Priest abused Children, ages 5-11, last year (2007)

Syracuse Diocese priest accused of abuse in Montgomery County Posted by jcrocker February 27, 2008 Syracuse, NY -- A priest of the Syracuse Diocese has been charged with felony sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child in Montgomery County. The Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, was suspended from ministry early this year for incidents unrelated to sexual abuse, said Danielle Cummings, assistant chancellor and diocesan spokeswoman. She said she could not discuss specifics, but confirmed that Broderick was disciplined for "lack of pastoral judgment." Cummings said she and diocesan officials learned today about Broderick's arrest on Monday. State police in Fonda say Broderick engaged in inappropriate sexual contact last year with at least four children, ages 5 to 11. The victims' family told investigators Broderick was considered their spiritual adviser. Broderick was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of second-degree sexual abuse, all felonies, and four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He was arrested at Holy Name of Jesus Academy in Massena. Cummings does not know the nature or duration of Broderick's relationship with the school. No one answered the phone at the school tonight. Broderick is a native of Endwell and was ordained in 1989. He served at St. Joseph, Camillus; Our Lady of Sorrows, Vestal; and St. Malachy, Sherburne. It's not clear where Broderick has been living since his suspension. Cummings said the diocese received no previous complaints accusing Broderick of sexual abuse. The Syracuse Diocese has removed 23 priests from ministry since 2002 as a result of credible allegations of sexual abuse. About 100 people have accused 50 local priests of sexual abuse since 1950. Diocesan investigations have cleared nine priests.

Donald J. McGuire S.J. Officially defrocked

Vatican defrocks convicted priest Donald McGuire
By Karoun Demirjian | Tribune reporter
February 23, 2008
A Jesuit priest convicted of molesting students at a Chicago-area Catholic school in the 1960s was officially defrocked Friday.

Donald J. McGuire has been permanently removed from all clerical functions, said a statement from Rev. Edward Schmidt, the head of the Chicago order of the Society of Jesus to which McGuire belonged.

"We are outraged and saddened that any abuse ever took place," Schmidt said. "[McGuire] has terribly abused the trust [the victims], and we, put in him. And the church, by the action taken today, has demonstrated that same belief."

McGuire, a popular priest whose accolades included being a spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa, was convicted in 2006 of molesting two students from Loyola Academy in Wilmette in the 1960s.

Calvert Hall College High School fights extension of statute of limitation

MARYLAND
The Jeffersonian

Catholics fight bill on abuse

Calvert Hall on e-mail campaign

by Bryan P. Sears
February 21, 2008


A bill that would extend the statute of limitations on sexual abuse
lawsuits is drawing opposition from the head of Calvert Hall College high
school.

Del. Eric Bromwell, a Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would give
people alleging sexual abuse more time for filing lawsuits.

Opposing the bill is Brother Benedict Oliver, the president of Calvert
Hall, which has not been immune to the allegations of child sexual abuse
that have hit

the Catholic Church nationwide.

Bromwell, who graduated from Calvert Hall in 1994, said people who are
abused "should be able to seek justice."

The bill does not target any religious institution, but Bromwell, who
represents the 8th District, including Perry Hall, Parkville and Overlea,
said the only

open opposition has come from Catholic organizations and institutions,
including Calvert Hall.

Bromwell said he has nothing but positive feelings about his time at the
school.

"I love my experience at Calvert Hall and encourage young people to
attend," he said. "But there were people there when I was who were
convicted of

abuse. I knew people who were abused at Calvert Hall."

Bromwell co-sponsored a similar bill three years ago. The lead sponsor of
that measure has since retired and Bromwell said he wanted to continue to

champion the issue.

Under current law, alleged victims have seven years from the day they turn
18 years old to file a civil suit charging sexual abuse.

Bromwell's bill would extend the deadline to 32 years or age 50.

Additionally, other alleged victims, regardless of age, would have until
Dec. 31, 2009, to file a certificate of merit with the court. The
certificate would have

to include a statement from the alleged victim's attorney and a
psychiatrist or psychologist who reviewed the case and concluded there was
a reasonable

cause for filing the suit.

The bill would also cap damages at $1 million plus legal expenses.

Oliver has e-mailed several former and current Calvert Hall students about
the bill. He did not return a call from a reporter seeking comment.

About a month ago, Oliver and a lobbyist for the Archdiocese of Baltimore
met with Bromwell and asked him not to sponsor the bill, the delegate
said.

Shortly after that meeting, the e-mail campaign began. In one such
message, Oliver encouraged recipients to call Bromwell and Democratic Sen.
Jim

Brochin, who represents the Towson area, and ask them not to sponsor such
a bill.

Oliver wrote that Bromwell and Brochin believe "that the resulting
multiple lawsuits will provide justice to the victims."

Brochin, who has sponsored many sex abuse-related bills since he was
elected in 2002, said he was not going to sponsor a bill to lengthen the
statute of

limitations -- but not because of lobbying from Calvert Hall students and
alumni.

Brochin said he was asked by the bill's supporters to not cross-file it in
the Senate in order to test how much support the bill would receive in the
House.

"I support the bill and would vote for it if it makes it to the Senate,"
said Brochin, adding that a few people had contacted his office to ask him
not to

sponsor such legislation.

Oliver, in his e-mail, wrote that "attempts to provide justice, compassion
and healing to individuals actually and allegedly abused by employees of
the

Archdiocese of Baltimore and/or Calvert Hall have already been made."

Oliver wrote that each victim has received apologies from both the school
and the "highest administrators of the archdiocese."

He added that victims were "offered, and several have accepted, funding
for unlimited counseling by a professional of their choosing."

Oliver said that victims also were offered arbitration with a non-Catholic
judge to arrive at financial settlements that included the payment of the
victim's

legal fees.

It is not clear how many victims there are or how many accepted such
offers.

In 2006, Jerome Toohey, a former priest and head chaplain at Calvert Hall,
was convicted of sexually abusing two boys including Thomas Roberts, an

anchor for CNN. Normally, newspapers to not publish the names of sexual
abuse victims, but Roberts and the other victim, Michael Goles, spoke
publicly

about their cases.

Toohey, 61, of Lutherville, was sentenced to 5 years in jail with all but
18 months suspended.

Roberts said the sentence brought him a sense of relief.

"I'm at peace," he said at the time. "People can learn. To live in the
truth is really nice."

Oliver, in his e-mail, wrote that lengthening the time for filing lawsuits
alleging sexual abuse could have dire financial consequences for the
school.

"Because insurance coverage at the time of the abuse (at least 15 years
ago) was typically limited, Calvert Hall could not now absorb the costs of
multiple

lawsuits and jury-awarded damages," Oliver wrote.

"Besides raising tuition beyond usual percentages, Calvert Hall
undoubtedly would have to reduce or eliminate tuition assistance and
curtail or eliminate

some academic and extracurricular programs. Such measures would result in
a severe, perhaps fatal, decline in enrollment," Oliver added.

Bromwell said he has been the focus of comments in sermons at area
Catholic churches and the issue has tested his faith.

"It's been very difficult over the last three years," he said. "I've heard
from victims about how much this would help. I've heard from opponents
that this does

nothing to help victims and does nothing to protect kids. In this
scenario, I'm going to have to listen to the victims."

More sex abuse allegations against Spokane Diocese boys' ranch

Last updated February 15, 2008 7:42 p.m. PT

More sex abuse allegations against Spokane Diocese boys' ranch
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Three former residents of a boys' ranch operated by the Spokane Catholic Diocese have filed suit, alleging they were physically and sexually abused by priests and a volunteer.

In the lawsuit filed Friday in Spokane County Superior Court, the men accuse Morning Star Boys Ranch of negligent supervision and knowingly allowing employees to sexually abuse residents.

A former Morning Star director, the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, is among three defendants named in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages. Weitensteiner resigned in 2006. He has denied abusing ranch residents.

The plaintiffs are 39, 48 and 55. They allege the abuse happened in the 1960s, '70s and '80s at the hands of Weitensteiner, the Rev. Patrick O'Donnell and an unidentified volunteer employee.

Morning Star spokeswoman Jenn Kantz said the ranch had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on specific allegations. She said the ranch is a safe and therapeutic place today. The ranch south of Spokane has served more than 1,300 boys with behavioral problems over the past 50 years.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal filings that began in August 2005, alleging abuse at the ranch by Weitensteiner, O'Donnell and other staff members. Thirteen former residents previously sued the ranch over claims of abuse.

In depositions, O'Donnell has acknowledged sexually molesting dozens of boys over three decades. He was named in 66 of the 176 bankruptcy court claims alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Spokane Diocese, more than any other single priest. Last year, the diocese agreed to pay $48 million to settle claims of clergy sexual abuse.

A civil lawsuit against O'Donnell by more than two dozen of his accusers was stayed during the three-year bankruptcy proceeding. The trial could be scheduled later this year.

Sex Abuse Scandal Catches up With Religious Orders

Religion

Sex Abuse Scandal Catches Up with Religious Orders
by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Father Aaron Joseph Cote denies allegations of sexual abuse.



All Things Considered, December 31, 2007 ·

When it comes to sexual abuse, the religious orders have flown under the radar.

About a third of all Catholic clerics serve in religious orders — they’re the Jesuits who teach high school or the Franciscans who serve the poor.

