
Now the fate of the measure rests with three influential senators, all from Montgomery County. As they return to session Monday, they largely control whether it lives or dies.
“They have a decision to make,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), an abuse victim himself and the bill’s fiercest advocate: Support the bill as it stands or, he warned, or “be seen as protecting pedophiles and the institutions that protect them.”
None of the senators – Republicans Stewart Greenleaf and John Rafferty, and Democrat Daylin Leach – would commit himself last week to supporting or opposing the bill.
Greenleaf, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that he would consider holding a hearing or drafting amendments within two weeks and that the measure could come before the full Senate next month.
“It’s a bill that I would like to support,” he told the Inquirer.
For years, the Catholic Church has vigorously fought efforts to do what Caltagirone urged: make the civil statute of limitations retroactive. The church argues that that would prompt a flood of new claims by middle-age victims that could bankrupt parishes.
As the debate heads to the Senate, the church’s legislative arm, which has more than 40 registered lobbyists, is again engaged.
“This is a very serious issue that could have devastating consequences for Pennsylvania’s three million Catholics, who today worship, educate their children, receive health care, and care for the poor through the parishes, schools, and ministries that will be impacted by this legislation,” Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, said Thursday.
Insiders said the church’s efforts in the House were drowned out by the revelations of abuse in Johnstown-Altoona. Horrified by the disclosures, Christopher Winters, chief of staff to Caltagirone, said some longtime defenders of the church felt betrayed.
“The grand jury report portrayed something completely different than what we were told sitting at the table with lobbyists for the Catholic Conference,” he said. “That they were handling things.”
A repeated push
Then-Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham first called for an expanded civil statute in 2005, after her office’s grand jury probe into the Philadelphia archdiocese.
Investigators documented decades of abuse and predator priests shuffled among parishes. Most victims were barred by the statute of limitations from pursuing civil lawsuits, something the Abraham grand jury recommended should change.
Her successor, Seth Williams, repeated the call after a similar grand jury investigation in 2011. So did last month’s grand jury report on abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese and the criminal case against the friars.
Advocates say broadening the window for lawsuits would dissuade institutions from mishandling or concealing crimes against children while also giving victims a sense of closure and justice. Indeed, several other states have passed such laws in the wake of the national clergy abuse scandal.
The current law, which took effect in 2002, gives victims of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania until they are 30 to sue their attackers. The window to bring criminal charges extends until they turn 50, a change made in 2006.
The bill approved April 12 by the House would eliminate the timetable for criminal cases and extend the civil statute 20 years, until victims turn 50. It would also allow them to file for past abuse.
Rozzi, elected in 2013 on a pledge to change the law, spent a year trying to get support for the bill he introduced last year.
The Altoona probes provided a supercharge.
On March 1, a grand jury disclosed that prosecutors, police, and others looked the other way as allegations were brought to their attention in the Rust Belt diocese. Bishops allegedly ignored or hid decades of abuse against hundreds of children.
Rozzi demanded meetings with leaders in the Republican-led House. According to Rozzi, his message was succinct: “We’re going full guns blazing. We’re not backing down.”
On March 14, he led a Capitol rally with Kane and others to demand changing the statute. The next day, after Kane announced charges against three Franciscan leaders near Altoona, Rozzi said he put a hard sell on Caltagirone.
What, Rozzi said he asked his fellow lawmaker from Reading, did he want his legacy to be?
That afternoon, Caltagirone ordered his staff to issue the statement that rocked the Capitol.
John Salveson, an abuse survivor and reform advocate from Wayne, recalled reading it over and over. He had long seen Caltagirone as intractable on the issue. He read the statement incredulously, wondering, “Who are you? And what have you done with Tom Caltagirone?”
Caltagirone was unavailable last week to discuss the bill. But Winters, his longtime aide, and others said his statement proved persuasive with others in the House.
One was Judiciary Committee Chairman Ron Marsico (R. Dauphin), another lawmaker advocates considered a roadblock. Marsico’s committee was the gateway for the legislation. The bill could not move to the full House without his approval.
On April 4, Marsico introduced a bill that got things rolling.
According to Rozzi, he got words of support that day from Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) on the House floor. “Whatever direction you go in, I’m following you,” Turzai told him discreetly, Rozzi said. “We’re doing this.”
