Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

Part V in a series that looks at Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church from 1984-2010. (continued)
By Tom Doyle J.C.D., C.A.D.C

In 1989 the Mount Cashel scandal in St. John’s, Newfoundland captured world-wide attention.  The gut-wrenching story of the Magdalene Asylums in Ireland became public in 1993 and in 1994 the “Brendan Smyth Affair” succeeded in shaking loose the reality that child abuse by clerics and religious was deeply embedded and widespread throughout piously “Catholic” Ireland.  The Irish nightmare continued and in 1999 Mary Raftery produced a shocking three-part series, “States of Fear,” that exposed the dreadful abuse that had been inflicted on countless boys in the country’s industrial schools, most of which were run by the Christian Brothers.  In Australia Christian Brother Barry Coldrey was highly influential in exposing the institutionalized abuse perpetrated by his own community. 

In the U.S. a series of highly publicized cases flashed and then subsided with little apparent change in the overall imbalance between the institutional Church and the vast community of victims.  In 1993 a group of adult survivors of Fr. James Porter pursued him and eventually received monetary settlements from the Diocese of Fall River and most important, saw Porter convicted and imprisoned.  The same year there were major explosions at two minor seminaries, one on the west coast and the other in the midwest.  Widespread sexual abuse of young boys by a number of clergy faculty members was uncovered at St. Lawrence Seminary in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and at St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara CA.  In 1997 a group of adult victims from St. Joseph Orphanage in Vermont joined together and sued the diocese of Burlington and the Sisters of Charity of Providence, a Montreal based order of nuns, for the physical and sexual abuse inflicted on them while they were institutionalized.  Possibly the most dramatic and explosive event of the nineties was the “Rudy Kos” trial in Dallas, TX.  Twelve plaintiffs faced off with the Diocese of Dallas over sexual abuse perpetrated by former priest Rudy Kos, now in prison for life. After 8 weeks of testimony a jury found the diocese of Dallas guilty of conspiracy, negligence and a number of other charges.  They fixed actual and punitive damages at $119 million dollars.  Although the amount was later reduced in settlements, the verdict and the award were a major breakthrough.

Next issue – Boston 2002