The sex abuse scandal that broke five years ago focused on parish priests and forced dioceses to push big reforms. But when it comes to religious orders, their reforms are voluntary, and the orders are not accountable to anyone. As a result, abuses may go undetected.

Reporting Only to Rome

Father Aaron Joseph Cote — known as A.J. — is a Dominican friar, part of a religious order founded nearly 800 years ago. As a Dominican, he was entrusted with preaching the Gospel and living a contemplative life — until two years ago, when he was sued for allegedly abusing a minor.

Cote’s case is unusual because, if news accounts are any measure, religious orders have escaped much of the scandal that engulfed the larger church.

In a deposition videotaped in August 2006, Cote looks grim as attorney Jeff Anderson questions him. Anderson represents a young man who accused Cote of sexually abusing him in 2001 and 2002.

Anderson: “Do you have a sexual attraction to post-pubescent adolescents?”

Cote: “I refuse to answer on the ground it may incriminate me.”

Anderson: “Do you know the word ‘pedophilia’?”

Cote: “I refuse to answer on the ground that it may incriminate me”

And so it went for the better part of an hour.

Patrick Wall, a former Benedictine monk, served for 12 years at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota. In those years, he heard one confession after another of fellow Benedictine brothers who had abused children. Of 300 monks at St. John’s Abbey, 32 were “perpetrators against children,” Wall said.

Wall finally quit the priesthood in 1998 and began investigating clergy sex abuse for victims and their lawyers.

Wall found no shortage of work: He figures he has investigated two dozen religious orders, ranging from the Franciscans and Dominicans to the Marists and Salesians. Most recently, Wall turned his gaze on Jesuit missionaries sent from Oregon to Northwest Alaska. Last month, the Jesuits settled with more than 110 Eskimos for $50 million.

Wall and others believe the rate of abuse in the religious orders is higher than among the parish priests — although no one knows for certain because the orders are not required to submit their records to anyone in the United States. They report only to Rome. And they are not bound by the charter signed by the U.S. Bishops in 2002 that promised to stop protecting suspected abusers and report them to police.

Wall says abusers from the orders are easier to tuck away. A bishop in San Diego, for example, can transfer a problem priest only so many places. But religious orders are international, which Wall says is convenient.

“You get them out of the state. You avoid any kind of criminal liability because you get them out of the area, so that the statute of limitations can run,” he said. “But you keep them in the family so it just looks like, well, ‘The abbot assigned Father Dominic to St. Augustine’s in the Bahamas.’”

That is pretty much what happened to Father Cote for more than 20 years. Cote denies he has abused anyone, and neither he nor his attorney responded to requests for an interview. In fact, no Dominican official connected to this case would grant an interview — even after several requests over two months.

But videotaped depositions in Cote’s case serve as a rare window into the Dominicans’ world. The depositions reveal a system in which warning signs can go undetected or ignored, and a problem priest can find refuge in new assignments for years.

The First Red Flag

In October 1985, Cote, then a seminarian, led a youth retreat near Washington, D.C.

In a taped deposition last year, Anderson read an assessment from Cote’s file to Father Raymond Daley, who was the leader of the Dominicans in the 1980s. The assessment said that Cote paid too much attention to boys and that he stayed out all night and returned in the morning with a teenager named Will. It said he had two glasses of wine before the service, that his talk on sex discussed oral sex and that he bared his chest during his talk.

When asked if he had any recollection of the assessment, an elderly Daley answered softly, “I do not,” a refrain repeated by Dominican leaders throughout the depositions.

A year after the youth retreat, Cote was ordained and eventually sent to Somerset, Ohio, to oversee two small parishes. His secretary, Jill Sullivan, told NPR that the young cleric instantly captured the hearts of the children. But she soon began to wonder about the youth group he started.

“You never saw any girls,” Sullivan said. “There were only boys. And at a teen youth group, why wouldn’t you see any girls?”

Sullivan started hearing rumors about Cote’s relationship with the boys. And then one morning, she found some papers on her desk — Xeroxes made the night before on the copying machine.

“And I noticed they were of boys, their rear ends, their genitals, and I went to Father A.J. and said, ‘What is this?’ He wouldn’t look at me, and he said, ‘I’ll take care of this. It won’t happen again.’”

Parishioners began to complain about Cote’s conduct with children. According to two parents interviewed under oath, they worried that Cote held sleepovers for boys and might be serving them beer. The parents met with a senior priest in the area, who wrote of complaints to Dominican leaders in New York.

The Dominicans apparently received the letter but now say it is missing. Dominican leaders said under oath they never heard complaints of a sexual nature.

1989: Chimbote, Peru

In 1989, the Dominicans transferred Cote to one of their foreign missions, in Chimbote, Peru.

The pattern began again. Cote launched a youth group for teenage boys, and boys stayed over at the house that he shared with another priest. That priest testified that Cote hugged and kissed the boys with an intimacy that alarmed parents.

Cote favored one boy in particular, who stayed overnight in Cote’s room, the priest said.

The priest said under oath that he reported to the head Dominican in Peru four times. The Dominican leader in Peru — who is no longer alive — wrote the head office in New York that parishioners had witnessed “improper conduct on the part of Father Cote.” But, he added, these complaints were just “hearsay and rumor.”

Anderson, the attorney, asked Father Thomas Ertle, who was the Dominican leader at the time, why he didn’t take action. Ertle said he relied on his fellow friar’s word that nothing was amiss and on the word of Cote.

“He gave me no indication that there was anything immoral in his contact or association with them,” Ertle said of his conversation with Cote.

“And did you rely upon him in Cote’s representation that there was nothing immoral?” Anderson asked.

“Yes.”

Anderson doubts that leaders didn’t know of any sexual abuse or chose to “see no evil.”

“I took the depositions of every official, every provincial and every vice-provincial that presided over A.J. Cote,” Anderson said. “And each of them lied.”

Anderson says the Dominicans are a small order. There are only a few hundred in the U.S. It is a tight-knit spiritual family.

“They live in community, which means they live together, and they report to one another regularly,” Anderson said. “And there is no way that the reports made in Somerset, Ohio, in Chimbote, Peru, and elsewhere didn’t go to the leaders of the Dominican order.”

2000: Germantown, Md.

Soon after the complaints surfaced, Cote asked to leave Peru. Back in the U.S., he moved from one assignment to another for a decade. No allegations surfaced during this period. Then in 2000, Cote landed as a youth pastor at Mother Seton parish in Germantown, Md. There he met 14-year-old Brandon Rains.

Rains testified last year that his friendship with Cote began when Cote “took a special liking to me,” by waving or winking at him from the altar during the Mass.

And Cote eventually spent a lot of time with Rains after his parents learned the boy had begun using and selling marijuana in the ninth grade. Rains’ mother told NPR they felt the only refuge was his church youth group.

“He spent so much time with Father Cote,” she said, holding back tears. “He was like the one safe, positive person in his life that we would allow him to see. Not his friends. We thought that was the source of the trouble.”

She added: “I felt like I just handed him over.”

By midyear, Rains testified, Cote was taking him to a private apartment or hotels to watch pornography. He masturbated in the boy’s presence and persuaded Rains that he should do the same, Rains said.

Rains said Cote did this about 10 times and touched him once.

In August 2003, Rains confided in his parents about Cote’s behavior and filed a report with police in Maryland. His stepfather, Joe McMorrow, says he called the Dominicans, who assured him they would investigate.

“And then, months passed,” McMorrow said. “We had very little contact with the Dominicans; most of it we initiated.”

Something just didn’t seem right, McMorrow said. “One day, I went out on the Web, and I find that A.J. Cote is a youth minister at a Catholic parish in Rhode Island.”

Not the Whole Story

How could this happen?

Father Dominic Izzo, the current head of the Dominican Province, said in his videotaped deposition that he didn’t consider Brandon Rains’ allegation credible.

Anderson asked Izzo what would have made it credible. First, Izzo said, if Cote’s psychological evaluation indicated he was a pedophile. Second, he said, if the police had found concrete evidence of abuse.

“The investigation would have said that yes, this did happen on this date,” Izzo said. “That did not happen. And so we took the advice of professionals.” He said that he sent all the information they had about Cote to the Rhode Island Bishop’s independent review board, and when they did not ask for more information, he considered the matter closed. Izzo recommended Cote be allowed to serve in ministry in Rhode Island.

But Dennis Roberts, the former state attorney general and head of that review board, told NPR he didn’t get the whole story from the Dominicans.

“They didn’t exactly lie to us, but they didn’t tell us the whole truth,” Roberts said.

Roberts’ board gave the green light for Cote to begin ministry in Providence. He said after looking at materials NPR gathered for this story, he was floored by all that the Dominicans had omitted — files from Cote’s seminary days, complaints from Ohio and Peru, the attempts to unload Cote on different dioceses.

Roberts said that his review board had access to all local priests’ files. But with religious orders like the Dominicans, Roberts said, “we don’t have the full package. And therefore in dealing with an issue like Father Cote’s, we really do have to rely on the good faith and forthcoming nature of the disclosures made to us by the order. And here that was not very good.”

