BishopAccountability.org
	Bishop Has Others' Respect By Kevin Eigelbach Cincinnati Post [Covington KY] June 13, 2005 When Roger Foys became the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in 2002, he had little experience with lawsuits involving priests who molested children. In fact, he told reporters then that the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, where he was serving as vicar general, or second-in-command, had not faced any. Foys soon had a big one to face, however, when Cincinnati lawyer Stan Chesley filed a class-action suit against the Diocese of Covington, a suit Foys agreed to settle early this month. Foys had his baptism under fire in the nation's first class-action suit on behalf of victims of priest sexual abuse, and agreed to the nation's largest settlement, potentially $120 million. Through his spokesman, Tim Fitzgerald, Foys declined an interview about the negotiating process. Foys told the diocesan newspaper, The Messenger, he was glad for a settlement that helped victims but kept the parishes and administrative functions of the diocese intact. Foys agreed to a major payout, but the diocese had a major problem. According to the diocese's own figures, over the years, nearly one out of 10 diocesan priests have been accused of some kind of sexual misconduct. That's a higher percentage than in the Archdiocese of Boston (7 percent), where news of the cover-up of priests' sins first reached the nation. It's a higher percentage than the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (5.8 percent) and the Archdiocese of Louisville (5.7 percent). According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the national average is about 4 percent. Thirty-five Covington priests have had allegations made against them. That's almost as many as the 38 in the Archdiocese of New York, which has 30 times as many Catholic households. About three-quarters of the incidents of abuse happened between 1960 and 1979, when Richard Ackerman was the bishop of Covington. But according to the diocese, most were reported in the 1990s. Although Foys didn't have anything to do with the priest-abuse mess, he has the job of cleaning it up. "Bishop Foys was dealt a very difficult hand when he came to Covington," said Carrie Huff, the Chicago attorney who represented the diocese in the case. "Even before he had a chance to get situated in his new role as bishop, he was faced with a multitude of sexual abuse claims and contentious litigation." Huff said Foys hit the ground running. He got personally involved in all the major settlement meetings and followed the negotiations closely, almost daily. He didn't hand off the negotiations to subordinates, as some other bishops have done. "Whenever we got hung up on particular issues, and the discussions were on the verge of breaking down, he would continually remind us that we were losing sight of the victims, who had already waited too long for a resolution," Huff said. She said she first met Foys in 1989, when he was vicar general in Steubenville, and he asked for her help in developing a sexual misconduct policy and in helping make priests aware of the issues. "I handled a few cases for him, all of which we were able to resolve," she said. "I really enjoyed working with him. He is very smart, sensible and has a terrific sense of humor." She has found her two years' worth of work on the class-action suit difficult and challenging, she said. "But there is really no one else I would rather do this for than Bishop Foys," she said. "I am completely committed to seeing him through this." The settlement wouldn't have happened, Chesley said, without the good faith and honest effort of Foys and his representatives. "The bishop has stood very tall," Chesley said. "While there were differences for quite some time, there was always civility in the talks and a desire to resolve the issues. He's a very stand-up person who wants to get this resolved once and for all. I have the highest respect for him." Attorneys involved in previous victims' settlements also have credited Foys' personal touch for persuading their clients to settle. For more than two days, he met with the clients of Lexington attorney Angela Ford, with whom the diocese settled a lawsuit with 27 victims for $5.2 million. "It had a dual impact," Ford said. "It assisted my clients in the healing process, and it gave exposure to the bishop of the trauma of actual victims." Foys gave direction and his assent to the agreement. "I think he is to be given a lot of credit," Ford said. "Many of my clients were not emotionally prepared to go through the trauma of a deposition and a trial." Two plaintiffs in the class-action suit dropped out after getting a personal apology from the bishop. "That apology meant a lot," said the former lead plaintiff in the suit, known only as Greg. He needed to tell his story to the bishop, he said. Another plaintiff, known as Becky, said although she wasn't a Catholic any longer, "it is helpful to hear the bishop say he was sorry." Covington attorney Barbara Bonar, who represented eight victims who settled cases against the diocese, has credited Foys' actions with being important factors in the settlements. The meetings were part of Foys' goal, as a pastor, to hear and respond to each victim personally and bring about reconciliation and peace, Huff has said. Even before he arrived in the diocese, Foys made a strong stand against priest sexual abuse. In his very first interview with The Post, he said, "Sex abuse of children is wrong, no matter who does it. ... It's a crime and it's a sin. I don't know what more to say. It needs to be addressed; it needs to be dealt with. It needs to be stopped." In June 2002, during his first visit to his new diocese, he told reporters that as far as he knew, a pedophile couldn't be rehabilitated. He also said he didn't think a priest had to be "notorious" or "serial" to have action taken against him. That same month, Foys attended the Dallas meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in which the bishops adopted national guidelines for protecting children and dealing with offending priests. During that conference, he and other bishops heard victims tell their stories. "I know they touched my heart, and I'm sure they touched the heart of every bishop there," he said at the time. At the end of his first year on the job, he told The Post that sex abuse cases hadn't taken up an inordinate amount of his time. "Although if it needed to, it would," he said. "That's obviously a priority. For me, it is."