The Worthy Adversary

Author: Joelle Casteix

  • Wilton Gregory’s REAL message to Georgia…

    Wilton Gregory’s REAL message to Georgia…

    The Georgia State Legislature is trying to pass a bill to help adult victims of child sexual abuse.

    The legislation, dubbed the “Hidden Predator Act,” extends the statute of limitations for victims from age 23 to 38, and creates other avenues for adults to sue long after that age.

    This is not groundbreaking legislation. It does not remove the civil statute for child sexual abuse, like many states have done, nor is it the two, then four-year civil window that we saw in Hawai’i.

    But that isn’t stopping the Catholic Church, which only represents about 10 percent of the faith-based population of Georgia, from trying to stop the movement in its tracks.

    In a statement, Archbishop Wilton Gregory said that the bill is “unfair to the church.” He states that lawsuits brought by the bill would “drastically damage their ability to carry out the mission of the Catholic Church.”

    Here’s what I don’t understand: Why is anyone listening to him?

    Let’s look at the facts:

    • Out of all of faiths represented in the state, the Catholic Church only represents about 10% of the church-going population of Georgia.
    • Churches are only a small portion of the eligible institutions in this bill.
    • When it comes to suing institutions that cover up child sex predators, Wilton Gregory says his church is unfairly targeted.

    Wait! What? I think he’s trying to tell us he has a huge child rape problem. 

    The other 90+% victims will expose child sex predators in every walk of life

    Let’s look at what this law WILL do: expose people abusing right now within every aspect of life in Georgia –  daycare centers, preschools, camps, other churches, group homes, theater companies, gymnastics and swim clubs (that have been rocked by cover-up scandals), community groups, after-school organizations, sports teams, explorer groups, and other institutions.

    Predators will be exposed by victims who have NEVER set foot in a Catholic Church or school. What gives Wilton Gregory the right to determine how a victim from a daycare center chooses to expose the person who raped them?

    The victims in these institutions should have the right to come forward when they are ready, not when the Catholic Church or an old law says they should.

     

  • Closed for whom?

    Closed for whom?

    From the Associated Press:

    [The] Catholic Church is concerned that the [Michigan] statute of limitations bill could “open up other things that have been closed.”

    Other things? Things like abuse and cover-up?

    And these things have been closed? I don’t think so.

    Certainly not for the victims, who are still suffering. Not for the predators, who may still be abusing. Not for the public, who demands the truth.

    It’s only closed for the Catholic Church. And they would prefer to keep it that way. Public accountability has never been their thing.

    The church has pulled this line for years, when the only victims testifying were victims from the church. They have a lot of nerve to look at the Nassar victims and say the same thing.

    If that’s the only defense they have, it’s a poor one.

  • Will married priests solve the problem? Wife-beating priest case gives us sneak peek

    Will married priests solve the problem? Wife-beating priest case gives us sneak peek

    Kill the celibacy requirement, kill the scandal?

    Hardly.

    The Catholic clergy sex abuse cover-up scandal is not totally unique. It’s an institutional cover-up, just like the institutional cover-up with Larry Nassar in US Gymnastics, the recent scandal in USA Swimming, the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal, the scandal in LAUSD, and smaller scandals in private, religious, and public institutions nationwide.

    So what about celibacy?

    Larry Nassar was married—so were many of the accused coaches at USA Swimming, accused bishops in the Mormon Church, as well as our pal Jerry Sandusky. But the institutional cover-up remains almost as fierce as that within the Catholic Church.

    A sneak peek at a non-celibate priesthood

    Let’s address our key question: Would things be any different in the Catholic Church if priests were allowed to be married?

    Lucky for us, we got a sneak peek this week:

    Reverend Luke Reese, 49, was ordained at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham near Spring Valley in 2016. He then moved to Indiana where police say last September, he kidnapped, beat and terrorized his wife of 25 years.

    Reese is a former Anglican priest who is now of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, a Houston-based Catholic religious order for former Anglicans in the United States. As such, they are allowed to be married. Reese and his wife had seven children.

    Read what he’s accused of doing to her. It’s bad.

    According to the unfolding investigation, Fr. C. Ryan McCarthy, the pastor of Holy Rosary, where Reese was now assigned, came to Reese’s house the day after the alleged assault:

    The next day on September 25th, the victim says Father Ryan McCarthy from Holy Rosary came to their home and saw her bruised face. She says McCarthy urged them to spend time apart.

    Unlike child abuse cases, clergy members are not required by law to report domestic abuse.

    Spend time apart?

    This is after Reese he told witnesses he could have killed his wife.

    “Mind your own business”

    I haven’t gotten to the coup de grâce.

    McCarthy turning a blind eye to domestic violence is the cowardly action of one man putting a woman’s life in direct danger. As a priest and a pastor, he is the first line of defense for many women in domestic violence situations. He should have been the one taking her to the hospital and the police, not covering up for her alleged attacker.