In the deposition, Anderson handed Izzo Exhibit 100, a letter dated July 26, 2005. It’s from Catherine Wolf, a teacher in Somerset, Ohio. Wolf wrote that she had just learned that Cote had repeatedly molested a student in the late 1980s. “I believe that Father A.J. is a danger to children,” she wrote, “and should not be allowed to associate with them in any capacity.”

Under the Dominicans’ own policies, they were supposed to report all credible allegations to the police. Anderson asked if Izzo did so.

“Did I supply this letter to the police?” Izzo asked? “No, I did not.”

When asked why not, Izzo said he didn’t recall. “We just didn’t submit it to the police,” he said.

Izzo said he did not consider that allegation credible because it did not come from the alleged victim. He didn’t inform Cote’s parish in Rhode Island, nor did he alert the review board.

Dennis Roberts said he wishes Izzo had.

“What we would have done at that point,” Roberts said, “taking that new information, is tell the father provincial [that] Father Cote was no longer welcome here at that point, [that] the man has to be removed from ministry.”

Cote was just about to attend a church youth retreat in November 2005 when Rains filed a civil suit against Cote and the Dominicans in Washington, D.C. The Dominicans pulled Cote from active ministry.

Four months ago, the Dominicans agreed to settle with Rains for $1.2 million. Based on evidence revealed in the lawsuit, prosecutors in Maryland have reopened a criminal investigation.

2006: Massachusetts

In May 2006 — smack in the middle of the Rains litigation — a woman filed a complaint with the police in Massachusetts.

She claimed that Father Cote had abused her two boys while babysitting. The Dominicans offered their sympathy, but they did not mention this new allegation in their sworn testimony in the Rains suit.

The boys at the time were 4 and 6.

Nun is Found Guilty in Sex Abuse Cases

February 6, 2008 Southwest News-Herald - Oak Lawn, Burbank, Bridgeview

Nun Is Found Guilty in Sex Abuse Cases

By CHUCK SALVATORE

A nun who used to teach in the Chicago area and now resides in Oak Lawn has been found guilty of sexual molestation.

Sister Norma Giannini, 79, was sentenced to one year in prison and 10 years probation on Friday, Feb. 1, in a Milwaukee courthouse after pleading not guilty in November. Giannini was found guilty of having sexual intercourse with two boys who were 12 years old in the 1960s.

During the 1960s, Giannini was a principal of St. Patrick School in Milwaukee. According to reports, more than 160 allegations of sexual molestation happened during the span of four years.

She most recently lived with Sisters of Mercy in Oak Lawn because of declining health.

“On behalf of the Sisters, I express profound regret for the pain experienced by these two men and their families and anyone else touched by this situation,” said Sister Betty Smith, president of Sisters of Mercy, through a released statement.

The Sisters of Mercy said previously that Giannini was sent to a treatment facility in the ’90s. She also allegedly admitted to the Milwaukee Archdiocese in 1992 about having sexual intercourse with the two boys.

According to reports, one of the boys was a student of Giannini and allegedly had sex with her around 60 to 80 times. The other victim was a paperboy whose route included the convent where Giannini was living. The second victim said there were more than 100 incidents between him and Giannini.

According to the complaint, Sister Giannini stated, “She believed she was in love with both of them.”

Mary Guentner, Milwaukee director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said that Giannini admitted to the Milwaukee Archdiocese about the sexual abuse that took place, but the Archdiocese never reported it to the authorities. Guentner is not happy with the sentence Giannini received.

“We are glad this is over, but we are concerned that the sentence is different for a female perpetrator,” said Guentner.

According to Guentner, during the trial, the judge had said that what Giannini did was evil and disgusting but only sentenced her to one year in prison.

“Sexual abuse perpetrated by a woman is just as evil as sexual abuse perpetrated by a man,” said Guentner.

Guentner confirmed that in court, Giannini admitted to sexually abusing three other students in Milwaukee and one more in Chicago. The three additional sexual abuses in Milwaukee occurred during the same time period, however it is not known when the abuse of a Chicago boy occurred.

James St. Patrick, 53, and his best friend Jerry Kobes, whom have openly come out as the victims in the case were in court on Friday, reading statements on how this abuse has destroyed their lives.

Giannini was St. Patrick’s seventh- and eighth-grade teacher. He said that the abuse started to occur when he was 12 years old.

According to St. Patrick he filed a complaint with Milwaukee detectives three years ago, and called every week for two years. For two years, St. Patrick said he was given the run around. The former district attorney retired and when a new D.A. was appointed, his case was relooked at.

“My original file was lost, now it seems the former D.A. was for the Catholic Church,” said St. Patrick over the telephone.

St. Patrick is also unhappy with the sentence Giannini received.

“If you look at Fr. (John) Feeney, he received five-years for the same type of abuse. When men sexually abuse someone its rape, when women sexually abuse someone, I don’t know what people call it,” said St. Patrick.

Fr. John Feeney is a former Green Bay priest who was sent to prison in 2004 for sexually abusing minors after being transferred all over the state after allegations arose.

St. Patrick also added that it is unfortunate that sexual abuse by men and women are not looked at in the same way. He also believes that if a man had done to him and Kobes what Giannini did, then it might be looked at as more serious.

St. Patrick said he knows the three other victims who have come out and said they were abused by Giannini. He said those boys were a few grades a head of him but they all knew each other.

As a result of these incidents that occurred years ago, St. Patrick is not a practicing Catholic. Rather, he said, he has his own believes that are formed by his personal experiences throughout his life.

Giannini was principal at St. Clare of Montefalco, 5450 S. Talman Ave., Chicago, from 1983 to 1989. She was also was a teacher and dean at Mother McAuley High School, 3737 W. 99th St., Chicago, from 1972 to 1977. She has lived in Illinois since 1970.

Tom Doyle's Letter and VOTF's response

VOTF, like any organization , has internal conflicts about direction and policy. Progress is difficult when dealing with the giant that the hierarchy is and the natural tendency of people to remain passive. Tom Doyle and others want VOTF to be more radical while others feel that VOTF is too agressive. How much is our opposition to VOTF an act of our subservience to the hierarchy? So it is always a matter of insight and information.

We should not get discouraged with the internal conflicts within VOTF. This is unrealistic, in my opinion. In any human institution there is the same human nature working. Yet VOTF is the most viable, accross the board, reform group of our times and we should work with it rather than to roam into off the cuff criticisms.

No one has worked harder than Tom Doyle in stopping and preventing abuse of children by the clergy. As he frequently points out, if the bishops listened to him from the beginning much abuse would have been prevented and the hierarchy would have saved a lot of money and reputation. At the same time, the counter attack by the bishops and others in the church has taken its toll on Tom. I understand his disillusionment but he should stay within the church and work for reform. Perhaps his wounds are too great for that to happen.

In the midst of all this we must not forget that VOTF educated so many of us into becoming adults rather than Father knows best Catholics. VOTF will have its growing pains but it is our most visible collective voice in letting unruly clerics know that the gospel comes first over privilege and aristocracy.

Protect an Abuser Get a Promotion

The cardinal, his men and the McCormack legacy



Cardinal George, Bishop Rassas, Chancellor Lago, Vicar General Canary, Bishop Kicanas

Two years ago this month, the Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested for molesting boys. He’s in prison now. And the top leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago who might have stopped him have risen in their church positions.

Keep reading.



Cardinal Francis George
At the height of the sexual abuse scandals in 2002, U.S. Catholic bishops adopted a policy calling for the removal of any priest credibly accused of child molestation. Beforehand, George had argued repeatedly on national television that the “zero tolerance” policy was too stringent. McCormack was first picked up by police in August 2005, but not charged. The cardinal’s review board recommended that the priest be removed from ministry, the archdiocese said. But the cardinal refused. McCormack went on to abuse other children. He pleaded guilty last July and was sent to prison. Four months later, the cardinal was elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.


Bishop George Rassas
When McCormack was first arrested in 2005, Rassas was the archdiocese’s vicar general. Despite the arrest, he allowed McCormack to receive a priestly promotion. The priest was kept in the West Side parish he served and went on to abuse more children. McCormack was arrested again in 2006. A few weeks later, Rassas was made an auxiliary bishop.




Chancellor Jimmy Lago
As the archdiocese’s chancellor, Lago oversees the offices that handle sexual abuse. After McCormack’s 2006 arrest, Lago told another media outlet that he regretted “that he was on vacation” when the priest was first arrested in 2005. And “not in the loop when a school principal came forward in 1999 with the first allegation against the priest.” Not aware of McCormack? Really? Lago called for a so-called “independent” investigation into how McCormack slipped through the archdiocese’s system. In releasing the report, the tough talking chancellor was hailed as a hero with unquestioning acceptance by the Chicago Tribune. The cardinal bestowed Lago with even greater responsibility in handling abuse. The question not raised: Should Lago have been fired?



Vicar General Canary
The Rev. John Canary was vice rector of Mundelein Seminary when McCormack was studying for the priesthood. Mundelein officials learned in 1992 about sexual accusations against McCormack involving two adult males and a minor. The incidents began in 1988 when McCormack was at a seminary school known as Niles College, where Canary previously worked, according to archdiocesan reports. Canary said the allegations were noted in seminary records, which then “disappeared.” Canary later became seminary rector. In 2006, he was appointed vicar general, a position that became open when Rassas was elevated to auxiliary bishop.



