Category: Hawaii

Over the weekend, we learned that Damien Memorial School officials lied on a grant application that resulted in a $1.5 million award to the school from the State of Hawaii for “capital improvements.”

Here is a quick recap:

School officials conveniently “forgot” to mention that at the time the application was filed in January, the school had 15 outstanding legal claims against them for child sexual abuse, all of which could be converted into lawsuits against the school and the Diocese of Honolulu under Hawaii’s landmark civil window for victims.

The application said there were only three lawsuits.

Here is what they didn’t mention on the application:

• As of January 2013, there were at least FIVE child sex abuse lawsuits against Damien Memorial School and the Diocese of Honolulu. John Roes 1-5 include victims of Fr. Gerald Funcheon, Brother John Paul Medvit, Brother Robert Brouillette, and Fr. George DeCosta,
• At that time, there were 15 active child sex abuse legal claims against the school in the Irish Christian Brothers’ bankruptcy proceedings,
• The individual schools (like Damien) are still liable as a part of the bankruptcy and subsequent settlement,
• Since January 2013, at least six more victims at Damien have come forward and filed sex abuse lawsuits, including victims of Bruce Cullerton and Thomas Duffin. You can read most of the legal complaints here.

That’s a lot of lawsuits. But the board of directors didn’t bother to update their state grant application.

Wait, there is more:

• At least twelve teachers at the school have been accused of abuse (or convicted),
• Last year, former Damien principal Karl Walczak was removed from his job in Seattle due to sex abuse allegations,
• Former dean of students Thomas Ford was convicted of the violent abuse of abandoned children,
• Former school chaplain Fr. Gerald Funcheon admitted in a taped deposition that he molested kids at Damien.

If any of these men abused at Damien, their victims have until April 2014 to seek accountability in the civil justice system. You can read about Hawaii’s civil window law here and here.

Which leads to my question: What did the board of directors know? Why would they approve a grant application that falsely states the status of Damien’s legal problems? You can see the board of directors pictured here. The website declined to identify them, so I’ll list their names:

BAPTIST, FLOYD
DE REGO, LOVEY-ANN
SITAR, GREGORY J.
JONES, RONALD
ISHIHARA, KERRY
DUNNE, PATRICK D. BR.
MONIZ, JEFFREY A.S. DR.
ACZON, EDMUND C
KWOCK, STEPHEN Y.H.
POLLOCK, PAUL A.
RAUCKHORST, JEROME
WONG, JAMES W. Y.
HO, BERNARD A.K.S. HO

Someone needs to ask them what they know …

And the grant needs to be rescinded. Taxpayer dollars should go to organizations that don’t lie on applications.

From today’s Honolulu Star Advertiser:

Victims of church sexual abuse need criminal lawyers, not therapy

By Marilyn Wong

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Hawaii, via a newspaper ad that ran Monday, is offering therapy treatment and reconciliation for the victims of sex abuse.

Directing victims to go to the diocese for help is like sending the sheep back to the wolves. The diocese had the chance years ago to help victims, but did not act because, at the time, the statute of limitations protected the church. Instead, people claiming abuse were vilified, accused of seeking money, and told that the limitations had expired on their cases. Now that the two-year window has been opened, the church is scurrying to connect with the victims.

The problem is that the diocese makes it seem like the abused have an illness in need of therapy when in actuality they are victims of a crime in need of justice. What these people really need is an attorney who will take their case to court and fight the good fight all the way to a conviction where the abusers will be listed as sex-offenders for life and prevented from ever being around children again. This is what the victims really want.

And they also want the hierarchy cleaned up of its cover-ups. Be it pedophilia (sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children) or efebophelia (sexual attraction to adolescents aged 13-19), the fact that priests and religious could get away with this for so many years, and that ordinary people would scramble to protect and hide or cover-up the facts so as not to bring “scandal” on the church is mind-boggling. In the end, not only do the victims suffer more, oftentimes for life, but the laity end up seeing their donations used to pay for the abuser’s crimes rather than used to do God’s work.

A word of caution about these so-called therapeutic services: One Oahu man who brought a priest up on charges of abuse (who later admitted guilt), was sent by the diocese to a Franciscan sister (who had a private practice) for therapy. She questioned his memory of the event. He turned around and sued for a monetary sum and won.