    McCarthy did one better. He gave us a peek at the institutional response in the October 1 bulletin. Not only does he tell people to “mind their own business,” he also tells them that gossip is a sin.

    A sin? Talking to your family about domestic violence? Providing information to authorities? Being open and honest about what is going on in your faith community?

    The institutional response:

    You see a woman being beaten? Mind your own business.

    You see a child being sexually abused? Mind your own business.

    So if the cops come and try to talk to witnesses in the parish who may have seen Reese beating his wife, guess what a parishioner’s response will be?

    “I really don’t know. Those bruises I saw? The yelling? I can’t speculate. That’s a sin.”

    Nice.

    And guess who has become the victim here? Reese. And guess who is getting the blame? His wife.

    Married priests will solve nothing. The institutional response will remain the same.

     

    *Note: Since Reese’s arrest, his religious order has put out a statement condemning domestic abuse. The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has only said this, according to the Indy Star:

    Because Reese’s archbishop is in Houston, Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson cannot immediately make any official decisions regarding discipline and Reese’s status within the church, according to Greg Otolski, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

    The damage has already been done.

     

  • ICYMI – USA Swimming has a scandal on its hands

    ICYMI – USA Swimming has a scandal on its hands

    Last week, The Orange County Register published an excellent two-part series on the sex abuse cover-up scandal inside of USA Swimming.

    Some of horrific facts reporter Scott M. Reid unearthed:

    • Top USA Swimming executives, board members, top officials and coaches acknowledge in the documents that they were aware of sexually predatory coaches for years, in some cases even decades, but did not take action against them. In at least 11 cases either Wielgus or other top USA Swimming officials declined to pursue sexual abuse cases against high profile coaches even when presented with direct complaints, documents show. With some of the complaints, the decision not to pursue the case was made by Susan Woessner, USA Swimming’s current director of Safe Sport.

    For example, three U.S. Olympic team head coaches, and a USA Swimming vice president were told in the 1980s that a world-renowned coach has sexually abused a female swimmer beginning when she was 12. Wielgus was informed of allegations against the coach at least three times in recent years. But not only did USA Swimming not pursue a case against the coach, it allowed him to continue to have access to USA Swimming facilities, U.S. Olympic and national team events, and the Olympic Training Center. USA Swimming even awarded the club owned and operated by him more than $40,000 in grants. The coach was only banned after pleading guilty to sexual assault, more than a quarter-century after the abuse was first brought to the attention of the Olympic coaches.

    • In the more than 20 years since Wielgus took charge of USA Swimming in July 1997, at least 252 swim coaches and officials have been arrested, charged by prosecutors, or disciplined by USAS for sexual abuse or misconduct against individuals under 18. Those coaches and officials have a total of at least 590 alleged victims, some of them abused while attending pre-school swim classes.

    • USA Swimming board members and coaches acknowledged they were aware of statutory rape cases that occurred during U.S. national team trips to major international competitions.

    • USA Swimming since at least 2010 has kept a list of more than 30 coaches and officials “flagged” by USA Swimming officials after being arrested or accused by law enforcement of sex crimes including rape and child pornography, but not disciplined by USA Swimming. Some coaches and officials on the “flagged” list have not been banned even after they have been convicted of felonies. Of the 32 people on the “flagged list” in 2010, only six have been subsequently banned by USA Swimming. The “flagged list” is not available to the public. Even when USA Swimming has banned coaches and officials for life for sexual misconduct it can be years before their names are listed on the permanently banned list on USA Swimming’s website.

    • Local swim clubs that are members of USA Swimming are insured by U.S. Sports Insurance Company Inc, a company with $31.3-million in assets originally based in Barbados created and solely owned by USA Swimming and governed by former and current USA Swimming officials. While USSIC provides USA Swimming $2-million worth of liability insurance for sexual abuse civil cases, until recently the company provided local clubs only $100,000 worth of coverage for similar cases. This policy of reducing the financial exposure of USSIC at the local level was a factor in generating millions of dollars in “safety rebates” from USSIC back to USA Swimming. In some years the governing body has received back as much as $750,000 in “safety rebates.”

    • USA Swimming has also paid $77,627 to lobbying firms to lobby against legislation in California that would have made it easier for sexual abuse victims to sue their abusers and the organizations they worked for or represented in civil cases.

    The legislation was SB 131.

    You will want to read the whole thing.

    These poor swimmers were sacrificed with nothing to protect them.

    A note: 

    Yes, I am sure that there will be some kind of congressional action about this, although there have been much larger scandals in religious institutions and groups such as the Boy Scouts. But take a deep breath and remember: no one baptizes their child, marries their spouse, buries their dead, confesses their sins, goes through their rights of passage into manhood, and/or climbs the ladder to God through USA Swimming. A swimming org is an easy target.