Bishop Gerald Kicanas
While rector of Mundelein Seminary in the 1990s, Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas says he knew about three reports of “sexual improprieties” against then-seminarian Daniel McCormack. Still, Kicanas supported McCormack’s ordination, he recently told the Sun-Times. “It would have been grossly unfair not to have ordained him,” Kicanas said. “There was a sense that his activity was part of the developmental process and that he had learned from the experience. I was more concerned about his drinking. We sent him to counseling for that.” McCormack was ordained in 1994. The following year, Kicanas became a Chicago auxiliary bishop and in 2001, a bishop of Tucson. Two months ago, he was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

When the People do their Job

BELLEVILLE (IL)
BELLEVILLE NEWS-DEMOCRAT

Bishop apologizes for spending restricted funds; $18,000 to be repaid

'Benefactor' will pay it, Braxton says

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
Jan. 23, 2008


After weeks of controversy between himself and the diocesan finance
council, Bishop Edward Braxton issued a public apology Monday for
approving

spending $18,000 on new furniture and ceremonial garments with money from
restricted funds.

Braxton also announced he had obtained funding from an "outside
benefactor" that would repay $10,100 spent on a conference table and
chairs from the

local "Future Full Of Hope" account and about $8,000 for new ordination
vestments taken from money collected for the Society for the Propagation
of the

Faith. The pontifical fund is dedicated to the poor worldwide and cannot
be spent in the country it is raised.

"While this gift resolves the immediate question concerning restricted and
unrestricted funds, it does not resolve the larger question of the
confusion,

mistrust, misunderstanding, loss of confidence, and even anger caused by
these developments. I regret this very much, and I apologize for anything
I may

have done, even unwittingly, to contribute to this situation," Braxton
wrote.

Braxton, who would not accept questions from a News-Democrat reporter,
promised to work closely with the finance committee's membership of clergy
and

laity "... to ensure that such a problem does not occur again."

The bishop's statement was met with guarded optimism from the executive
council of an influential priest organization, whose members issued their
own

statement urging Braxton to work more closely with all diocesan priest
organizations and to reappoint former Belleville councilman Bill Knapp to
another

term as chief financial officer of the diocese.

"We are hopeful that this crisis can be slowly resolved over the coming
months when the bishop continues to restore trust. Otherwise, his recent
statement

and actions will be the efforts of a classic corporate damage control,"
read a statement from the executive council of the priest Presbyteral
Council.

The statement, sent by the council's chairman, the Rev. Jerry Wirth, also
urged that the oath of secrecy taken by members of the 16-member finance

council be scrapped. Wirth said it was Knapp who raised questions about
the purchases within the finance council. Knapp has said the oath of
secrecy

prevented him from commenting.

In December, the finance council wrote to the U.S. representative of Pope
Benedict XVI, Archbishop Pietro Sambi in Washington, D.C., complaining of

Braxton's use of the restricted funds. Finance Council member the Rev.
Dennis Voss, who has confirmed that the complaint was made, has also
stated

that the propriety of the oath of secrecy will be discussed.

David Clohessy, executive director of the St. Louis-based Survivor's
Network of Those Abused by Priests, whose group called Thursday for
Braxton to

explain the purchases, said, "We're grateful for this decision, but we're
even more grateful for the brave Belleville church employees, both laity
and priests,

who exposed Braxton's wrongdoing."

Clohessy said parishioners who may still have doubts that their
contributions will be spent properly should "avoid donating in cash, and
earmark their

checks for specific projects."

Monsignor John Kozar, who heads the New York office of the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith, said after learning of Braxton's statement: "I'm
very

satisfied and happy that monies that were earmarked for the missions
outside the United States will in fact end up going there." He said he
also hoped that

parishioners continue to donate, and that church officials account for the
money.

Kozar said, "The church wins whenever there is openness."

47 Young Girls Abused by Priest over three decades

BishopAccountability.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


'Guilty' 47 Times
Rev. Charles Sylvestre Admits to Decades of Sexual Abuse Involving 47 Girls - Many Still Suffering

By Jane Sims
London Free Press [Canada]
August 4, 2006

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/08/04/1718146-sun.html

Chatham -- He wore his priest's collar to win trust and respect in Roman Catholic parishes across the region.

The collar gave him an exalted place in the communities. The collar, many believed, also meant he was just a step away from God.

Yesterday, Charles Henry Sylvestre, 83, of Belle River, was wearing the collar again -- but this time in a criminal court, under the watchful eyes of his 47 sexual abuse victims.


Carol Ann Mieras speaks to reporters outside the Chatham courthouse. She is wearing a shirt featuring a photo of herself when she was 11 years old, a time when she was sexually assaulted by Father Charles Sylvestre, a Catholic priest.
Photo by DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press

Balancing himself against the table beside his lawyer, Andrew Bradie of Windsor, Sylvestre stood for 25 minutes as the court clerk read out the 47 counts of indecent assault.

"Guilty," the 83-year-old said feebly, after each charge was read.

Behind him in the packed courtroom, women dabbed their eyes.

Irene Deschenes of London, who along with 10 others asked the court-ordered publication ban be lifted from their names, smiled, leaned forward and put her hand to her ear to be sure Sylvestre was admitting abusing her.

It was the start of a heartbreaking day in the Ontario Court of Justice, as victim after victim -- all women -- came forward to have the abuses described.

For most, their lives were irrevocably changed.

The case, Chatham-Kent Crown Attorney Paul Bailey said, is North America's largest case of non-residential school sex abuse by a Roman Catholic priest.

The case is so large, there was only time to hear from 21 victims yesterday. Justice Bruce Thomas is expected to hear the rest Sept. 22.

The abuse dates as far back as 1952 and extends to 1989 when the victims were between nine and 14. It involved churches in Windsor, Sarnia, Chatham and Pain Court.

Two victims were students at Mount St. Joseph academy in London when Sylvestre was the chaplain in the 1950s.

Twenty-nine of the victims were members of St. Ursula's parish in Chatham.

All are asking why the abuse was allowed to continue so long.

Bradie said while his client acknowledged the abuses in his guilty pleas, his memories of the events have faded.

Bailey described each abuse at the hands of the priest, and noted many times the victims were made to feel "special" by the priest's initial attention.

Many said they were "good Catholic girls" who attended church regularly and were raised in devout families.

Many were offered chocolate bars and pop when they sat on the priest's lap while he groped them and bounced them on his groin.

Many were assaulted after being "chosen" by Sylvestre to volunteer at the rectory or the church to fold bulletins, tidy worship areas, to count the collection.

Some were assaulted on beach day trips Sylvestre organized. Others were groped and fondled in his car.

Some were assaulted during church confession. They were told to stay quiet or they would be punished by God.

Every one was just entering puberty. Some spoke of just "budding." Every one of them had their breasts fondled.

Sylvestre shoved his hands down the pants of some to fondle their genitals, and some were digitally penetrated.

Two of the women said they were raped by Sylvestre.

Lou Ann Soontiens, of Chatham, a victim who had the publication ban lifted, through Bailey, said she had an abortion at 15 after she was impregnated by the trusted priest after years of abuse.

"I feel he robbed me of my childhood and took it away from me," her statement read.

"I believe God should have been there for me."

Bradie told Thomas his client doesn't admit to any sexual intercourse or penetration but to the other described abuses.

Bailey said only a trial could resolve that and, "with some regret," the Crown wasn't prepared to wait any longer to move forward.

The sexual intercourse allegations will be tried at the civil level.

Thomas accepted Bradie's submission and found Sylvestre guilty based on his other abuses of the women.

Many bravely read their own victim impact statements, often through tears and anger. Others listened to Bailey read their words.

Their stories were personal and emotional. They spoke of lifelong struggles with trust and intimacy, self-esteem problems, rebellious angry pasts, addictions and depression.

Some were suicidal.

Many expressed shame and guilt when their stories weren't believed.

Some said they thought, "I was a child and I did nothing wrong," said Joanne Morrison, 46, of White Rock, B.C. "I will not hide behind shame or guilt anymore."

Only two, who confided in parents and were supported, said they had little if any long-term fallout from the abuse.

The case led to an unprecedented response by the Roman Catholic diocese of London yesterday, with Bishop Ronald Fabbro issuing an apology to the victims and their families for the abuse and "for the failure of the church to protect the victims and their families from Father Sylvestre."

Fabbro is to preach a mass Sunday at St. Ursula's church in Chatham where he will formally apologize.

Many of the victims are seeking civil remedies.

Yesterday, London lawyer Barbara Legate filed a lawsuit on behalf of 22 women, naming not only the diocese but school boards, nuns and Sarnia police.

BISHOP APOLOGIZES

The Roman Catholic Diocese of London issued a statement yesterday in which Bishop Ronald Fabbro expressed his regret for Rev. Charles Sylvestre's abuse:

I sincerely apologize to the victims and their families for the abuse that they endured at the hands of Fr. Sylvestre, and for suffering the consequences of that abuse over the years. I apologize as well for the failure of the Church to protect the victims and their families from Fr. Sylvestre. The abuse of minors has been a scourge in the Diocese of London that must end, and I pledge myself as the Bishop of London to do my utmost to end it.