Do not be naive. In the 1960s, Pope Paul VI, coming out of a spiritual ecstasy while praying stated, “The smoke of Satan has entered the sanctuary.”

During the late 1980s and ’90s, John O’Connor, editor of Catholic Lay Press, and Patricia Morley, host of the radio program Concerned Catholics, tried to warn parents to watch out for their children, but they were vilified by laity and clergy alike, even excommunicated by the then-Bishop Joseph Ferrario of Honolulu. After two years, Rome finally reversed the excommunication, but no apology was ever offered from the diocese.

I would like to share Pope John Paul II’s words with the victims of abuse: “Be not afraid.”

———

Ewa Beach resident Marilyn Wong is a lifelong Roman Catholic, mother of three, grandmother of seven and a retired radiological technologist.

Two years after they sought bankruptcy protection to avoid more than 200 embarrasing civil sex abuse trials, the New York-based Irish Christian Brothers (ICB) have settled with more than 400 victims of child sexual abuse (in Canada and the United States) for $16.5 million.

This marks the end of the first step for many ICB victims. The settlement does not include the actual Irish Christian Brothers schools or the dioceses where they were located. Only the actual order was included in the settlement.

For victims in Hawaii, this means that they can still take legal action against Damien Memorial and the Diocese of Honolulu, whose officials, victims say, knew about abuse and covered it up. The same holds true for ICB victims across the country, including communities such as Bergen County, NJ; Salinas, CA; Chicago and Seattle.

But there is something very important to note about the ICB bankruptcy. While the battle is far from over, brave survivors in this case exposed dozens of predators who had been hidden in schools across the country. They were able to inform communities that convicted abusers such as Brother Thomas C. Ford and Br. Robert Brouillette taught children in more than 15 states. Survivors were able to show how serial predators such as Fr. Gerald Funcheon were sent to Hawaii to hide from allegations on the mainland.

Even more important, brave survivors exposed Irish Christian Brothers who were STILL in position of power. Br. James Ligouri was asked to resign from his position at Fordham University when two victims came forward. Br. Karl Walczak, principal at Seattle’s O’Dea High School, was quietly removed from his job last year when a victim came forward. Months later, parents found out that he was removed for abuse, causing a media firestorm.

Hopefully, the continued fight will draw more attention to the cover up and help continue to keep kids safe right now.

You can read the press release from the bankruptcy committee here.

The latest from Hawaii: Why would Honolulu’s Maryknoll School keep a scholarship named after a accused child predator? And what kind of message does that send?

Victims blast local high school

Scholarship named after alleged predator

He’s been accused of abuse by three boys

But school & board still honor his memory

“Honoring predators lets abuse thrive,” SNAP says

Victims of sexual abuse are blasting a Honolulu high school for publicizing a scholarship named after a three-time accused predator priest.

In a letter to the president and board of directors of Maryknoll High School, members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say that a scholarship honoring accused predator priest Fr. James A. Jackson “hurts victims and discourages them from speaking up, thus endangering more kids.”

They are urging that the scholarship be dissolved.

The endowed scholarship, advertised on the school’s website is named after Fr. Jackson, a Maryknoll missionary priest. The scholarship goes to students who “demonstrat[e] a willingness to contributed to the continued excellence of the Maryknoll family.”

In 2002, Fr. Jackson was accused of abusing three former students. At the time of the alleged crimes, Fr. Jackson was working as a missionary priest on the Big Island. He is now deceased.  At least one of Fr. Jackson’s victims came forward publicly at that time to warn the community of the threat Fr. Jackson posed.

SNAP believes that this scholarship deters victims from Maryknoll or any school in Honolulu from reporting predators.

“You may say that the scholarship is a ‘simple oversight,’ but that is little more than a cheap excuse.” the letter says. “There is no room for ‘simple oversight’ when it comes to the safety of your students, the prosecution of predators and healing of children who have been horribly hurt by abuse.”

The group wants the school to immediately dissolve or re-name the scholarship and apologize to Fr. Jackson’s alleged victims and the school’s alums. SNAP is also inviting school officials to host a “listening session” with victims of child sex abuse, so that the Maryknoll community can “better understand the harm that abuse causes to victims and communities and the chilling messages such insensitive actions send to other abuse victims.”

