The Worthy Adversary

Category: Clergy Abuse Crisis

  • My Open Letter to Jeffrey Docking and Adrian College #metoo

    My Open Letter to Jeffrey Docking and Adrian College #metoo

    November 3, 2017

    To:       Dr. Jeffrey Docking, President Adrian College @JeffreyDocking, @AdrianCollege

    cc:        Ms. Bridgette Winslow, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Title IX Coordinator

    Dr. Seth Knox, President, Adrian College Association of Professors

    The dam has broken: You can no longer blame a fifteen-year-old victim for the fact that one of your professors, Thomas Hodgman, preyed on me, sexually abused me, and lied about it—all while he was my high school teacher.

    The blame is not mine to bear. It is his and it is yours – for condoning the molestation of children.

    It is time for you to remove admitted sexual predator Thomas Hodgman from his employment at Adrian College.

    I came forward in 2003 and filed a lawsuit against Thomas Hodgman, the Diocese of Orange, CA, and Mater Dei High School, where Hodgman—my high school choir teacher from 1986-1988—admitted to sexually abusing me and at least one other high school girl.

    That lawsuit settled in 2005. As a part of that settlement, I received more than 200 pages of secret documents showing that Hodgman admitted to preying on me and at least one other girl. He knew he got me pregnant. He had been informed he gave me a sexually transmitted disease.

    He used his high school choirs to gain access to vulnerable young girls and sexually abuse them.

    In 2004, I visited Adrian to alert your predecessor, Stanley Caine. I had Hodgman’s signed confession. Caine told me that it was just “sour grapes” on my part. He blamed the abuse on me.

    For the 13 years since then, I have attempted to alert students, parents, and the public about what Hodgman has done. I have posted the once-secret documents online. I have contacted your office numerous times. What have you done?

    With the recent scandals involving Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and other powerful men in media and Hollywood, the dam is breaking.

    You can no longer turn a blind eye to what Hodgman did and say, “Times were different.” They weren’t.

    You can’t blame the victim for a school that covered up abuse. You can no longer blame a 15-year old victim for that fact that her teacher groomed and sexually abused her and at least one of her friends.

    Just because a man is talented and affable does not mean that he can assault, molest, sexually abuse, harass, or engage in criminal behavior with children in his care.

    The time for victim-shaming is over. You can no longer cover-up Thomas Hodgman’s past. You must act.

    Joelle Casteix

    #metoo

     

  • Victims Deadline – Archdiocese of New York – November 1, 2017

    Victims Deadline – Archdiocese of New York – November 1, 2017

    The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Plan is not perfect. But because of it, last week, victims were able to expose two, decades-long hidden priest perpetrators.

    One of the predators—Casper Wolf—taught in a Bronx high school for 27 years. The Archdiocese knew about allegations entire time. And said NOTHING.

    If you were sexually abused by a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of New York, you owe it to yourself (at the very least) to check out the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Plan in the Archdiocese of New York.

    In fact, you can go all the way to the very end of the IRCP process, get the Archdiocese to admit (or not admit) what happened to you, see what they offer, and walk away if you want.

    But if you don’t explore the plan, you’ll never know.

    The deadline for phase two of the Archdiocese of New York is THIS WEEK: November 1, 2017. 

    The Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Center have unveiled IRCPs of their own, with different nuances. You can read more about the plans here.

    My advice: don’t go in without a lawyer. The Archdiocese has dozens on their payroll. You should have at least one looking after your best interests.

