DIOCESE/State Watch
Boston, MA: H 5234 is expected to become law in Massachusetts, as soon as Gov. Mitt Romney signs it. Bonnie Gorman and Susan Renehan, co-chairs of the Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws in Massachusetts said the following:
“The scaled down version of the SOL repeal legislation that was initially introduced was combined into one bill – H5234 - with legislation that tightened laws regarding the sexual offender registry that Community Voices helped move forward. Please go to www.stopsexcri me.org for more information.
H5234 reforms the statutes of limitations for criminal prosecution by extending the SOL from 15 to 27 years and eliminates it if there is corroborating evidence available to the District Attorney. While corroborating evidence is unusual, we believe that this conditional repeal is something that can be built upon in the future.
We may not have bridged the mountain range of hurdles in closing the “justice
gap” for crimes of sexual abuse to children but we have moved a mountain. Tom
O’Neill, a strong supporter and advisor of the Coalition, told us recently, ‘Do
you know what you have done? You have moved a mountain. That’s what you have
done.’”
Contact information: email to bonniegorman1@yahoo.com;
visit the web site. For more on
this development, see Commentary for Steve Krueger – “This Hasn’t
Passed Yet?”
- VOTF Boston Council reports that Ben Murphy of the VOTF Boston Sidewalk Affiliate, had a Letter to the Editor published in the August 25th edition of the archdiocesan newspaper the Pilot. Ben was responding to an article on the hierarchy's plan to protect children. He said, in part, "The [Pilot] article indicates that the bishops have a comprehensive plan to protect young children and it is being implemented. Does this plan address bishops who were guilty of sheltering abusive priests? To this date, not one has been sanctioned and to me, that leaves the most egregious violators free to, once again, hide violators."
Columbus, OH: The Columbus Dispatch reports: “The finance director
for the Columbus Roman Catholic Diocese was indicted by a federal grand jury
yesterday on 23 counts of taking nearly $800,000 in kickbacks while working
in Cleveland.” Read
more. The Cleveland
Scene published an article
that wonders aloud about the “how” of such mismanagement.
Meanwhile Smith is on paid leave from his work in the Columbus diocese, according
to the Columbus
Dispatch.
- VOTF Cleveland member Tom Byrne said that the diocese's claims of victimization
amounted to "public relations working overtime.” See Bill Frogameni’s commentary
in the Cleveland
Scene.
New York, NY: The Sept. 12 New York Times editorial noted: “For
all the post-scandal display of reform by the American bishops, they still
lack the machinery to force their foot-dragging peers to face up to tougher
measures to regain public trust. The vague device called ‘fraternal correction’ — a
kind of buddy system that’s supposed to correct blossoming scandal — remains
a toothless nonthreat.” Subscribers
can access the full
editorial. Attorney Marci Hamilton’s comment on the
editorial follows:
“The problem with the Times’ assessment is that the Church isn't ‘haunted
by a ghostly legion,’ but rather by a cadre of living predators who are either
(1) still under the radar because of the Church's continuing cover up; (2)
being supported by the Church and watched by their peers, which, as the Times intimates,
is a huge joke; or (3) defrocked and now wandering the neighborhoods of our
towns and cities looking for children to groom, because the Church's cover
up placed their crimes beyond the statutes of limitations. The Times’ underlying
assumptions rest on the false assumption that this is part of the past. No
such luck.” Marci’s
web site.
Rockville Center, NY: Newsday reported: “More than 100 members of
the Long Island chapter of Voice of the Faithful Tuesday marched from St. Agnes
Cathedral in Rockville Centre to the diocesan offices three blocks away to
call for the creation of an outside ‘finance council’ to watch over the diocese's
finances.” Read more.
Bridgeport, CT: VOTF Bridgeport posted a statement (www.votfbpt.org) on the tragic outcome of financial mismanagement in a Darien parish – the departure of a respected priest from the parish and the priesthood and arrest of one-time high-living pastor. The statement captures much that is awry in parishes all over the US. How does your parish fare by comparison? (Write to pthorp.ed@votf.org.)
Philadelphia, PA: Associated Press reported that Cardinal
Rigali has taken a step in the Philadelphia archdiocese that could and should
establish a model for all US dioceses. He called together hundreds of priests
in the archdiocese to hear in person the stories of survivors of abuse by clergy.
Associated Press also quoted a victim who testified in what turned out to be
a devastating grand jury report on the incidence and management of abuse in
the archdiocese. "But the fact is, in the halls of Harrisburg they [bishops]
are lobbying against the laws that are necessary to protect children." See
full coverage at the Times
Herald web
site.
Click
here for the Philadelphia archdiocese press release and video
stream of the meeting .
The Philadelphia
Inquirer reports
that Cardinal Rigali has launched an advertising outreach campaign for victims
of clergy sexual abuse. Rreactions to the planned campaign are mixed, however.
Read
more.
Also, see the Delaware
County Times editorial “Let Abuse Victims Be
Heard in Court.”
[Note that one of the VOTF affiliates has suggested to their archbishop that the Philadelphia model be employed in their own archdiocese. The response from the chancery expressed an interest in considering such an initiative. ]
Davenport, IO: The Des Moines Register reports: “Scott
County jury on Monday awarded $1.5 million to a Davenport man who alleged he
was sexually abused nearly 50 years ago by a high-ranking priest [who died
in 1981] in the Davenport Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. The lawsuit
was the first the diocese has taken to trial since the sex-abuse scandal broke
open in the Catholic Church several years ago.” Read
this story in full.
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