| BishopAccountability.org | ||
| Advocates Criticize Bishop, Diocese By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald May 20, 2008 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/NEWS04/805200373 [with link to pastoral letter from Bishop Salvatore Matano] A national support group for people sexually abused by priests is blasting Vermont's Catholic Church for appealing an $8.7 million jury verdict in a recent clergy misconduct trial. "When a corporation knowingly hides the flaws in dangerous products and hurts unsuspecting consumers, no CEO tries to escape responsibility by saying, 'I've reformed and won't do it again,'" the leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests wrote in a letter to this newspaper. "Nor can the CEO of a nonprofit that deliberately risks others' safety say, 'But ours is a nonprofit that helps people. Don't make us pay a fine.'" The statement came as Vermont Bishop Salvatore Matano released his own letter to the state's 118,000 Catholics in response to the state-record verdict and 24 similar lawsuits pending against the church. "While regretting that legal options still must be considered, the amount awarded in this present case seriously challenges the diocese in its ability to resolve the remaining cases and, therefore, does merit review," Matano wrote priests and parishioners. Vermont's largest religious denomination is appealing the verdict in the Chittenden Superior Court case of Perry Babel, a 40-year-old Burlington native who sued the church for negligence in hiring a known pedophile priest who fondled him as an altar boy 40 to 100 times.
Media:
Pastoral Letter from Bishop Matano (PDF docs/172kb)
On May 13, a jury awarded Babel $950,000 in compensatory damages and $7,750,000 in punitive damages for his civil claims that the diocese failed to protect him from the former Rev. Edward Paquette. "Again, I apologize to these victims," Matano began his letter, which is posted on the diocese's Web site, www.vermontcatholic. org. "I pray one day we will meet and achieve reconciliation." But Barbara Blaine and David Clohessy, leaders of the survivors' network known as SNAP, said the diocese doesn't practice what it preaches. In their own letter, they asked how the bishop could "claim that his organization shouldn't face consequences for decades of recklessness, secrecy and deceit surrounding hundreds of horrific child sex crimes by clergy?" "Within hours of the verdict, Matano vowed to fight it," they wrote. "He could accept responsibility, admit wrongdoing and make genuine reforms to prevent future crimes and cover-ups. Instead, he's pointing fingers, shifting blame and making excuses." Specifically, SNAP is upset at how church lawyers have questioned child abuse victims in court about their adult sexual histories. "Why does Matano tolerate hard-ball legal maneuvers by his defense lawyers?" Blaine and Clohessy wrote. "One church attorney's excesses caused a judge to harshly criticize him and declare a mistrial, possibly deterring other victims from coming forward and certainly rubbing even more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of a clergy sex abuse victim." They also questioned why the diocese waited four months before telling authorities about misconduct allegations it received in 2005 against the Rev. Stephen Nichols, a northern Vermont priest who went on to plead guilty to charges that he fondled an 18-year-old man after buying him beer. "Because of this disturbing and persistently callous track record," Blaine and Clohessy wrote, "these 12 unbiased men and women were right to send a strong signal that neither child sex crimes by predators nor ongoing complicity by officials will go unpunished." This isn't the first time SNAP has targeted the Vermont diocese and bishop. Two years ago, the group criticized Matano for what he said upon placing more than 120 local churches into charitable trusts: "In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault." The bishop later said he wasn't referring to accusers but to "a legal system that sometimes places us in a position where we can't really reach out in justice to all parties." SNAP held a protest outside the bishop's Burlington office last August after Matano spoke about the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People but failed to mention that the Vermont diocese was one of the last two in the nation to fully comply, even though it received repeated warnings over five years. In response to the latest SNAP statement, the diocese pointed out a few errors, such as the fact that Matano has been bishop for less than three years and not six as written by Blaine and Clohessy. The diocese noted it has been in "complete compliance" with U.S. Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People since June 30 and added it "has ministered and continues to minister to victims of abuse, and the bishop is actively engaged in meeting with some who have requested." Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com |
||
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution. | ||