By Steve Bartlett
The Telegram
February 1, 2011
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2011-02-01/article-2187991/%26lsquo%3BThere%26rsquo%3Bs-no-closure-for-them.-They%26rsquo%3Bre-hurting%26rsquo%3B-/1
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The head of the Archdiocese of St. John's wants outstanding claims against Father James Hickey dealt with as soon as possible.
"There's nothing that I want more than to have these things settled, nothing I want more," Archbishop Martin Currie said Monday.
He was responding to a Weekend Telegram story about the 12 unsettled claims against the pedophile priest, who was sentenced to five years for sexually abusing teenaged boys in 1988 and has been dead since 1992.
In the article, the St. John's lawyer who represents the dozen victims complained about the "snail's pace" of resolution.
Greg Stack said the church's legal representatives were dragging the claims out. He said he didn't know why, and wondered if the Vatican had sent the archdiocese a letter in 1997, the year the majority of claims against Hickey were settled and the year Rome reportedly sent correspondence to Irish bishops asking them not to report sexual abusers to police.
Stack also spoke of the toll Hickey's abuse has taken on some victims.
Their suffering isn't lost on the archdiocese, which sent a detailed letter to this reporter Sunday and then made Currie available for an interview Monday.
"Our concern and compassion for the victims in this case is paramount," reads the letter from Father Francis Puddister, a vicar general.
Currie, who said he has met with many of the victims, expressed similar sentiments.
"The ones that I have talked to ... not only lost their childhood, they lost their manhood, because it continues on into manhood with them," he said.
"They were robbed and that pain, in some way we need to try to help them."
The archbishop added, "There's no closure for them. They're hurting. And then when one or two gets settled then why aren't the other ones getting settled? That's the question they ask."
The answer, according to Puddister's letter, is that settlement for a number of Hickey's victims was postponed as the archdiocese took legal action against its insurer to secure compensation for the victims.
"(Our counsel) has prepared all the documents and I think the documents have gone to the court," Currie elaborated.
"It's a very active matter. We're waiting for a settlement on it."
Once that proceeding is out of the way, Currie said, he hopes a number of the claims will be settled easily.
The archbishop admitted the situation is frustrating for him, that when he was appointed in 2007, he hoped all these matter would have clewed up by now.
He said there was a broken trust that caused a lot of pain and settling the claims would show the church's willingness to help restore victims' lives to as close to normal as possible.
Currie thinks reaching settlements would also help the church move on.
He said some parishioners hope the claims will soon be out of the way and the healing process can continue.
However, he acknowledged that others remain angry the abuse happened and that it's taken so long to deal with.
"There's pain, there's anger, disillusionment," he said. "It's a broken trust, and they want us to move forward in hope."
Currie admitted the healing has been hampered by the lingering litigation.
"You think you're making inroads, you think you're getting somewhere and, then all of a sudden, something else pops up, and it stirs everything up again. That's why I pray and hope that someday we'll be able to say 'it's all over with and let's move forward.'"
Currie and Puddister also addressed Stack's suggestion the Vatican may have written a letter to the archdiocese around 1997.
Neither are aware of any such correspondence, and stressed no knowledge of any letter suggesting abuse not be reported, as is required by law.
To further his point on that, Puddister cited portions from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops' original and updated document on reporting child sexual abuse.
"From Pain to Hope" was issued in 1992 and updated in 2007.
Currie — who said the letter to the Irish priests was from a senior church official, not necessarily the Vatican — noted the reporting protocol is followed rigorously.
He noted there is a multi-disciplinary committee — which includes a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a parent and priest — in place in St. John's to deal with any allegations and investigations.
As well, he added, anyone who works with young people goes through a screening process.
"We're trying to put (things) in place to make our environment as safe as humanly possible," Currie said.
He estimated the archdiocese has paid out between 10 and 12 million dollars to date on settlements with abuse victims.
He doesn't know how much it would cost to settle the dozen that remain.
The agreed upon amount is often much different than the figure originally sought, Currie said.
Contact: sbartlett@thetelegram.com
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