How the lives of three women, including Irene Deschene, right, were turned inside out by their abuse as children.

Reminder: VOTF meeting on Monday Jan.14 at 7:30 pm

Reminder:
VOTF meeting on Monday Jan.14 at 7:30 pm
in the Larchmont Avenue Church
Jennifer Lowry, Assistant District Attorney for Westchester County, will be speaking about sexual abuse in Westchester.

This is a one-time opportunity for us to hear from the D.A's office, to become more informed and to ask relevant questions. Please invite friends to this meeting as the more people who understand these important issues the greater chance we have of reforming these NY State laws.

PURPOSE: To Reform the NYS Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual
Abuse during the 2008 session of the NYS Legislature.

Fr. Tom Doyle reminds us:

It is essential to support legislative changes in the law by:
extending the Statutes of Limitations well beyond the limited number of years common to most states and
by passage of a "window" of a year or more to enable persons who have fallen outside the Statute to come forward and initiate cases.
Current research shows that at least 1 in 5 American children have been sexually abused. Meanwhile, many of their predators are legally shielded by state statutes
of limitations!!

Help protect the children of New York; become more informed and help change the law!

For more information google NYS Assembly and NYS Senate.

Pope calls for continuous prayer to rid priesthood of paedophilia

Pope calls for continuous prayer to rid priesthood of paedophilia

Richard Owen in Rome

The Times (UK)

January 7, 2008

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3142511.ece



Pope Benedict XVI has instructed Roman Catholics to pray “in perpetuity” to cleanse the Church of paedophile clergy. All dioceses, parishes, monasteries, convents and seminaries will be expected to organise continuous daily prayers to express penitence and to purify the clergy.



Vatican officials said that every parish or institution should designate a person or group each day to conduct continuous prayers for the Church to rid itself of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy. Alternatively, churches in the same diocese could share the duty. Prayer would take place in one parish for 24 hours, then move to another.



Vatican watchers said that there was no known precedent for global prayer on a specific issue of this kind. There are about one billion Roman Catholics worldwide.



The instruction was sent to bishops by Cardinal Cláudio Hummes of Brazil, head of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy. He told L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, that he was acting in the Pope’s name. The Pope wanted Catholics to pray for the “mercy of God for the victims of the grave situations caused by the moral and sexual conduct of a very small part of the clergy”, he said.



Officials said that the prayers were in addition to support for legal action against paedophile priests by their victims and a code adopted two years ago by the Vatican to try to ensure that men “with deep-seated homosexual tendencies” do not enter seminaries to train for the priesthood.



Cardinal Hummes said that the aim was to put a definitive stop to a scandal that had damaged the image of the Church and forced US archdioceses, including Boston and Los Angeles, to pay millions of dollars in compensation to the victims. He said that the scandal was exceptionally serious, although it was probably caused by “no more than 1 per cent” of the 400,000 Catholic priests around the world.



When the paedophile scandal erupted in Boston five years ago, Pope Benedict XVI – or Cardinal Ratzinger as he was then – accused the media of exaggerating the crisis. He later took a tougher stand and was said to have been behind the statement in 2003 by Pope John Paul II to a meeting of American churchmen in which he said: “The abuse which has caused this crisis is rightly considered a crime by society and is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God. People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.”



When Cardinal Ratzinger stood in for the dying John Paul II at the Good Friday procession of Easter 2005, he stunned the faithful by deploring publicly “how much filth there is in the Church, even among those in the priesthood”. A month later he lifted the legal protection that the Vatican had given to Father Marcial Maciel, the Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ, who was accused of sexual abuse of youngsters. Maciel was banned from saying Mass or speaking in public.



However, Cardinal Bernard Law, who was Archbishop of Boston when the scandal broke, was transferred to a post in Rome and remains a respected figure – despite accusations that he did not take strong enough action in dealing with abuse in his diocese.



The Pope, who is preparing an encyclical on the social effects of globalisation, gave a homily at St Peter’s yesterday on the feast of the Epiphany in which he deplored the West’s “search for excess and the superfluous”. He said: “The conflicts for economic supremacy, and the scramble for energy and water resources and raw materials, render difficult the work of all those who strive to construct a more just and united world. We need a greater hope, which allows us to prefer the common good of all to the luxury of few and the poverty of many. Moderation is not only an ascetic rule, but a way of salvation for humanity.”



Church crisis



$660m The amount paid out by the Los Angeles Roman Catholic archdiocese to 500 victims of sexual abuse



$2bn The amount estimated to have been paid out across the US



4,392 The number of priests alleged to have abused children in the US in the past 50 years



10,000 The number of Americans who say that they were abused



100 The number of allegations of abuse made in Ireland between1962 and 2002



21 The number of priests involved



6 of the 21 Irish priests involved died before any allegations were made against them



3,000 The number of allegations of abuse received by the Australian group Broke Rites by 2002



Have your say



As a priest I would say that prayer is always fitting -- however, as a VICTIM OF CLERLGY ABUSE I would say it is not enough. Eight months before ordination I was raped as a deacon by one of the priest in the parish. I reported to my supervisor -- come to find out my supervisor had been diagnosed 13 years earlier (1957) with a psychopathological personality and like playing with mentally ill teenaged girls. He was still active when I was raped (1970). IN the fall of 2001 I had a flashback. Since then I had to follow my conscience and leave ministry. As a priest I could no longer represent bishops who covered up and failed to take responsibility for their own actions. What the Vatican needs to do is remove those bishops who have brought as much (if not more) scandal to the church.



Rev James F Moran, Alexandria, USA/Virginia



Two items:



To Paola of Milan, this has NOTHING to do with homosexuality. There are millions of gay men who have NOTHING to do with minors. The great majority of child abuse is male against female child.



On to the issue.... Out of touch is putting it mildly. Why isn't this Pope calling for the removal of the bishops who kept the abuse hidden and did nothing at the time it was occurring? THAT is something he has full control over and could do something positive to show the Church takes responsibility for the actions and the concealment.



But, I won't hold my breath till it happens. SO much easier to push the responsibility to the parishioners and to God to clean up the Pope's act.



Thomas Denney, Austin, Texas



While I commend daily communication with God, I must remind the leaders of the Catholic Church that communication is a two-way street. It's not just speaking, but listenning as well. If they desire to succeed, they need to listen to what God has said in His Word, the Bible. For example, the idea of "forced celibacy" for priests is considered a doctrine from hell in 1Timothy 4:1-3: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to ...doctrines of demons, 2 ..., 3 forbidding to marry,". Besides, the Apostle Paul clearly states that church leaders are to be the "husband of one wife" in 1Timothy 3:2. God has made us sexual beings and being married, having sex within the context of a marital,monogomous relationship between a man and a women is blessed by God, not considered "unspiritual". I believe you'd see a lot less abuse if they followed this truth. For some, Paul does suggest (not command) to remain single in 1Cor. 7



Mike Hill, Aberdeen , Idaho USA



The Pope's appeal is welcome. Divine power will lead to the unmasking of some of the perpetrators, perhaps give some of the victims greater courage to speak out, and enable those who might damage children to withstand their temptations.



Many people assume there is some link between celibacy and paedophilia, but the vast majority of paedophilia assaults are perpetrated by family members: stepfathers, elder brothers, Mum's new boyfriend, favourite uncles etc.



Those churches which have a married clergy - Anglicanism and Methodism - have hardly been immune to child abuse cases, although the media have homed in on the Catholic church to an unprecedented degree. Even Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) says he thinks the Catholic Church has been unfairly treated by the media in this respect.



The appalling repeat-repeat-repeat cases in some US and Irish dioceses have not really been paralleled to the same extent at all in the UK. But even one case is bad enough...



Bernard O'Callaghan, Chorley, England



Is it too cynical of me to point out that if prayer helped it would not need to be perpetual? No, I don't think it is.



Gatz, Chelmsford, UK



The pope does well to call attention to this issue and to as catholics to address it through serious community prayer.



Allowing priests in the Latin rite to marry wouldn't solve anything. The number of priests who have been involved in paedophilia (less than 1%) is lower than the global overall statistic.



Chris Dela, Cambridge,



As ever the Pope either misses the point or is, much more likely, a hypocrite when his answer to child-abuse in this church is for Catholics to "pray in perpetuality" or for candidates with deep-seated homosexual tendencies to be banned from entering the seminaries (scurrulously suggesting homosexuals and paedophiles are one and the same thing) . The inability to see that allowing men to fulfil their perfectly human sexual needs within a loving relationship with a male or female partner, possibly in the context of marriage and children or a pax is the only way forward highlights what many of us have known for a long time: that ultimately dangerous, irrational dogma still rules.



Paola, Milan, Italy



Praying is talking to yourself. The best solution to this perverted priests problem is fire them and make them get real jobs. An even better solution would be to close down the entire Catholic religion, which after all is nothing but childish nonsense.



BobC, Margate, Florida



It's not about God, it's about people. Jesus did not die for some people, but for all to give hope that each human can have the chance to go to heaven. And the fact that some do not choose God and, what's more, make awful harm to others, means that these people consciously choose hell.



Pope shows that he is really interested in this matter and he is not going to hide away from it.



