By Sandi Dolbee
Union-Tribune
September 9, 2007
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070909-9999-1n9lowry.html
It was all over except the shouting.
The $198.1 million settlement of childhood sexual abuse lawsuits against the San Diego Catholic diocese was just a nod or two away when some of the dozens of attorneys for the victims began to argue among themselves over what their clients should receive.
Voices were raised. Heated words were exchanged.
Guy Lowry, who said he was repeatedly sodomized decades ago at a Catholic orphanage in Mission Valley, felt himself growing more and more distressed as he watched tensions mount Thursday night inside a federal courtroom.
 |
| Guy Lowry |
"I told every single one of those people off," Lowry said. "I got up and walked out."
It had been nearly eight hours since the marathon mediation session monitored by Magistrate Judge Leo Papas began at noon.
Lowry, 48, of Temecula left the federal building in San Diego in tears and hugged his pregnant wife, who was waiting outside. Then he returned to the courtroom – and a more reserved atmosphere – for more hours of trying to hammer out a deal.
Papas spent much of that night in his adjoining office, summoning clusters of victims' attorneys for talks and telephoning the diocese and its representatives for last-minute input on final terms.
Yesterday, Lowry relived what happened in the closed mediation summit that on Friday ended four years of legal fighting. A bigger sticking point than the money that will compensate the 144 victims who had sued the diocese, Lowry said, was which documents the church would release about abusive priests and employees and how the church had dealt with them.
Lowry is on the creditors' committee, selected by attorneys to represent all the victims in the diocese's six-month-old case before a federal bankruptcy judge. He was in Papas' courtroom as a victim and an advocate.
As he thought back to Thursday night, Lowry said he realizes that the lawyers were just doing their job. They were fighting for the men and women who had been sexually abused as minors by priests and church workers.
"I admire every last one of those guys," Lowry said.
There would be no deal Thursday night. Papas, who had shepherded the mediation sessions beginning in June, sent everyone home to sleep on it.
They returned at 8:30 a.m. Friday. "To see how they overcame their differences – people gave in and solutions were created," Lowry said. "They went back in (to his office) and told the judge, 'We're done.' "
By 11:30 a.m., both sides had finalized a settlement with a two-page announcement: $198.1 million to be paid to 144 victims, with the bulk coming from the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego and its insurance carrier, Catholic Mutual.
San Diego lawyer Irwin Zalkin, who represents several victims, gave an emotional speech to a crowd inside Papas' office, thanking the judge for his hundreds of hours of time.
Everybody applauded – and Papas started to cry.
"I shook his hand and told him he'd always have a place in my heart," Lowry said.
When he woke up yesterday, Lowry felt it was the first day of a new life. "You no longer have to live with something and not be believed."
His abuse began 38 years ago at age 10. After his parents divorced, his mother sent him and his two sisters to Nazareth House, an orphanage and school near Mission San Diego de Alcala. According to Nazareth School's Web site, the orphanage is closed.
Lowry said a male worker who helped the nuns look after the children was his abuser. The sexual abuse went on for two years. At one point, Lowry said, he mustered the courage to tell a nun. "She said don't make up stories, and she never did anything about it."
Lowry buried the trauma until the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal swept across the country five years ago.
His lawsuit was filed in 2003, when California temporarily waived the statute of limitations for these kinds of sexual abuse claims. Before the year was out, Catholic dioceses up and down the state were facing hundreds of claims.
Lowry, who works as plumbing inspector and consultant, got married in February 2003. He and his wife thought the lawsuit would take a year to be resolved. Instead, on Feb. 27, two weeks after their fourth anniversary, the San Diego diocese filed for bankruptcy protection. Lowry's lawsuit and more than 120 others were put on hold.
Months passed as bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler wrestled with the diocese about its finances. She also pushed both sides to begin mediation sessions with Papas.
Lowry said a turning point came when Papas called San Diego Bishop Robert Brom and got him directly involved in negotiations, which were being supervised by diocese in-house counsel Micheal Webb. Lowry isn't sure when the call was made. Officials said in their settlement statement that they could not discuss the confidential mediation sessions.
The average payout will be $1.38 million per person, though Lowry said he probably won't know until next month how much he will receive. He expects to use some of the money to finish remodeling the couple's home and wants to put some in savings for his family, which includes a 13-year-old stepson, Kyle.
Lowry understands that many parishioners are upset about the money. He compares the payment of damages to being fined for running a stop sign. The fine, he said, is to try to ensure that the driver stops next time. "I think that's the basis of the legal system. We all get penalized if we break the law."
He bristles at criticism over how the victims' attorneys are likely to collect 30 percent to 40 percent of the awards. "We hired them. We chose what to pay them. And I think they're worth every penny," he said.
All this has not been easy on Cindy Lowry, 37.
On their coffee table is a Bible, which she reads for comfort and guidance. She doesn't go to church because her husband doesn't want anything to do with organized religion.
"His anger at religious institutions, more than God per se, burned a hole so deep that there was no way," she said.
Tears welled up behind Lowry's glasses as he listened to her. "With what Bishop Brom did, I might go (back to church) with you," he said.
Lowry is grateful to Brom, saying the bishop's cooperation was crucial.
He also was impressed with Brom's televised apology at a news conference Friday afternoon. "There's a tone to his voice that's different," Lowry said. "You feel there's sincerity there."
Lowry's faith in God may be slowly on the mend. When he was being raped, he said he would ask God why it was happening. When the abuse continued, Lowry stopped believing.
Now, he said, "I feel a goodness that I have not felt in a long time."
Sandi Dolbee: (619) 293-2082; sandi.dolbee@uniontrib.com.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.