By Minhaj Hassan
Daily Record
April 8, 2010
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100408/UPDATES01/304080015/1005/NEWS01/Victims++group++Diocese+head+s+role+in+priest+s+transfer+should+get+papal+review
[link to documents]
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| Attorney Adam Horowitz leads anews conference outside the Newark Archdiocese with members of SNAP |
NEWARK — A group representing victims of alleged priest abuse called on Thursday for a papal investigation of allegations focusing on the role of Bishop Arthur Serratelli, now head of the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese, in the transfer of a priest from Newark to Florida years ago.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, asked for the probe as it held a press conference in front of the Newark Archdiocese headquarters to announce the settlement of a lawsuit filed by a 55-year-old Florida woman against the Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Orlando, Fla.
The suit involved the Newark-to-Florida transfer of a priest, who had been accused of sexual harassment in New Jersey and then subsequently was accused of sexually assaulting the woman who filed the suit. The priest pleaded guilty to aggravated stalking and other charges in the case and was placed on probation.
The amount of the settlement of the suit was confidential, according to the woman's attorneys, who released details from the lawsuit, including a letter from Serratelli recommending the priest to the church in the Diocese of Orlando.
Ken Mullaney, attorney for the Paterson Diocese, denied that Serratelli knew about the accusations of harrasment when he wrote a letter recommending the priest to the Florida parish. Serratelli was not named in the suit.
A lawyer for the Florida woman and members of SNAP accused Serratelli, who worked in the Newark Archdiocese before coming to Paterson where he is the leader of a diocese that includes Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties, of knowingly transfering a man with "dangerous sexual propensities." They called on Pope Benedict to investigate how the matter was handled. They also said that the priest, formerly known as the Rev. Wladyslaw Gorak, has legally changed his name to Walter Fisher, has never been laicized and remains a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark.
Newark Archdiocese officials were not immediately available to comment on the suit.
The Rev. Walter Fisher, 51, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in August 2007 to four years of probation for aggravated stalking, burglary and false imprisonment after being charged in October 2004 with sexually assaulting a woman who was a member of the Church of the Resurrection in Lakeland, Fla.
Fisher, when he was known as Wladyslaw Gorak, was a Catholic priest ordained in Poland in 1982. He was employed by the Archdiocese in Newark and assigned to numerous parishes from 1998 to 2003.
"From virtually the outset of his employment with the Archdiocese of Newark, his supervisors and persons with authority within the Archdiocese of Newark became aware that Father Gorak (Fisher) had a problem concerning sexual aggression with women," the lawsuit alleges. A Dec. 28, 1998, memo about Fisher written by his pastor said there had been three conversations with the priest about inappropriate behavior with women and cited a specific incident of unwanted physical contact between the priest and a female member of the church. The memo was written by the church's pastor, Rev. Ronald Marczewski, who kept the document in the church's file as a record of his conversation with then Archbishop Theodore McCarrick about Fisher, according to attorney Jessica Arbour, one of the attorneys representing the woman.
The suit said that despite these incidents, the Rev. Arthur Serratelli, who was working for the Newark Diocese at the time, wrote a recommendation for Fisher in April 2004 that said: "I have reviewed the personnel file and other records that we maintain, and I have consulted with some who have served with him in previous assignments. Based on this review, I assure you to the best of my ability that Reverend Wladyslaw Gorak is a person of good moral character and reputation, and is qualified to serve in an effective and suitable manner in any diocese that welcomes him."
Mullaney said that the memo was not part of the priest's personnel file when Serratelli wrote the letter.
"Bishop Serratelli wrote a letter to Florida that was true and accurate based on the information contained in the Archdiocese files," Mullaney said. "Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect."
He said the memo about the priest referenced in the lawsuit was discovered much later and was not part of the files Serratelli reviewed before writing his letter.
At the press conference, attorney Adam Horowitz, who also represented the 55-year-old Florida woman, was accompanied by Mark Crawford, director of SNAP and four other members of the organization, as they called for anyone abused by Fisher or any other priest to come forward.
Minhaj Hassan: 973-428-6628; mhassan@gannett.com
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