Monica, Warsaw

Slow Healing in the Church

ROBERT C. BORDONE AND ROBERT J. BOWERS
Slow healing in the Catholic church
By Robert C. Bordone and Robert J. Bowers | January 1, 2008

AS THE CATHOLIC community continues the difficult process of healing and reconciliation in the wake of abuse scandals, church closings, and critical social issues, the decision by Pope Benedict XVI to avoid Boston on his US visit next spring is a missed opportunity. A face-to-face meeting with Catholics in Boston would have signaled a desire to begin honest and open dialogue on the hurt, anger, separation, and alienation many still feel.

If history teaches us anything, it is that avoidance of conflict rarely leads to reconciliation or healing. Failing to face those on the opposite side of the breach tends to breed more resentment, bitterness, and misunderstanding. The resulting alienation poisons people's hearts, stunting generosity and feeding cynicism that leads to hopelessness.

Years after the revelation of clergy sexual abuse, the Catholic community struggles to understand how such crimes could have happened - and been tolerated by the church hierarchy. In the wake of the Boston Archdiocese's church closings and hurtful statements made during the gay-marriage debate, the Roman Catholic Church finds itself at a crossroads. The leadership of the church and those aggrieved by it can continue down the current path - a slow but constant parting of ways. They can pretend that the hurt never happened, clinging desperately to the fallacious notion that "time heals all wounds."

There is another way. Church leaders and Catholics on all sides of the divide can choose to engage with each other openly, honestly, and courageously. They can examine the hurt and listen to the aggrieved, in order to begin the too-long-delayed process of healing and reparation. It is the only way to mend the breach.

Examples abound of people coming together across bitter divides through such a deliberate, difficult, but liberating process. After the brutal injustice of apartheid, the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in South Africa brought the victims and perpetrators of that evil system together to find ways to move forward. Closer to home, criminals and victims are brought together by groups such as the Restorative Circles in Concord and the peacemaking circles led by ROCA Inc. in Chelsea. These gatherings convene criminal offenders, their victims, and members of the community to examine what can be done to repair the harm. The Public Conversations Project of Watertown enables conversation among conflicting groups over tough social issues, including facilitating dialogue between pro-life and pro-choice forces. The Catholic Church should look to these examples and take similar steps to heal its own deep rifts.

Over the past 18 months, we have worked to develop a model for genuine listening, open dialogue, and honest exchange that can help Catholics move from bitterness and resentment to renewed understanding, from pain and separation toward peace and reconciliation. The Office of Outreach and Reconciliation at the Paulist Center has worked with teams of students at the Harvard Law School Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program to bring together church leaders and disaffected Catholics to discuss the hurt, broken trust, and intense disappointment felt by many of the faithful.

The project aims to combine the solutions-oriented approach of truth commissions with the best spirit of open, facilitated dialogue. Participants agree to be respectful of each other, while at the same time vowing to speak truths that can be hard for others to hear. The project presents a hopeful path forward, and has already enjoyed the support of a cross-section of Catholic constituencies, including the vicar general of the Boston Archdiocese, Father Richard Erikson, and other members of Cardinal Sean O'Malley's cabinet.

The creation of this reconciliation program is a valuable first step toward reconciliation. The leadership of the church - including the cardinal - along with Catholics who feel the most alienated, should take the next step and join in these dialogues.

Hope is found in active listening and active participation, not in avoidance and recrimination. Only when we can engage one another, unafraid of what needs to be said and must be heard, can we open the pathway to peace and reconciliation. Then, perhaps one day, we all might approach true forgiveness, and live the peace and justice sought by all of us who call ourselves Catholic.

Robert C. Bordone is the Thaddeus R. Beal Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and director of the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. The Rev. Robert J. Bowers serves as consultant for Outreach and Reconciliation at the Paulist Center of Boston.

Marci Hamilton finds the Bishops inept Again!

Toward the Future: The Lessons of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Report, and the Ways in Which We Can Protect All Children From Sex Abuse
By MARCI HAMILTON
----
Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007

Recently, the National Review Board for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released the results of its five-year study evaluating how the hierarchy has handled clergy abuse since the public first learned of its scope and prevalence from the Boston Globe in 2002. The report is just what one would expect from any corporation undergoing a scandal; It details new programs, promises to do better in the future, and admits the problem is complex (which, translated, means that the Bishops have not put the problem behind them, not by a long shot).

As I read the report and reflected upon the last five years, I had very mixed feelings. On the one hand, every American (and even world citizen) should be grateful to Providence (as well as the Globe) for revealing the scope of child abuse and cover-up within the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church. We really did not know, let alone understand, the gravity and extent of the scourge of child sex abuse society-wide until we saw it entrenched in the one institution everyone had trusted - Catholic or not. This was the religious institution whose clergy every lawyer hoped would testify on their side, after all! The point could not have been made more clearly than by the scandal in the Church: Children are being sexually abused everywhere, and the ones not to trust are often the ones we trust the most.

There is another quite different lesson to be learned from the 2007 Bishops' Report, too, however: The bishops are not a terribly important element in the solution to society-wide child sex abuse. Yes, they have instituted programs to protect children, but it was well-known long ago in the public sphere that such programs are crucial. And they have created their Victims Assistance Programs and appointed Directors. Though victims and their families have not found these programs terribly helpful or supportive, at least they exist. Yet, it simply does not matter what program the hierarchy creates for the victims it has generated. Why? Because its victims count for such a small number of child sex abuse victims overall. Even perfect care for all of its victims puts barely a dent in the larger problem.

The Bishops might have been leaders in the national movement to right the laws that affect child sex abuse survivors, but they have chosen to take the opposite path. If public records are accurate, the New York Catholic Conference is paying well over $100,000 per year to lobbyists and public relations firms to defeat legislation that would make it easier for victims (both within and outside the Church) to get to court, by reducing the barriers created by the statute of limitations. That is just another signal that they are part of history on this problem, not the future..

The Bishops do not stand alone in proposing solutions that do not touch the vast majority of the problem. We have Megan's Law public reporting statutes, pedophile-free zones, and increased sentencing for molesters, but we still have not made the changes necessary to identify the many predators currently living among us. As I have discussed in previous columns such as this one, the statutes of limitation on child sex abuse must go. At the same time, there needs to be a concerted effort to turn the insights gleaned from the Church's clergy abuse problems into aggressive plans to stop the problem in the future.

Ultimately, It Will Take Private and Public Institutions and Legislatures, to Win the War Against Child Sex Abuse

We are at a promising turning point for our children. It will take the actions of private and public institutions as well as legislators to turn the tide on child sex abuse. The National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University is one organization that holds out hope for the future. President Bush just signed legislation granting $1.22 million to the Center, which is engaged in groundbreaking work. Director Victor Vieth explained part of the Center's mission, which is centered around education and more education: "[W]e will provide training to over 10,000 child protection professionals, will assist dozens of universities in implementing model undergraduate or graduate child protection curricula, and will grow our forensic interview training program--a program that will positively impact a million children by the end of this decade." Vieth's vision includes a call to eliminate child sex abuse altogether in several generations, through programs and multi-tiered education. That is the clarion call needed to right the wrongs now so deeply embedded in the psyche of this society.

The Training Center is part of NAPSAC (the National Association to Prevent the Sexual Abuse of Children), of which I am a Board Member. NAPSAC also houses the National District Attorneys Association, a point that highlights another crucial element in making this world a safer place for children: We need prosecutors who are sensitized to these issues and inclined to protect the children, not the adults who ask them to keep their "dirty laundry" hidden.

With these private and public projects and legislators with the guts to roll back the statutes of limitations on child sex abuse so we can identify the perpetrators among us, we can become a country that is truly proud of its commitment to children. Words, reports, and individual institutions will never be enough; it will take passionate action on the part of many.

Bob Hoatson's Letter to the National Review Board

Judge Michael Mertz, Chairperson
National Review Board
Office of Child and Youth Protection
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth St, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017

Dear Judge Mertz and Members of the National Review Board:

As a priest, survivor of clergy sexual abuse, and advocate for hundreds of
survivors of clergy sexual abuse, I feel I must respond to your
recently-released

report to the Catholic Faithful of the United States regarding the
protection of children, teenagers, young adults, and vulnerable adults in
the American

Catholic Church. Unfortunately, I neither share your optimism nor agree
with your conclusions.

The overall tone of the report is of concern to me. There is no
acknowledgment of the "epidemic" of clergy sexual abuse that has been
exposed and

continues to be exposed to this day. The National Review Board was
established because the bishops of the country were incompetent to act
legally,

ethically, and morally toward those who were abused. My experience,
research, and immersion in the recoveries of survivors indicate that the
climate and

culture that created the problem in the beginning are still in place and
very much the prevailing practices. The Catholic bishops of the United
States, for the

most part, have never been held accountable for their illegal, immoral,
and unethical methods and practices.

It is understandable why you would be hesitant to confront your bosses.
Governor Frank Keating was "eliminated" as the first Chairperson of your
group, and

perhaps you fear the same response if you act wisely, independently, and
transparently. It is clear to me that you will never have the authority to
act as you

need to act.
As for the "diversity of the Board," which you noted in the second
paragraph of your report, there are no survivors or survivor-advocates on
the Board, there are

no "experts" in the field of clergy abuse survivors, such as Fr. Tom Doyle
or Dr. Richard Sipe, and there are no parents or family members of
survivors on the

Board. What do you mean by diversity; that there are men and women on the
Board? That does not equal diversity as it relates to the mission and
purpose

of the Board or the needs of survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

As for the accomplishments that you listed:


1) Safe environment programs are well and good. However, they do not
guarantee that bishops are not transferring criminal abusers around their
diocese and

inter-dioceses.