Turzai declined an interview request.
Eight days later, the House passed the bill on a 180-15 vote, sending it to the Senate.
An uncertain fate
In an interview last week, Greenleaf shared his own reaction to the horrors outlined in both recent grand jury reports.
“The facts are terrible,” the Willow Grove Republican said. “The facts are not defensible.”
Still, he would not say if he supported the retroactive civil lawsuit provision, even in theory. He said he wanted to examine questions of whether it would be constitutional to allow old abuse cases to be litigated.
The stakes may be higher for his committee vice chairman, Rafferty. Rafferty is the GOP nominee for attorney general, seeking to take over a job in which he would be expected to root out crime and protect its victims.
During an interview at his Collegeville office last week, he called the recent grand jury findings “very disheartening.”
But he was cautious about the bill.
“From a policy standpoint, I support the need for retroactive application of the statute of limitations,” Rafferty said Thursday. “I have a duty to carefully review the constitutional implications of the amended bill as it passed the House.”
In a follow-up email on Friday, Rafferty wrote that he looked forward to examining those issues at a hearing Greenleaf intended to call.
(An aide to Greenleaf would not confirm that such a decision had been made.)
Leach, the committee’s ranking Democrat, was equally noncommittal. The topic has been bandied about the Capitol for a decade, but Leach said he had to learn more.
“What do other states do?” he said last week. “What is the best way to handle this that’s fair to everybody?”
Source: Altoona-Johnstown abuse changed minds
View PDF: Altoona-Johnstown abuse changed minds
Voices, Louise Kramer
/in Voices /by SOL Reform“Dear Brian,
Hi. I am your cousin Steve’s wife.
Honored to meet international child advocate Manny Waks in Albany
/in New York /by SOL ReformRemarks from Survivor Harold Siering from 2016 NY CSA Lobby Day
/in Florida, New York, Voices /by SOL ReformDisclaimer: Views do not represent the views of SOL Reform.
Remarks from Harold Siering for Press Conference:
This is my first public telling of my story so please be patient with me.
I was abused by two men, one from Big Brothers and one who was my assistant principal at St. Joseph’s in Babylon. These men impressed my single mother who was looking for a male role model since my biological father left.
I was abused from the ages of 10 and ½ to 17 years of age sometime two or three times in one day. We have estimated they both abused me hundreds of times, not once or twice this was a never ending event.
I was hugged, wrestled with, groped, fondled and abused more ways that you can think about for their own disgusting gratification. I cannot tell you all the details of my abuse they are too graphic for this forum.
These men made their way into my very small family I only had my mother and grandmother; they used my being alone for their sexual abuse on me.
One of my abusers took me all over on trips, to Florida where I saw the test firing of the space shuttle engines while I was being abused in a motel. I was also abused on my first trip to Walt Disney World and many times I was given multiple rum and cokes to drink while under age I still have flashbacks when I hear rum and coke this will ever leave me.
The assistant principal would touch me and fondle me in his classroom, his office he had between the buildings so that no one could see or hear. Many times he would take me into the office, I was told to bring a book so if anyone asked he was helping me with reading. In his private room where he also had a wall of the school pictures of other little boys who were his favorites.
After he was satisfied with his desire he would light up a cigarette I still have flashback to that smell, the match being lighted and the smell of the paper of the cheap cigarette and his first drag as he inhaled.
After a while he also showed up at my house, to talk to my mother allegedly about some school work issue and then ended coming over for dinners, just to sit next to me and, he even abused me in my own bedroom while my mother was in the kitchen………..this is just so wrong.
I kept this all a secret, they both told me that no one would believe a kid over an adult or a “Brother” and they both told me that this is what boys do.
I also feel that this crime is not reported enough, when I called the FBI in March of 2009 I was yelled at, belittled, called a liar, when I was seeking justice. I had to call back since the agent who answered the telephone hung up on me. Thanks to that alleged agent of the FBI I often have flashback to that caller hearing him yell at me. This memory is hard for me with all the crime shows on TV today that is why I don’t watch them. Since I am pretty stubborn and from New York I called back to another agent at the same number I gave them all the information about my abuser to another alleged agent of the FBI. I have not heard from them since and that abuser lives free thanks to them. That is not a Justice Department.
