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  20 More Catholic Bishops Served in Unprecedented Child Molestation Lawsuit

Yahoo!
November 1, 2006

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061101/nyw259.html?.v=1

Bishops served in AL, CA, FL, ID, IN, LA, MI, MN, NV, NY, PA, RI, TN, and TX

It Seeks Names of Accused Abusive Clergy Kept Secret by Church Officials

ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- 178 Catholic Bishops have been named as defendants in an unprecedented civil child sex abuse lawsuit brought by the family of a murdered Wisconsin man. The following Bishops have recently been served with the lawsuit, bringing the total number served to 158.

    Oscar Lipscomb, Archdiocese of Mobile (AL)
    Tod Brown, Diocese of Orange (CA)
    Daniel Walsh, Diocese of Santa Rosa (CA)
    Patrick McGrath, Diocese of San Jose in CA
    George Niederauer, Archdiocese of San Francisco (CA)
    John Ricard, Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee (FL)
    John Favalora, Archdiocese of Miami (FL)
    Michael Driscoll, Diocese of Boise (ID)
    John D'Arcy, Fiocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend (IN)
    Alfred C. Hughes, Archdiocese of New Orleans (LA)
    William Friend, Diocese of Shreveport (LA)
    Carl Mengeling, Diocese of Lansing (MI)
    Harry Flynn, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis (MN)
    Randolph Calvo, Diocese of Reno (NV)
    William Murphy, Diocese of Rockville Centre (NY)
    James Moynihan, Diocese of Syracuse (NY)
    Paul Bradley, Diocese of Pittsburgh (PA)
    Thomas Tobin, Diocese of Providence (RI)
    J. Terry Steib, Diocese of Memphis (TN)
    Alvaro Corrada del Rio, Diocese of Tyler (TX)
The lawsuit, which seeks no monetary damages, was filed in August in St. Croix County Circuit Court, Wisconsin (Court File No.06CV581) The lawsuit asks a state judge to force all of America's Catholic bishops and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to disclose the names of roughly 5,000 proven, admitted and credibly accused abusive priests in the US. The suit is being brought by the family of Dan O'Connell of Wisconsin, who, along with a co-worker, was shot and killed in February 2002 by a suspected pedophile priest who also owned guns and pornography.

After a two year police investigation a judicial hearing determined that the crimes were committed by Father Ryan Erickson of the Diocese of Superior (WI). O'Connell had uncovered information about the priest molesting children. After police interrogated him about the murders, Erickson committed suicide in December 2004. Further investigation revealed that Superior church officials had been aware of Erickson's erratic and questionable behavior and ordained him anyway.

The O'Connell family vowed to "make something good" come from the double murders and push for a five point reform plan to prevent future abuse. But in numerous attempts to work with the Catholic leaders the O'Connells have found little support or response, and they reluctantly filed this suit.

After considerable research and meeting with experts and victims across the country, the family believes church officials have made only minimal reforms and aren't abiding by their own policies on abuse.

They have also created a website, www.crusadeagainstclergyabuse.com, to further educate the public about the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

 
 
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