2) Diocesan procedures to respond promptly to allegations do not guarantee
that bishops treat survivors with care, compassion, and honesty. There
still is a

climate of secrecy, cover-up, and lack of transparency in diocesan
offices, especially that of the bishop.

3) Publishing reports of credible allegations is great, except it does
nothing for the vast majority of survivors who cannot report their abuse
because they have

had bad experiences with Church authorities, are too damaged to come
forward, or are thoroughly convinced (rightly so!) that the Church is
similar to a Mafia

-like organization that simply protects its own.

The Board has not reached out in any way, shape, or form to survivors to
ask them what they think, feel, and believe about the Church's attempts to
clean up

its act. Survivors' advocacy groups, such as Road to Recovery, Inc., SNAP,
and others are not included in your deliberations or those of the bishops.
As for the research projects that have been conducted or are currently
being conducted:

1) The current study, Causes and Contexts, has been carefully nuanced to
avoid an analysis of what needs to be known. It was made clear to me at a
Voice

of the Faithful Conference workshop that this study has eliminated the
most important focus groups: survivors, survivor families, and survivor
experts and

advocates. It also will not include a key group that can provide
invaluable information; namely, priest-survivors who have lived in the
seminary system, been

abused in the seminary or clerical system, and know the "inner workings of
the system."

2) It is clear to me that the Causes and Contexts study will not expose
the clerical culture and sexual dysfunctionalism of the seminary/rectory
system;

rather, it will skirt (again!) what has to be uncovered if the Church is
going to recover from its addiction to power, authority, sex, and
clericalism.

3) Please do not spend time on perpetuating the "pity party for priests."
You seem to want to give deference in research reports to priests who
covered up,

remained silent, and very often saw the sexual abuse of children taking
place. My experience in the religious life and priesthood leads me to
conclude that

almost no religious brother, sister, priest, or deacon is immune from the
knowledge of, participation in, or looking the other way from the sexual
abuse of

children.

4) Your report apparently ignores (again!) the ongoing needs of survivors.
I work with over 200 survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Many are not
healed, will not

be healed, and cannot access treatment because of unreliable or
non-existent policies and programs of dioceses. For example, one survivor
met privately

with a bishop who promised the survivor that he would finally get the
house he has wanted for his family and him. The bishop promised him a
substantial

settlement, separate from the "mass settlement" that was being negotiated.
When the survivor went to his "settlement meeting," he was told he was
part of

the mass settlement and that he was scheduled to receive a settlement much
lower than he was promised. Because he felt betrayed, this man's PTSD was

triggered, the pain returned, and he spent his entire settlement on drugs!

5) In New Hampshire at the beginning of December, clergy abuse survivor
Leeland Eisenberg held hostages at the campaign headquarters of Hillary
Clinton.

During the previous months, he phoned every psychiatrist in New Hampshire
looking for a therapist who would accept third-party payments from the

Archdiocese of Boston. None would accept the payments! So, Lee took to
drinking and drugging to help his head stop spinning, and ended up in
Hillary

Clinton's headquarters to bring attention to the state of mental health
care in his State.

Your report said nothing about the ongoing needs of survivors, such as
housing, food, mental health care, and a host of other needs. If you ask
some of us

who are "in the trenches," we will tell you what needs to be done.

While I am not confident that you will respond to this letter in any
meaningful way, it is my hope that "something will get through"
eventually, so effective

change can take place in the midst of the evil and corruption.

Sincerely,
Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.
Founder and President
CC: Members of the National Review Board
Teresa Kettelkamp, Director of the USCCB Office of Child and Youth
Protection
Members of the Bishops' Committee on Child and Youth Protection

Priests Accused of taking children out of class to abuse them when they were children.

Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
Posted on Thu, Dec. 20, 2007
Two men allege molestation in lawsuit against former priest, Catholic diocese
By JOE LAMBE
The Kansas City Star
Two men sued a former Roman Catholic priest and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Thursday for alleged molestation when the men were altar boys.

John Doe B.B. of Kansas, 52, contends that the Rev. Thomas Reardon sexually abused him in 1968 in the St. Elizabeth rectory in Kansas City after his mother asked the priest to explain “the facts of life” to the 12-year-old boy.

John Doe M.D., 46, of Missouri and his wife contend that Reardon, now 65, abused him at St. Gabriel’s parish in Kansas City when Doe was in the fifth to eighth grades.

According to the lawsuits, Reardon kept the boys quiet by persuading them that the acts were a normal part of life or even beneficial.

Reardon, who has 14 other abuse-related lawsuits pending against him in Jackson County, has denied ever abusing children. He declined to comment Thursday. His attorney did not return phone calls.

The lawsuits allege that the diocese was at fault in part for negligent supervision, including covering up Reardon’s actions for years. The church also committed fraud and intentionally inflicted distress by portraying Reardon as a responsible priest, the suits contend.

The diocese has not seen the lawsuits, has not learned the plaintiffs’ names and is not in a position to comment, a spokeswoman said in a written response. Reardon has not worked as a priest since 1989, she said.

David Biersmith of Kansas City, president of Voice of the Faithful, a church reform group, read statements from the two plaintiffs at a news conference announcing the lawsuits. Describing himself as a former close friend of Reardon’s, he said he attended seminary with him many years ago. Reardon, he said, was a charming man who could easily manipulate children.

Doe M.D. wrote that he felt he had been violated, lost his innocence and more: “I lost my faith, I lost respect for myself as well as others,” Biersmith read. “I feel I have lost a part of my life.”

According to Doe M.D.’s lawsuit:

Reardon first abused him in the St. Gabriel’s rectory after calling him out of grief counseling class when the boy was in the fifth grade. Reardon kept calling him out of classes for more abuse in the rectory and sometimes gave him money and alcohol. He also molested him in the sacristy before the start of Mass.

Doe B.B.’s written statement said that he did not tell anyone of his abuse at age 12 because he was too scared. He now understands that to end such sexual abuse in the church, people must come forward.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, urged other abuse victims to do the same. He said one of these plaintiffs finally came forward after a recent media account about Reardon and another priest.

Last month, The Kansas City Star revealed widespread allegations of abuse against Reardon and Monsignor Thomas O’Brien, whom many adolescent boys called the “party priests.”

Other lawsuits against both men detail accusations of rape, sodomy, oral sex and masturbatory acts. The lawsuits allege a pattern of molestation that began in the early 1960s with O’Brien and continued with Reardon through the 1980s.

The lawsuits contend that the priests used their positions of power to prey on youngsters, plying them with alcohol, groping them and sometimes offering money for sex.

Since 2004, a dozen men have sued O’Brien, 81, who denies all the allegations. Those and the 16 lawsuits against Reardon make up the bulk of at least 32 pending Jackson County lawsuits against priests or former priests.

As of last month, priest sex abuse cases nationwide had cost the Roman Catholic Church at least $2.3 billion since 1950.

Thursday, Clohessy said that the church needed to take stronger action against the priests’ co-workers and supervisors — “the people who drove the getaway car.”

A diocese statement issued Thursday says that every suspicion or report of abuse is now taken seriously and reported to the state. Any credible accusation against a priest or any other church worker means that person is dismissed, it said.

“The ongoing goal of the diocese is simple but clear: to do everything humanly possible to address past acts of sexual abuse and to protect children and young people in the future,” the release said.

Clohessy called the reforms too weak and said they did not hold high church officials accountable for past acts.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@ Go to KansasCity.com for video of attorneys for two men whose lawsuits claim they were sexually abused.

Votf Response to the National Review Board Report

VOTF Response to National Review Board Report
December 13, 2007 - Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) supports the work of the National Review Board (NRB) as detailed in the report they presented Dec. 13 to the "Catholic Faithful of the United States”. Their report highlights that the clergy abuse crisis is far from over and that much still needs to be accomplished. We are anxious to see the results of the recently initiated on-site audits being conducted by the Gavin Group. These independent audits will be a better indicator of exactly what progress is being made by the bishops. In addition we need to audit the safe environment program at the parish level to be truly effective.

“The report correctly points out the need for: a greater understanding of victimization and its consequences, due process for priests, and an appropriate role for the Church in the supervision of offenders,” said Mary Pat Fox, VOTF President. “We await the issuance of the Causes and Context Study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and we urge the Bishops to cooperate fully with the researchers. We ask the NRB to push for a quicker resolution to all allegations of abuse. At present it takes upwards of four years for the Church to make a decision as to the truth of an accusation. We must speed up this process so that all victims and priests may receive swift justice,” said Fox.

National Review Board issues Five-year Report on Church Handling of clergy sex abuse of Minors. Frank Douglas comments.

From PRNewswire-USNewswire, 12.13.2007.





My comments are in red. [brackets]



* * *

National Review Board Issues Five-Year Report on Church Handling of Clergy Sex Abuse of Minors



WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Review
Board (NRB), a lay body appointed by the president of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to review the church’s handling of
the sexual abuse of minors by clerics, cited accomplishments and challenges
in a five-year report made public December 13.