I really hate hearing the phrase “memories faded” it is such an insensitive remark to a survivor like me I wish my memory has faded. There is no magic pill or drug to erase these memories or flashback, there is no magic treatment to forget what I have gone through so maybe those who support the protection of monsters need to think about that.
There is only one way to show all our children in the State of New York that we want to protect them, I urge you all to write and call your New York State Senator today.
I don’t know why NY State Senate thinks its ok to protect the monsters. I think this issue is like the tobacco industry and the NFL concussions scandal; it needs to stop today and now.
And most of all, ironically many of the New York Senators who are against this bills are against abortion, therefore protecting the rights of the unborn children, but then they abandon the children once they are born.
Thank you………any questions?
Jewish leaders and rabbis support NY Child Victims Act
/in 2016 Action Alert, 2016 Legislation, New York /by SOL ReformJewish leaders and rabbis who support Child Victims Act (New York)
Source: http://www.kolvoz.org/jewish-leaders-and-rabbis-support-ny-child-victims-act.html
After decades of denial, cover-ups and darkness across New York state, light is finally being shone on the scourge of child sexual abuse. The lasting and far-reaching damage caused by abusers is intolerable, and it is incumbent upon all the citizens of New York State to work to reduce it.
Shockingly, when victims have come forward to seek justice and stop abusers from causing more harm, they have been blocked by current New York State law.
While mental health experts have shown that it can take decades for a victim of child sexual abuse to overcome the fear, shame, and trauma of abuse and be able to come forward to confront their abuser, our current law allows survivors of abuse to pursue criminal or civil justice only until the age of 23, a statute of limitations of, in some cases, only five years.
We are embarrassed that New York state has been ranked among the very worst in the US, alongside Alabama, Michigan and Mississippi, for how the courts and criminal justice system treat survivors of child sex abuse.
Therefore, we urge you to help New York join states like California, Delaware, Minnesota, Hawaii, Illinois and Florida that have recently passed legislation extending or eliminating the statute of limitations, thus creating windows for survivors to come forward.
This legislation will no doubt bring justice, but, it will also prevent further abuse. When similar legislation was passed in California, over 300 previously unknown abusers were identified.
Many rabbis and Jewish leaders have seen in our communities the wounds caused by sexual predators; wounds whose pain cannot be overstated, wounds that may never be fully healed. We also painfully acknowledge that rather than being a source of healing for victims of child sexual abuse, religious institutions have too often been a part of the problem.
Though we cannot undo the pain that was done, we can stand with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in their quest for justice. We can and must stand with survivors of child sexual abuse in their quest for justice. We stand with all those children who are still at risk from abusers still at large because of our broken statute of limitations laws. We ask you to do the same: help all survivors of child sexual abuse receive the justice they deserve and help deter future abuse by supporting the Child Victims Act.
Title Name Affiliated organization
1. Rabbi Ari Hart Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
2. Rabbi Yosef Blau Yeshiva University
3. Mr Manny Waks Kol v’Oz
4. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
5. Rabbi David Dunn Bauer Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
6. Rabbi Jill Jacobs T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
7. Mrs Ruth W. Messinger Former Manhattan Borough President
8. Rabbi Michael Fessler Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
9. Rabbi Brian Fink JCC Manhattan, Director of Engage Jewish Service Corps
10. Rabbi Lina Zerbarini Sid Jacobson JCC
11. Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg Retired
12. Rabbi Joe Potasnik
13. Rabbi Pesach Sommer
14. Rabbi/Pro f Benny Forer Jewish Community Watch
15. Rabbi Micha Berger The AishDas Society
16. Rabbi Shmuel Skaist Yeshivas Isser v’Yitzchak at IDT
