Category: Clergy Abuse Crisis

California Governor Jerry Brown has until Sunday, October 13 to sign or veto SB 131, The California Child Victims’ Act. If he does nothing, the bill will be enacted as written. In the meantime, victims wait.

Here is why the bill’s opponents are scared: Minnesota enacted a THREE-YEAR civil window earlier this year and the revelations have been startling. They fear the same could happen in California.

Here is what we have learned in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in just the past few weeks:

Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer

Last year, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis won praise for quickly removing Fr. Curtis Wehmeyer when he was accused of abuse by a parishioner (he later pled guilty to 20 counts of abuse and possession of child pornography).

BUT …

An investigation by Minnesota Public Radio discovered that Archdiocese officials had know about Wehmeyer’s conduct for a DECADE and did NOTHING. Of wait, they did do something: they kept Wehmeyer in ministry.

The Vicar General, the Whistleblower, and the Case of the Disappearing Banker’s Box of Child Pornography

Last week, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis resigned from his post when court documents showed that he may have hidden evidence of child pornography.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

His resignation came shortly after allegations emerged in a St. Paul court that church officials knew a priest had been in possession of child pornography but continued to assign him to parish duties that brought him into contact with children. The allegations were contained in a St. Paul police report made public Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson, a leading plaintiffs’ lawyer in pursuing cases against the archdiocese over child abuse, said the police report implies that the archdiocese destroyed evidence.

The police report says that the archdiocese seized the evidence about the child pornography and kept it in a vault. When another diocesan official, Jennifer Haselberger, discovered the evidence, Laird told her to put it back in the vault, she told police.

Haselberger, who has since resigned, brought the matter to police attention. When the police went to the vault, the evidence of child pornography that they were told would be there was missing.

The evidence is said to be in a white “Banker’s Box”

It gets worse, the Star-Tribune continues:

Haselberger also told police that she had seen a report from a private investigator, Richard Setter & Associates, which the archdiocese hired to examine the computer and its contents.

According to her, the report said that a forensic computer expert had examined the computer and found “thousands of images,” including some of a young boy performing oral sex on another male.

The police requested a copy of the computer report but were turned down by the archdiocese. As for the computer, “We were told that was destroyed,” the police report says.

Of course if was destroyed.

List? You don’t need no stinkin’ list!

Minnesota’s victims of child sex abuse, empowered by these recent revelations, now want access to information they say is vital to public safety.

St. Paul victim David Pususta wants the Archdiocese to publicly release their list of 33 priests accused of child sexual abuse. This request is not over-the-top. Even Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony posted his list of accused clerics online (and then took the list down, and then put it back up).

Lawyers for the St. Paul Archdiocese are fighting the request. Shocker!

But can you blame them? After everything we just learned, who knows what information is included on the list of 33 priests? The thought probably scares the chancery to its core.

If there has ever been a call to action to help victims of child sex abuse, Minnesota has given Jerry Brown all of the evidence he needs to sign SB 131.

You can write Governor Brown here.

Your Holiness:

I was a nobody. A lost sheep – a victim of sex abuse in the Catholic church who was “thrown away” by the priests and bureaucrats in the Diocese of Orange, California. I was disposable. But unlike the parable, no shepherd came to look to me. Alone and isolated from my community, my family and my faith, I had to struggle to heal myself. Against the odds, I succeeded. And now I speak for those who still suffer alone, in silence.

I am not a nobody anymore. And that is why I am writing to you.

You have reached out to atheists and agnostics. You have said you cannot judge the homosexual community. Those were huge steps, but very easy things to do. You followed your heart and the teachings of the Bible. Now I ask you to do the hard thing: embrace the lost sheep that your people sexually abused, shunned and shamed. Tackle the “elephant in the room” that has been ignored for so long.

Doing that will be difficult. But rumor has it that dying on the cross wasn’t terribly easy either.

You have a bishop in Missouri, USA, who was convicted of child endangerment. Why is he still a bishop? I can’t help but think that Jesus would weep to see that secular authorities are doing more to save your lost sheep than you are.