    Here are the known credibly accused diocesan priests in the Archdiocese of New York, according to Bishop Accountability and the most recent IRCP settments:

    John Albino

    Juan Bazalar

    John Brady

    Daniel Calabrese

    David Carson

    James (Jaime) Duenas

    Anthony Eremito

    Keith Fennessy

    Thomas Gaffney

    Alfred Gallant

    John Gallant

    Gennaro Gentile

    Anthony Giuliano

    Richard Gorman

    William Greene

    Wallace Harris

    Raymond Hynald

    Lawrence Inzeo

    Kenneth Jesselli

    Charles Kavanagh

    Peter Kihm

    Morgan Kuhl

    Ralph LaBelle

    John W. Lennon

    Donald T. Malone

    Arthur Manzione

    Patrick H. Martin

    Albert J. Mazza

    Henry Mills

    Kenneth O’Connell

    Michael O’Herlihy

    John O’Keefe

    Edmond Parrakow

    Jorge Pintado

    Edward Pipala

    Christopher Pliauplis

    Patrick Quigley

    Francis Stinner

    Joseph Theisen

    Donald Whelan

    William White

    Casper Wolf

    Gennaro “Jerry” Gentile

     

  • The next domino falls: Rockville Center NY

    The next domino falls: Rockville Center NY

    The Catholic Diocese of Rockville Center, NY has announced an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Plan. These plans, administered by Ken Feinberg and funded by the individual dioceses, aim to compensate victims for abuse.  You can read more about them in my four-part series here.

    Victims of sexual abuse in the Long Island Catholic diocese of Rockville Center began receiving letters last week. I predicted this back in July. 

    Like the other plans in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, victims receiving letters are in “phase one.” These are men and women who have previously come forward to the diocese to say that they were sexually abused.

    Rockville Center, however, is a very unique place.

    Rockville Center: Used Intimidation to Trick and Silence Victims

    A 2003 Suffolk Grand Jury Report found, according to the New York Times:

    Roman Catholic Church officials on Long Island [protected] scores of pedophile priests for decades by using sham policies and a bogus ”intervention team” to trick and silence victims, cover up crimes, avoid scandals and hold down financial consequences.

    The panel said the Diocese of Rockville Centre — the nation’s sixth largest, with 1.3 million Catholics in 134 parishes in Nassau and Suffolk Counties — had protected at least 58 abusive priests with aggressive tactics that purported to help victims and their families but that actually used intimidation, claims of confidentiality, hush payments and other means to avoid lawsuits and publicity.

    Since 1990, the diocese has maintained a special ”uninsured perils fund” to cover sexual abuse claims, asbestos exposure and trampoline accidents, the grand jury found. It said the fund, raised from parish collections, had paid $1.7 million in claims — none for asbestos exposure or trampoline accidents — but still had $11 million in its account last October.

    As for dangerous priests, it said they were shuffled from parish to parish and often allowed to minister to children, while recommendations for psychiatric treatments were ignored and a ”legal affairs” team, ostensibly set up to help sexual abuse victims, worked to suppress legal claims and husband the money.

    ”The grand jury concludes that the history of the Diocese of Rockville Centre demonstrates that as an institution they are incapable of properly handling issues relating to the sexual abuse of children by priests,” the special grand jury said in a 180-page report based on a nine-month inquiry.

    The facts are ugly. You can read the whole report here.

    The Players

    We have no idea how many priests sexually abused children in the Diocese of Rockville Center. The Grand Jury Report lists many of the men as “Priests A-W.” Here is a list of some of the known diocesan priests who are publicly accused of abuse. More details on the public allegations against each of the priests is here.

    Peter A. Allen

    Daniel Babis

    James Bergin

    Brian Brinker

    John Butler

    Michael Carroll

    Gerald (Jerry) Chasse

    Basil Peter Congro

    Damian Lawrence Cooper

    Edward D’Andrea

    Thomas DeVita

    Angelo Ditta

    Peter Duvelsdorf

    Matthew Fitzgerald

    Michael Hands

    Kenneth Hasselbach

    William Logan

    John Mahoney

    Joseph McComiskey

    Brian McKeon

    George J. Michell

    Andrew Millar

    James C. Miller

    Salvatore J. Miraglia

    John D. Mott

    Joseph T. Mundy

    Kenneth T. Nee

    Louis I. Newman

    Frank J. Parisi

    Alan J. Placa

    Charles A. Ribaudo

    Brendan Riordan

    Robert Saccacio

    Thomas G. Saloy

    Richard Schaefer

    Alfred Soave

    Raymond Stegmann

    Gerald Twomey

    Nicholas Unterstein

    Eugene Vollmer

    James C. Williams

    Gregory Yacyshyn

     

    Alan J. Placa

    By far the most interesting name on the list is Placa’s. A close friend of Rudy Giuliani’s, Placa has been accused of molesting teens. He is currently employed by Giuliani’s consulting firm.