17. Mr Chaim Levin Kol v’Oz
18. Rabbi Jonah Geffen Congregation Shaare Zedek
19. Rabbi Joshua Hess Congregation Anshe Chesed
20. Rabbi Sam Reinstein Congregation Kol Israel
21. Mr Eli Nash Survivor and Victim Advocate
22. Rabbi Ysoscher Katz Prospect Heights Shul
23. Rabbi Mordechai Harris Baron Hirsch Congregation
24. Rabbi Zelig Mandel
25. Rabbi Rachel Esserman
26. Rabbi Chuck Davidson International Rabbinic Fellowship
27. Rabbi Kleinberg
28. Rabbi Michael Rothbaum Congregation Beth El Berkeley
29. Rabbi Asher Lopatin Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
30. Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz Kehilath Jeshurun
31. Rabbi (stu) Gabriel Kretzmer Seed Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
32. Mr Ed Landesman
33. Cantor Adina Frydman
34. Rabbi Menachem Creditor Congregation Netivot Shalom
35. Rabbi Joshua Yuter
36. Rabbi Paula Marcus
37. Rabbi Debbie Israel Congregation Emeth
38. Rabbi Dr Zev Farber Project TABS
39. Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
40. Mr Mordechai Levovitz JQY
41. Rabbi Gil Student
42. Mr David Zinberg Columnist
43. Rabbi Yehoshua Looks
44. Maharat Ramie Smith Yeshivat Maharat
45. Rabbi Aaron Potek Hillel
46. Rabbi David Bauman US Navy
47. Rabbi Mel Gottlieb Academy for Jewish Religion, California
48. Rabbi Zachary Truboff Cedar Sinai Synagogue
49. Mr Mark Meyer Appell Voice of Justice
50. Rabbi Sarah Freidson Temple Beth Shalom
51. Rabbi Dr Yehudah Mirsky
52. Rabbi Dr Michael Chernick Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
53. Rabbi David Kalb Jewish Learning Center of New York
54. Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz Uri L’Tzedek
55. Rabbi Dov Linzer Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
56. Rabba Dr Anat Sharbat Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
57. The Hon Dov S. Zakheim Former Under Secretary of Defense
58. Rabbi Sarit Horwitz B’nai Jeshurun
59. Rabbi Jason Herman International Rabbinic Fellowship
60. Rabbi Yonah Berman
61. Rabbi Barry Gelman
62. MD Michelle Friedman Director of Pastoral Counseling, Yrshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School
63. Mrs Dina Naijman The Kehila
64. Mr David Cheifetz Mi Li
65. Rabbi (stu) Daniel Atwood Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
66. Rabbi Aviad Bodner Statnton Street Shul
67. Ms Rahel Bayer Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
68. Mr Jordan Hirsch Torah Academy of Bergen County
69. Rabbi Ben Greenberg
70. Rabbi Dr Marc Gopin George Mason University
71. Rabbi Jeremy D. Sher Harvard Divinity School
72. Rabbi David Ingbar Romemu
73. Rabbi Iris Richman
74. Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller IRF
75. Rabbi Avram Mlotek Base Hillel Downtown
76. Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen
77. Rabbi Adam Baldachin Rockland Clergy for Social Justice
78. Rabbi Jon Kelsen
79. Rabbi Raquel S. Kosovske Beit Ahavah
80. Rabbi Howard Stecker Temple Israel of Great Neck
81. Rabbi Will Keller Yeshivah Chovevei Torah
82. Ms Anna Shpilkovskaya United Support Network
83. Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman Union Temple of Brooklyn
84. Ms Judy Mitzner Survivor and Victim Advocate
85. Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein 14th Street Y
86. Rabbi Marc Margolius West End Synagogue
87. Rabbi Ari Kahn
88. Rabbi Matti Futterman Temple Beth El, Cedarhurst
89. Rabbi Yosef Goldman Temple Beth Zion
90. Rabbi Daniel Brenner
91. Rabbi Daniel Geretz Maayan of West Orange
92. Rabbi Maya Resnikoff Nursingatshul.wordpress.com
93. Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin Israel Center of Conservative Judaism
94. Rabbi Uri Regev Hiddush
95. Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun
96. Mr Ariel Weisz
97. Rabbi Ariel Russo Congregation Sons of Israel
98. Rabbi Pinchos Woolstone
99. Mr Naftuli Moster Yaffed
100. Dr Sharon Weiss-Greenberg Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
101. Ms Tully Harcsztark SAR High School
102. Rabbi Paul Drazen United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
103. Ms Shanie Reichman
104. Ms Victoria Jacobi
105. Mrs Chaya Schneps Young Israel of West Hempstead
106. Rabbi Rachel Weiss Congregation Bit Simchat Torah
107. Ms Lani Santo Footsteps
108. Rabbi David Gelfand Temple Israel of the City of New York
109. Rabbi Guy Austrian Fort Tryon Jewish Center
110. Attorney Ellliot B. Pasik Jewish Board of Advocates for Children
111. Rabbi Suzanne Singer Temple Beth El, Riverside, CA