    Therefore, the fight must continue.

     

  • My own journey

    It’s time to talk.

    Those of you who have followed my blog may have noticed that it was dark for much of the fall.

    There were some good reasons for this. I am on the faculty at the UCI School of Law this semester, co-teaching a course on how to use the legislative process to fight child sexual exploitation. I have also been doing a great deal of speaking across the country (my favorite thing in the world) educating parents and service providers on child sexual abuse prevention strategies. I’ve been to six different states speaking to all kinds of groups.

    I am working on my next book project, focusing on my real expertise: child sexual abuse in institutions. That book is in its infancy, and I am looking at bringing in some collaborators.

    But these are all of the good reasons that the blog was dark. There was another:

    I had a decade-long battle to finish. A few weeks ago, I was finally able to get the man who sexually assaulted me as a teen out of his job at Adrian College. The school didn’t fire him. They let him quietly resign. I’m guessing they probably gave him a pot of money to do so.

    From the Toledo Blade:

    ADRIAN — An Adrian College music professor and choir director accused of sexually abusing two students decades ago has resigned.

    Frank Hribar, vice president for enrollment and student affairs for the college, confirmed in an email to The Blade that Thomas Hodgman resigned “for personal reasons.”

    “The college will make no further comment regarding this matter,” he said.

    Mr. Hodgman could not be reached for comment.

    Joelle Casteix, 47, has long said she was abused by Mr. Hodgman in the 1980s when he was a teacher at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana., Calif. Documents released after a settlement with the diocese show Mr. Hodgman admitted to school officials about the abuse of two teenage students.

    He resigned his position in 1989 and has worked at Adrian College since 1999. Mr. Hodgman claims the documents are “false and unofficial.” Adrian College has long stood by him, calling him “an exemplary faculty member” in 2005 when the documents were first released.

    The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has campaigned against the college’s support of Mr. Hodgman, despite its knowledge of his past transgressions. In an emailed statement, SNAP Toledo leader Claudia Vercellotti accused the college and President Jeffrey Docking of secretly firing Mr. Hodgman after covering up his behavior.

    School officials previously admitted they confirmed Mr. Hodgman “engaged in inappropriate behavior while teaching in a California high school approximately 30 years ago,” but argued they could take no action because Mr. Hodgman was tenured and a member of the Adrian College Faculty Union.

    Ms. Casteix has repeatedly made public criticism of Adrian College for its relationship with Mr. Hodgman. She says she was 15 when the abuse started. She filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Orange County in 2003 — when California temporarily lifted its civil statute of limitations on such cases, clearing the way for hundreds of lawsuits to be filed against Catholic dioceses in the state.

    She received $1.6 million, part of a $100 million settlement with dozens of victims — the largest payment at the time by a Catholic diocese to victims of alleged sexual abuse.

    As part of the 2005 settlement, the diocese agreed it would not try to block the release of documents relating to the allegations. But Mr. Hodgman objected, and a judge declined to approve the release of the documents specific to his case, sending it to a higher court.

    But some papers were released inadvertently in 2005, according to the Orange County Register, which printed parts of the letters. The Blade also obtained copies of the letters, and Ms. Casteix has published them online.

    Mr. Hodgman was most recently excluded from an upcoming Adrian College Choir performance March 19 at the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall in New York City. SNAP had sent letters to the production company, MidAmerica Productions, the participating schools, and Carnegie Hall, though it was unclear if their campaign was the reason for Mr. Hodgman’s removal from the event.

    SNAP suggested Mr. Docking be removed as president and called for further action from college officials.

    “We call on [the Adrian College] Board of Trustees to immediately investigate why Hodgman was allowed to leave the school quietly,” Ms. Vercellotti said. “We also call on them to demand full accountability from Jeffrey Docking for the decade-long cover-up of Hodgman’s behavior and his actions against Joelle Casteix, including besmirching her character. He — and the Adrian College Board of Trustees — owe her a full apology.” 

     

    This whole process was … soul-sucking. Heart-wrenching. Stressful beyond anything I remember in recent years. I lost hair. I lost sleep. But I am one of the lucky ones. I have a family and support and love. I had disclosed the abuse.

    All I’ve ever wanted was for people like Adrian College to do the right thing. They never have.

    In fact, the college didn’t make the announcement. We (other advocates and I) discovered it and asked the local media to pressure the college into making a statement.

    What happened to me and the other girl(s) has always been an afterthought for Adrian. Do they feel that way about their students? Their female faculty?

    I fear that the sickness and cover-up inside Adrian College is far bigger than one second-rate music professor. I encourage people there to speak out. You will be heard. I hear you.

    So the blog is back in business. My hair is growing back. I’m also working out with a boxing trainer, so I will be pitying many a fool. As if they ever got off easy.