You have Cardinals in the United States who have covered up abuse, yet they stand in judgement—saying that victims are just bitter, money-grubbers.

You have children in danger world-wide because bishops refuse to remove offending clerics and continue to cover up their crimes.

You have victims—hundreds of thousands of victims world-wide—who only want three things: justice, healing and child safety. The only person in the world who can give that to them is YOU.

How do you do this? Well, saying you’re sorry is not enough. You know that. It didn’t work before and it won’t work now. Victims and Catholics need action. You must remove and punish offending clerics and everyone who has covered up abuse. You must turn over documents to civil authorities. You must tell the bishops to stop their legal fights against victims. You must beg for forgiveness and offer atonement for the sins of your shepherds. I could write a list, but I don’t want to limit the scope of what you can do. You’re the POPE—you can do anything. No one is going to fire you.

It’s time to take your job security to heart. You MUST change the dialog of your bishops. Victims are not your enemy. They are your teachers and your guides. Only your true humility and real action will change the course of the crisis. Until then, everything else you do and say will continue to ring false.

Jesus was a rebel. It’s time for you to follow in his footsteps.

Sincerely,

Joelle Casteix

 

 

It’s Thursday night and you are probably thinking, “I’m watching Thursday Night Football. There is nothing possible I can do to help convince California Governor Jerry Brown to sign SB 131, the California Child Victims’ Act.”

Fortunately, you are WRONG! You can help RIGHT NOW. And we need you.

Here is what you can do:

1. Write Governor Brown using the web form here. Tell him that you support SB 131. Here are some reasons why:

• SB 131 exposes predators who may still be abusing kids RIGHT NOW,
• SB 131 holds wrong-doers accountable for enabling and covering up child sex abuse,
• SB 131 helps victims heal from traumatic injury and takes the burden of their care off of social services and taxpayers,
• SB 131 can help provide valuable evidence of criminal activity that law enforcement can use to put predators behind bars, where they belong.

There are many more.

If you do tell your own story, keep it short – no more than two-three sentences.

2. Plan to attend tomorrow’s RALLY IN SUPPORT OF SB 131 at the State Capitol. The rally, organized by concerned citizens in support of SB 131, will be on the lawn to the left of the Capitol steps – 1315 10th Street, between L and N Streets. Attendees will be wearing bright colors. Bring a sign showing your support. If you are a victim, bring a photo of yourself at the age you were abused.

Organizers will be meeting at 12:45. The rally starts at 1 pm

Whatever you do tonight, do SOMETHING to help victims who have been denied justice. It’s easy, it’s priceless, and you can do it during the Eagles/Chiefs game.

**Update – Thursday, September 19** I just heard that Gallup Bishop James Wall and priest Fr. Alfred Tachias DID sit for depositions with victims’ attorneys yesterday. Hopefully, Wall broke with tradition and was open and forthright, turning over files, naming names and outing abusers. (A girl can dream, right?)

The “explosive news” potential for Fr. Alfred Tachias’ deposition is BIG. He worked closely with Fr. Clement Hageman (the Route 66 Priest), and may be sitting on mountains of evidence. Hageman’s abuse crosses state and diocesan borders, so anything we learn can have a huge ripple effect across the Southwest.

When and if the depositions are made public, I will be sure to post here.

Plans for a bankruptcy filing are still moving forward.

*******

Tuesday, September 17

The latest news from New Mexico, California, Minnesota, Hawaii, Missouri and more …

New Mexico

It’s only a matter of hours before the Diocese of Gallup, NM files the official paperwork to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Why only hours? The diocese is not reeling in debt, but Gallup Bishop James Wall and Fr. Alfred Tachias are scheduled to be deposed TOMORROW in the case of the Route 66 priest, Clement Hageman. The diocese’s own documents show that Hageman was a bad dude, and the last thing that Bishop Wall wants to do is sit in a videotaped deposition and talk about what church officials knew about abuse, hush money, and the transfer of predators across state lines (to small towns where poor Latino and Native American kids wouldn’t complain).

