Fraud Lawsuit Filed against Sisters of Mercy Sister Norma Giannini Released after Serving 1 Year in Jail, WISN, May 19, 2009

Fraud Lawsuit Filed against Sisters of Mercy
Sister Norma Giannini Released after Serving 1 Year in Jail

WISN
May 19, 2009

http://www.wisn.com/news/19510472/detail.html

MILWAUKEE — One of the men victimized as a child by a Catholic nun in Milwaukee has filed a civil suit against her religious order.

The case revolves around Sister Norma Giannini, who was recently released from jail.

She served a year after being convicted of sexually abusing boys at a south side church in the 1960s.

The lawsuit claims she'd done the same thing in Chicago before she was ever transferred to Milwaukee and that her religious order knew it.

It's been 40 years since Jerry Kobs and Jim St. Patrick roamed the halls at St. Patrick's grade school on Milwaukee's south side, but they said the pain of the sexual abuse they endured at the hands of their teacher Sister Norma Giannini is still fresh.

Sister Norma Giannini

"We need something to help us get some type of closure, some type of end, where we see some light at the end of this, because as it stands now, it's gotten worse and worse," Kobs said.

Though Giannini recently served a year in jail, Kobs said that isn't enough.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Milwaukee County Court, accuses Giannini's religious order, the Sisters of Mercy, of fraud.

Subpoenas were served in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Omaha on Wednesday morning accusing the Sisters of Mercy of failing to warn families at St. Patrick's that she was a danger.

Part of the lawsuit reads, "Particularly, defendant Sisters of Mercy knew that Norma Giannini was a child molester and knew that Norma Giannini was a danger to children before Giannini molested plaintiff."

Both men said that had their parents been told of Giannini's alleged prior sexual assault of a boy in Chicago they never would have allowed them to be near her.

"We need something to help us get some type of closure, some type of end, where we see some light at the end of this, because as it stands now, it's gotten worse and worse,"

- Jerry Knobs, victim

"You have to remember how it was the 60s. They were like angels. That's how I was programmed to think they were. So to think an angel would do that to a small child, the thought wouldn't even, yeah," St. Patrick said.

Shortly before she was released, 12 News confronted Giannini who said that she could say a lot of things but wouldn't. Giannini said she didn't feel free to answer any questions.

Giannini is living with a relative just off Lake Drive in Milwaukee, awaiting the transfer of her probation to Illinois.

Knob said he wants the Sisters of Mercy to at least cover his bills for counseling, but even that has been sporadic, if at all.

"We had all those years of Catholic education to do the right thing and be held accountable, but they have their own set of rules," Knobs said.

The suit claims the Sisters of Mercy put Giannini in psychological therapy for two years after she molested a boy at St. Ann's Parish in Chicago in 1962. Then she was transferred to St. Patrick's in Milwaukee. In a statement, the head of the Sisters of Mercy told 12 News, "The Sisters of Mercy have not received any documents and have no knowledge of this lawsuit or complaint. We will continue to cooperate in this matter."

The suit doesn't specify a damage amount, saying the damages should be determined at trial.