Tag: Dave Pierre

  • Clarity at Cantwell High School

     

    Sometimes, the most profound statements at a press conference come from the reporters, not us.

    Today, my friend and colleague Ken Smolka and I were in front of Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California. We were there because the Irish Chrisitian Brothers, the religious order that ran Cantwell High School, declared bankruptcy when more than 50 victims of child sex abuse in Washington State and Canada came forward to file civil sex abuse and cover-up suits. Order officials sought bankruptcy protection to avoid embarrassing public civil trials. The Christian Brothers are the 10th diocese or religious order to take this (less than pastoral) path.

    The Brothers ran Cantwell High School until 1990, when Cardinal Roger Mahony kicked them out and put the Jesuits in their place. No real explanation was given.

    But I have an idea: in the six yearbooks I have reviewed, we have found four known perpetrators who worked at the school (three of them were there at the same time). Maybe Mahony realized that even he couldn’t keep a lid on the Christian Brothers much longer.

    There was Thomas Cuthbert Ford, who was convicted in 2000 of violently beating abandoned children between 1956 and 1959 at the Mt. Cashel Orphanage in Newfoundland. He had been hiding in the United States at schools like Damien Memorial High in Honolulu, Cantwell and Bergen Catholic (Bergen, NJ) until he was finally extradicted to Canada. Ford was the 11th Irish Christian Brother to be sentenced for crimes at Mt. Cashel.  He was principal of Cantwell in 1980.

    We also found Br. Daniel Peter Ryan, a former vice principal, Br. Jerome Heustis, a former coach and teacher and Br. Robert Satterthwaite, a former teacher. All of these guys are the subject of numerous sex abuse and cover-up lawsuits. Satterthwaite was even named (although misidentified) in Mahony’s infamous “Report to the People of God.”

    We told the reporter the reason we were there: victims from Cantwell only have until August 1, 2012 to come forward, expose their abusers, and seek justice (including secret church documents) in the courts.

    We also told her that victims’ coming forward is important for more than healing, but also for protecting children and punishing wrong doers. Although some of the men who abused children are dead, many are not. Many of the men who covered up for the predators are still alive. Every official in the Christian Brothers organization is still sitting on important secret church documents that will expose more criminals and outline the scope and scale of abuse. These documents will only be released if victims come forward. It is VITALLY important that every victim at Cantwell come forward before the deadline, we said.

    The Christian Brothers still run schools across the United States, and they are still covering up for abusers.

    She looked at us for a moment in silence. Then she said, “This is huge. Why hasn’t the story gotten more publicity?”

    Exactly.

    Why isn’t the new LA Archbishop standing outside of the school? (He gets WAY better press than I do) Where is the president of the Irish Christian Brothers? Shouldn’t he be out in front of every single school where a known abuser worked? Nah. That would be too … pastoral.

    And the last thing they want to do is let victims know they have rights.

     

     

     

  • Putting the “Bully” in the religious Bully Pulpit

     

    Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation (Luke 6:24–26)

     

    The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, one of the main organizations for whom I volunteer my advocacy efforts (and to whom I donate), has recently been under siege in Missouri.

    Catholic bishops there (under the direction of the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue and a coalition of high-ranking U.S. Bishops, we have learned), have drawn SNAP into two lawsuits, asking for 20+ years of confidential correspondence with survivors and the press, and deposing executive director David Clohessy.

    From the New York Times:

    Donohue said leading bishops he knew had resolved to fight back more aggressively against the group: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”

    SNAP is NOT a plaintiff in either lawsuit, and has had no contact whatsoever with the alleged victim in the case where Clohessy was deposed. (Note, this is the same Diocese under indictment for child endangerment)

    You can read the whole story about the cases in the New York Times here, and read their editorial here.

    The goal of the bishops? Bankrupt SNAP.

    I have not commented on the events for a number of reasons. I didn’t want to be distracted from my primary work. I didn’t also didn’t want to draw the ire and wrath of the people driving the bus over my colleagues. But mostly, I didn’t comment because it made me sad. Very, very sad.

    I suppose I really wished that the Catholic Church would live up to the New Testament values that they taught me as a child. Things like, “love your enemy,” and verse 10 of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

    When push comes to shove, that’s all that victims have ever wanted: justice. The only reason now that victims are using the court system is because Catholic officials did not do the right thing in the first place. They didn’t call the cops. They didn’t protect kids. And when victims (like me) came forward to our bishops, church officials lied to us. The only way to get truth was through civil justice.

    But like many people, I still hold a particular naiveté. A part of me thought that while the Bishops may not agree with SNAP and certainly do not like SNAP, they believe that the group has the right to exist. It makes me sad when people like Bill Donohue and others resort to name calling and “sneaking into” the SNAP convention (which is open to the public).

    And I can’t help but make a biblical comparison to David and Goliath. SNAP’s operating budget last year was in the $300-400,000 range. That’s less than the operating budget of a FAILING parish.

    But with that shoestring, they were able to talk to hundreds of survivors who called the help line or reached out to the dozens of local leaders, refer many of those people to therapists, launch a complaint with the ICC (which sent 5 SNAP leaders to Europe in the hopes of raising awareness to crimes committed by the Vatican), and help people who are hurting.

    The vast majority of that work is done by volunteers, like me. Many volunteers are still practicing Catholics (far from the “menace” we are made out to be).

    Time will tell, but I believe that these efforts by the Bishops will backfire horribly. The first reason is clear: volunteers like myself and the local leaders in almost every state will keep plugging along. We’ll keep answering our phone and email, paying for the helpline, holding meetings, helping survivors through the healing process, and raising awareness. We don’t collect paychecks from SNAP. If the budget of the organization is gone, we’ll just go back to the “old days” when SNAP was truly a network. It will be tough, but we will muddle through. Why? Because the call for justice and healing is too strong to ignore.

    The second reason is something that the bishops haven’t bargained on: the majority of the calls I get now are from the Faithful. When they can’t get answers from their dioceses, they call me. When they see something that is wrong, they call me. When they want to know if their parish school is safe, they call me.

    The Bishops and their team are slowly alienating almost every member of their base. First, by not following their own biblical teachings, and second, by shutting down any kind of dialogue with the Faithful, victims, and the community.

    They are bullies. And I pity them.


     

     

     

  • August Deadline Set For Irish Christian Brothers Abuse Victims

    The Irish Christian Brothers (ICB), a religious order of brothers (monks) headquartered in New York state, filed bankruptcy last year when they were faced with more than 50 victims of abuse, molestation and beatings.  The Canadian congregation (affiliated with the ICB in New York) faced national disgrace when more than 300 children came forward to tell their stories of abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland.

    In Ireland, it’s estimated that thousands of children were raped at ICB schools.

    As a part of the federal bankruptcy proceedings, the court has set a special deadline date of August 1 for victims of sexual abuse. Read the court order here. ANYONE who was abused by a Christian Brother or was abused at an ICB school only has until that date to file a claim. After August 1, 2012, victims can no longer hold the ICB accountable for covering up and facilitating child sex abuse.

    Patrick Wall and I went to Hawaii last week and found three previously undisclosed perpetrators at Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu. As we get more names of perpetrators, I anticipate we will find more.

    For a complete list of schools run by the ICB, click here.

    I am normally not a fan of pushing victims to come forward. But in the case of these bankruptcies, if victims to not come forward now, they lose the opportunity forever.