“When an institution praises a credibly accused serial predator, it’s basically saying that adult criminals will be believed and kids will not be,” said Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, CA, SNAP Western Regional Director. “It encourages silence about child sexual abuse, which leads to more abuse, and it rubs salt into the wounds of victims, which leads to more pain.”

The group is also encouraging anyone who was abused, or who has seen or witnessed abuse, to come forward and report to law enforcement. A new Hawaii law allows child sex abuse victims to use the court system and expose their predator no matter when the abuse occurred. The law can help many victims of child sex abuse in Hawaii get justice and accountability, the group says. Similar laws in California and Delaware exposed more than 250 previously unknown child sex predators and helped law enforcement put at least five predators behind bars.

The law has already exposed ten predator clerics who worked at Honolulu’s Damien Memorial School.

The letter, sent by email and fax, is below

SNAP – The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

P.O. Box 6416

Chicago, IL 60680

SNAPNetwork.org

January 17, 2013

Perry Martin

Maryknoll School

Office of the President

1526 Alexander St.

Honolulu, HI 96822

president@maryknollschool.org

development@maryknollschool.org

fax: 808 952-7201

cc: Office of Development, Board of Directors

Dear Mr. Martin and members of the Board of Directors;

We are victims of sexual abuse who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the nation’s largest support group for men and women who were sexually abused in religious or institutional settings. We are writing you today because we are shocked and disturbed to discover that you support and publicize a student scholarship named after three-time accused predator, Fr. James A. Jackson.

In case you do not know, Fr. Jackson has been accused of child sexual abuse by three children from when Jackson was a priest working on the Big Island. One of those victims even came forward publicly to warn the community about Jackson and the alleged abuse. The only reason Jackson was not prosecuted was due to the statute of limitations, not the merits of the victims’ accusations.

Having any honor for Jackson is implying that Maryknoll leadership honors silence when it comes to child sexual abuse. You are also saying that you admire and respect accused predators more than the brave victims who came forward and reported the crimes against them to law enforcement.

We hope you agree that this is a dangerous situation that must be immediately fixed. That is why we ask that you do the following:

• Immediately dissolve the Jackson scholarship,
• Inform the Maryknoll community of the accusations against Jackson,
• Publicly apologize to the Maryknoll community and victims of sexual abuse,
• Reach out other potential victims of Jackson or any predator who may have worked at Maryknoll School, and
• Host a ‘listening session’ with victims of child sex abuse so that members of the Maryknoll community can learn about the effect of abuse and abuse prevention.

You may say that the scholarship is a ‘simple oversight,’ but that is little more than a cheap excuse. There is no room for ‘simple oversight’ when it comes to the safety of your students, the prosecution of predators and healing of children who have been horribly hurt by abuse.

We look forward to your immediate response to this matter and are more than willing to help you schedule a listening session.

Sincerely,

Joelle Casteix

SNAP Western Regional Director

Barb Dorris

SNAP Outreach Director

NEWS EVENT: Maui man files new sex abuse & cover-up suit

It’s the 1st time cleric/teacher has been accused

And he’s the 10th alleged pedophile at Honolulu school

When victim reported the crimes, cleric was sent away

Then, Catholic officials brought him back, he retaliated & broke the victim’s hand

What:
Holding signs with photos of proven and admitted child-molesting Hawaii clerics, abuse victims and their supporters will disclose a new child sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit against the Honolulu Catholic diocese and a never-before-exposed predator who still lives in Honolulu. The suit charges that a Catholic brother:

• repeatedly sexually abused a Damien Memorial School student,
• was sent away when victim reported to school officials and the bishop,
• was brought back to the school, where he attacked victim in retaliation.

They will also:

• Discuss the ten admitted and/or arrested clerics who worked at Damien
• Urge victims and witnesses to report to abuse to law enforcement, not church officials, and
• Show how a landmark new Hawaii law is helping to warn parents about predators.

Where:
Outside of Damien Memorial School, 1401 Houghtailing Street (at School Street) in Honolulu

When:
TOMORROW, Wednesday, December 5 at 11:30 am

Who:
Two-to-three victims of child sex abuse and their supporters who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org), including a California woman who is the group’s Western Regional Director.