Judge Michael R. Merz, NRB chair, commended church efforts to date, but
said the problem is complex.


[You can be sure that if Judge Merz didn’t commend the bishops’ effort to date, the bishops would replace him in a New York minute.]


“Church efforts for prevention, healing, and vigilance will be demanded
for the rest of our days,” Judge Merz said. “The price of this crime is
steep both in the pain felt by victims and the shadow cast on the
reputation of innocent Catholic priests. Most priests never have abused a
child or even someone’s trust in them, but they bear shame by association.
It’s not right, but that’s the fact.”


“Bishops have taken a strong approach to dealing with this crisis,”
Judge Merz said. “Sexual abuse of children is not a problem in the church
alone, but bishops as moral leaders must stand in the forefront of
protecting children. The NRB is proud to collaborate with the bishops in
the protection of children and young people.”


[The judge repeats the bishops’ sickening argument that “everybody does it.”


It is patently untrue that the bishops have taken a strong approach. The vast majority of them have not published the names of perpetrators and those credibly accused on diocesan websites. The vast majority have not visited parishes where abuse has taken place. The bishops have made no attempt to bring religious orders (Jesuits, Dominicans, Salesians, etc.) under the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, inadequate though it may be.]


The report is addressed to the U.S. Catholic faithful and is “a record
of accomplishments, unfinished work, and challenges that lie ahead,” it
said. The report praised the USCCB audit process by which “dioceses and
eparchies have been audited to assure the implementation and maintenance of
the standards established” in the Charter for the Protection of Children
and Young People, which the bishops created in 2002.

“Those audits provide substantial evidence of the bishops’ efforts to
protect children and respond to the abuses of the past and present. As of
2006, 98 percent of the dioceses and eparchies are participating in the
audits. Those audited are in full compliance with the standards” set for
the audits, the report said.



[The audits are a sham. They are managed and controlled by the bishops. If the bishops were really serious about protecting children, they would allow audits by an independent agency. The audits are a tool of the bishops to continue the cover up.]


The report also noted that “over six million children have participated
in educational programs and over 1.6 million background investigations have
taken place” as part of diocesan safe environment programs.


[The focus should not be on children, but on priests, bishops, and seminarians. Why have we heard nothing from the NRB about sexually active priests and bishops? Why have we heard nothing about what is being done in seminaries, particularly in the “purple palaces” where many have reported overt and extensive sexual activity taking place among seminarians with participation by some seminary faculty?]


However, the NRB urged an expansion of the audits to measure “the
quality of the work that the dioceses and parishes are doing.”

“The Board is encouraging the USCCB to do random audits of the parishes
and to work toward establishing best practices in educational programs,
victim care, background checks, and investigation of allegations,” the
report said. “During 2007, to provide a model to study for the future, a
number of dioceses volunteered to pilot audits at the parish level. The NRB
fully supports and encourages these parish audits.”

The report cited six challenges which the Board said “are not easily
resolved since they involve extremely complex issues.”

“One of the most significant issues is the need for a greater
understanding of victimization and its consequences. Discussions with
victims provide evidence of serious needs that still must be addressed in
order for the victims and their families to find the healing that they
need,” the report said.

“Another set of issues relates to the relationship of the Church to its
priests, the vast majority of whom are not involved in the scandal, but
many of whom feel alienated from both the bishops and the laity.” In
addition, “there is a particular need to provide appropriate protection and
restoration for those accused but later found innocent.”


[Is it really true that the vast majority of them were not involved in the scandal? How many priests knew of brother priests who spent inordinate time with young boys? How many knew of brother priests who habitually brought young boys to their rooms in the rectory?]




The board called for “greater speed in the process of determining
credibility of allegations and consequent responses, as well as
determination of an appropriate role for the Church in the supervision of
offenders.”



[Offenders are criminals. Why is there no mention here of the proper and appropriate involvement of the police and other appropriate law enforcement agencies?]



It also noted that parishes “also become victims of sexual abuse.
Members of parishes experience both a sense of betrayal or outrage over
accusations that lead to the removal of a pastor or associate. Often
parishioners do not know how to respond to victims and their families and
agonize over the lengthy process of determining appropriate responses. This
is an area that needs much more attention.”


[The outrage and sense of betrayal should be over the criminal acts of the perpetrators, not removal of the perpetrator from a parish.]



The NRB also cited the need to keep church members better informed on
the positive responses the Bishops have made and more active observers of
the programs and processes in their parishes and dioceses.

“Such communication is vitally important since the work of the National
Review Board is strengthened by vigilant parents and parishioners who
investigate the presence and quality of the programs in their parishes and
dioceses,” the report said. “The obligation to provide safe environments
that prevent damage to children, young people, families, parishes,
dioceses, and the Church rests with all Catholics.”


[The obligation to provide safe environments will rest with all Catholics when all Catholics have access to information about allegations of sexual abuse against priests, bishops, and seminarians. Currently only bishops have such access. Thus in the secrecy-obsessed culture of the hierarchy the obligation rests only with the bishops. Experience has shown that the bishops, their counterparts in the religious orders (the religious superiors; the provincials) AND THE POPE CANNOT BE TRUSTED.]

The full report can be found on the Web at
http://www.usccb.org/nrb/nrbreport2007.pdf.


SOURCE U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Chaplains, sexual abuse and what the military knows.

Ensign P. recalls struggling during his third year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. His mother was dying of an illness back home, and his grades dropped so low in 2004 he was put on academic probation. Raised a Roman Catholic, the 20-year-old cadet started counseling with a military chaplain, Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Thomas Mathew Lee. When Lee invited him to dinner off campus, Ensign P. thought it was an honor—officers don't usually socialize with Academy students. In fact, it was an ambush. Lee took the cadet to his apartment after dinner, poured him rounds of beer and Scotch, then began undoing the man's pants. Testifying softly in a military court earlier this month, Ensign P. said the chaplain engaged him in oral sex. Though he asked Lee to stop, for a few dreadful moments he felt too stunned to move: "This is a guy who knows all my darkest secrets."

More than 2,700 military chaplains minister to U.S. servicemen and cadets on bases around the world. Like that between psychologists and their patients, the dynamic between chaplains and the men and women they counsel tends to be marked by an imbalance of power. Chaplains often outrank the people who go to them for help and exert a spiritual authority that, as in Lee's case, can be exploited. During 11 years in the military, Lee sexually abused at least three men, according to his own admission (all three were identified in court only by their ranks and an initial). A judge at Marine Base Quantico in Virginia this month sentenced him to 12 years in prison and discharge without pay or benefits (under a plea agreement, he will serve only two years). In a disturbing twist, Lee is HIV-positive and admits to withholding that information even from men with whom he had consensual sex.

But while the vast majority of chaplains minister dutifully, Lee isn't the only sinner. According to court filings and an archive recently published by the group Bishop Accountability, up to 60 military chaplains have been convicted or at least are strongly suspected of committing sexual abuse over the past four decades, sometimes against the kids of military personnel. Their cases are a side act to the broader scandal of sex-abusing priests in the Catholic Church. But there may be a correlation. In a number of the cases reviewed by NEWSWEEK involving Catholic chaplains, complaints of sexual abuse were made to their churches well before they joined the military, but were never brought to the military's attention. "I've seen many instances where men were encouraged or allowed to go into the military and their own bishop did not disclose that they had something suspicious in their past," says Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest and former Air Force chaplain.




Doyle might be the country's most knowledgeable source on the priest sex scandals. In the mid-1980s, he coauthored an internal report for the church on its molestation problem, and has since served as an expert witness in dozens of cases, including that of Michael Miglini of Dallas. Miglini describes being raped when he was just 14 by a military chaplain who had previously served as the pastor in his church and remained friends with the family. After getting therapy in college, Miglini brought a civil suit that was ultimately settled against the Dallas Diocese, the Military Vicariate and the chaplain. In the process, his lawyer uncovered complaints made against the chaplain by other church members that the military says it never saw.

For some victims, it can take years to realize they were exploited. Susan Loomans was a troubled cadet at the Air Force Academy in Colorado when she sought help from a Catholic chaplain. In their first session in 1985, he had her sit on his lap. (Loomans and Miglini are among only a few victims who talk publicly about their ordeals; most aren't named in court filings.) Within weeks, she says, he'd compelled her to engage in a sexual relationship that lasted nearly two years. Most of the time, Loomans thought what they were having was an illicit relationship. It wasn't until she returned to the Academy as faculty, and saw how vulnerable first-year cadets are, that she realized he'd manipulated the power differential.

So far, there's no suggestion that Lee, 42, engaged in sexual abuse before going on active duty in 1996. Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where he served as an associate pastor, says no church would knowingly refer sexual abusers to the military. "Under the policies of virtually every diocese, they would have to attest that someone is in good standing and can serve as a priest," Gibbs tells NEWSWEEK. In court, Lee said little about his past but explained why one of his victims, Cpl. M., succumbed to his advances. "He felt intimidated by my rank and position," the chaplain said. But Cpl. M. also felt mad. Within weeks, he reported the incident to officers at Quantico, who carted Lee to jail.

© 2007 Newsweek, Inc.