California

In California, victims are waiting for Governor Jerry Brown to sign SB 131, the California Child Victims’ Act. According to the Huffington Post, opponents have spent more than $250K to block the legislation. In a particularly insulting move, Rep. Diane Harkey said that the bill only “opened old wounds” and “feed[s] trial attorneys.”

As I told the Huffington Post:

The only way that old wounds are opened is when abuse is kept secret and wrongdoers are allowed to continue in abuse and cover-up. Victims are re-traumatized when lawmakers with no knowledge of the subject spout hurtful and incorrect rhetoric about the victims’ rights movement in an attempt to keep more victims silent and disenfranchised.

I would bet good money that Ms. Harkey has had many lovely personal lunch meetings with California bishops, but has never once spoken with a victim of abuse in the church, US Swimming, US Gymnastics, or the scouts. In fact, I bet that if asked to sponsor legislation to remove sovereign immunity for public institutions that cover up child sex abuse, she would politely decline. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Brown has until October 10—my birthday—to sign the bill. You can write him here.

In Monterey, just south of San Francisco, there is an ongoing court battle concerning the release of the secret personnel file of Fr. Edward Fitz-Henry, a twice accused priest (who was sent to treatment and put back into ministry where he allegedly abused again in 2005). Although cases against Fitz-Henry settled, the accused priest received an undisclosed sum from the Diocese for “character defamation.”

The Monterey County Weekly and attorneys for the second victim are fighting to make the personnel file public. The judge is expected to rule in November.

Minnesota

Just a few months after the Minnesota legislature passed a three-year civil window, sex abuse victims all over the state have started coming forward to expose perpetrators in the courts. Most of the victims say that they spent a lifetime unable to stop their abuser from going after other victims. The new civil window now allows them to have a voice to ensure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to another child.

Just yesterday, two MN women filed lawsuits against the Diocese of New Ulm. They are part of more than 26 victims who charge that they were sexually abused as children by Fr. David Roney.

From the Forum News Service article (emphasis mine):

The [victims], who say they no longer consider themselves Catholics, discussed the fact that church members usually look up to priests.

“How do you go up against a church?” Stoltz asked.

Indeed.

Hawaii

Victims’ advocates are expecting more lawsuits to be filed under Hawaii’s two-year civil window, which closes in April 2014. Since January 2012, more than a dozen previously secret perpetrators have been exposed (now up to 26 total known predators who worked in the state). Two of the accused are still priests in good standing.

Instead of putting the priests—George DeCosta and Anthony Bolger—on leave and ensuring that they do not have contact with children, Honolulu Bishop Clarence Silva has sat back quietly. He did however, imply (with an iron fist) that when perpetrators are exposed, victims are re-traumatized.

Damien Memorial School—where more than 16 children charge they were sexually abused by at least 12 known predators—had a $1.5 million state grant revoked last week. It’s against the state constitution for the state to give money to religious organizations. But Damien got off lucky: there was no state investigation into some pretty substantiated allegations (made here on The Worthy Adversary) that Damien lied on their grant application.

Missouri

Kansas City-St. Joseph priest Fr. Shawn Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison for producing child pornography. He will most likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. His bishop, Robert Finn, was convicted of child endangerment last year for not reporting Ratigan, but Finn still keeps his cushy job. Will Pope Francis make him step down? I’m not holding my breath. But hey, a conviction is a conviction, so I will stop complaining.

In St. Louis, there was a new development in the case of arrested priest Fr. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, who admitted to molesting a 15-year-old girl and then tried to pay the parents $20,000 to keep it quiet. In July, parents of Jiang’s alleged victim filed a lawsuit saying that St. Louis Bishop Robert Carlson attempted to cover up the abuse and tamper with evidence. Now, SNAP, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has made public previously secret documents that show that Carlson has had direct knowledge and dealings with cases of sexual abuse for decades.

 

Overwhelming, isn’t it? And this is just a part of one week’s worth of news.

I know this round-up is not complete by any means. For the latest news, visit the Abuse Tracker. Wondering how you can help? Think about donating to organizations who devote their mission to helping victims of abuse and exposing predators.