    Although Placa was “cleared” by Rome, Placa’s accusers have never been able to use the US courts to seek civil justice or to gain access to Placa’s secret files. Placa’s Vatican trial was secret.

    This is Placa’s alleged victims’ chance to demand accountability. Although victims will not gain access to the files in Placa’s case, the Diocese of Rockville Center is going to have to “put its money where its mouth is,” so to speak.

    What’s up in NY and Brooklyn?

    I don’t know. If I hear anything, I will post it here.

  • Exclusive: Accused Vatican diplomat wrote 2003 dissertation on sex abuse church laws

    Exclusive: Accused Vatican diplomat wrote 2003 dissertation on sex abuse church laws

    A Vatican priest and diplomat under suspicion for violating US child pornography laws wrote his 2003 doctoral dissertation on church laws addressing how the Holy See deals with clerics accused of molesting children.

    Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella, recalled by the Vatican last week, wrote The criminal protection of ecclesiastical celibacy in the canonical laws of 1917 and 1983: historical-juridical study to complete his studies in Canon Law. I took screenshots, in case the link “disappears.”

    He finished his degree in 2004 and entered the diplomatic service soon after.

    For people not up-to-speed on the importance of this dissertation topic, here’s a primer:

    In 1917, Pope Benedict XV wanted to consolidate his problem-solving. Some of his biggest problems had to do with child sexual abuse. He put the jurisdiction of these crimes, or “delicts,” under its own tribunal.

    The laws on dealing with the “delicts against the Sixth Commandment,” as they were called (that’s adultery, for those of us who had to look it up), were streamlined into a single code in 1917 and then again in 1983.

    Both the Vatican and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops are nice enough to explain the whole thing. I recommend reading the USCCB version.

    What does this mean?

    What does this mean? It means a million things.

    But here’s the worst (besides all of Francis’s broken promises about cooperating with civil authorities):

    It means that—quite possibly—a diplomat tasked with handling these cases may instead be a culprit.

  • Exact Vatican Tribunal Charges Against Guam Archbishop Unknown

    Exact Vatican Tribunal Charges Against Guam Archbishop Unknown

    Even I was guilty of assuming that Archdiocese of Agaña (Guam) Archbishop Anthony Apuron was charged with child sexual abuse in his current and highly publicized Vatican Tribunal.

    But then I learned:

    Charges in a Vatican Tribunal are secret.

    Apuron’s replacement confirmed it.

    From The Tablet (UK):

    Asked if [Guam] archbishop [Anthony Apuron] was also being charged for financial mismanagement, not just alleged child abuse, Archbishop Byrnes told reporters he did not know what the charges ended up being, but that they would be published eventually after the Vatican judges deliberated. (emphasis mine)

    Guam’s Catholics and the public are under the assumption that Apuron’s Vatican trial is for child sexual abuse. The Vatican and Apuron’s lawyers, I believe, are taking that assumption and running with it.

    Byrnes admitted that he has no idea what the charges against Apuron are. He is the highest ranking cleric in the Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam. He was the man hand-picked to replace Apuron.

    And he says has NO IDEA WHAT THE CHARGES ARE.

    Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes. He doesn’t know what the charges are, either.

    What about the victim depositions?

    Although Apuron’s alleged victims have been deposed (without their legal counsel, of course, and under the “Pontifical Secret”), they could be supplementary witnesses in the other possible charges against Apuron. Remember, he has been accused of everything from financial mismanagement to “widespread disarray of church operations.”

    If we don’t know what the charges are, how can we even be assured of the outcome?