112. Rabbi Dr David A. Teutsch Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
113. Rabbi David Lerner Rabbinical Assembly
114. Rabbi (stu) Melanie Levav The Jewish Theological Seminary
115. Mr Larry Marx The Children’s Agenda
116. Ms Ava Katz
117. Dr Karen Abrams Gerber
118. Rabbi Maurice Appelbaum Congregation Ahavas Israel – Greenpoint Shul & Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
119. Ms Cindy Chazan
120. Rabbi Amy Eilberg
121. Rabbi Goldie Milgram Reclaiming Judaism
122. Rabbi Dr Leslie Schotz Academy for Jewish Religion and Aleph
123. Ms Rena Blatt
124. Rabbanit Devorah Zlochower Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
125. Ms Dove Kent Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
126. Ms Lea New Minkowitz
127. Rabbi Moishe Feiglin The Aliya Institute
128. Rabbi Jean Eglinton B’nei Sholom Congregation
129. Mr Joshua Chadajo Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
130. Mr Dorron Katzin Mi Li
131. Rabbi Fred Hyman
132. Rabbi Aaron Panken Hebrew Union College
133. Rabbi Barry Dolinger Congregation Beth Sholom
134. Ms Rivka Joseph Survivor and Advocate
135. Rabbi Serena Eisenberg Hillel at Stanford
136. Rabbi Michael Melchior Former Cabinet Minister and Chairman of the Committee for Children’s Rights in the Knesset
137. Rabbi Scott Glass Temple Beth-El, Ithaca, NY
138. Rabbi Fred Hyman
139. Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff Congregation B’nei Tikvah
140. Rabbi Laura Geller Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills
141. Ms Susan Canter
142. Mr Barry Grandj Uri Tzedek
143. Rabbi Dan Ornstein Congregation Ohav Shalom, Albany, NY
144. Rabbi Barbara Penzner Temple Hillel B’nai Torah, Boston
145. Rabbi Tzvi Sinensku Kohelet Yeshiva High School
146. Ms Grace B. White
147. Mr Jason Rubenstein Mechon Hadar
148. Rabbi Cecilia Beyer Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael, Springfield, NJ
149. Rabbi Avi Killip Mechon Hadar
150. Rabbi Gary Katz UES Hebrew School
Please click here if you’re a rabbi or Jewish leader and would like to sign this document.
Feinstein, Cornyn Introduce Bill to Protect Child Sex Abuse Victims
/in 2016 Legislation, Federal /by SOL ReformApr 29 2016
Feinstein, Cornyn Introduce Bill to Protect Child Sex Abuse Victims
Washington—Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) today introduced the Extending Justice for Sex Crime Victims Act to extend the civil statute of limitations for minor victims of federal sex crimes, including sex abuse, sex trafficking and child pornography.
Under current federal law, sex abuse victims must file suit against their abusers within 10 years of the offense or by age 21. Cases filed later are dismissed, even though many victims do not come forward about their abuse until later in life. The bill would extend the statute of limitations until age 28. This is already the case for victims of federal sex-trafficking crimes. A similar provision was recently included in the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016, at Feinstein’s request. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
The bill also clarifies that the civil statute of limitations does not begin to run until the victim discovers the violation or injury. For example, a child whose image is used in pornography may not become aware of it for years; a child who is sexually abused may not understand what happened until later in life.
“It often takes years for victims of child sexual abuse to come forward,” said Senator Feinstein.“They are traumatized. They feel alone. They may not fully understand what happened to them. To bar these victims from seeking justice when they process their abuse and are ready to come forward is wrong. Extending the statute of limitations is the right thing to do for young victims of these horrific crimes.”
“While the federal criminal justice system is effective at punishing those who commit crimes, too often victims are not given the support they need to begin the healing process. By extending the civil Statute of Limitations, this legislation will allow victims of some of the most horrifying child abuse crimes to seek justice against sexual predators,” Senator Cornyn said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this bill forward.”
The bill is supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Crime Victims Center and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
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