By John Appleton
The Republican
May 18, 2011
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/greenfield_lawyer_calls_report.html
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| Greenfield lawyer John Stobierski, who says he has more than 100 clients who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, call a report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on clergy abuse "hogwash." |
A report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states that incidents of sexual abuse by priests increased dramatically between the 1960s and mid-1980s before declining, and “The increased frequency of abuse is consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during the 1960s and 1970s.”
John J. Stobierski, a Greenfield lawyer who said he has more than 100 clients who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, calls the report “hogwash.”
“What they should have looked at is ‘Why did the hierarchy let this kind of behavior continue?’ ” Stobierski said. “Why did they put the interests of the institution over the interests of the children.”
Regarding the statements in the report that there was an increase in the number of reported cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests that coincided with “increased deviance of society,” Stobierski said, “I think it is hogwash to try to blame the '60s for this.”
The 156-page report, “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010,” was researched and written by the John Jay College Research Team, headed by Karen J. Terry.
It was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and released Wednesday.
In a statement accompanying the release of the report, the conference of bishops said the researchers found “that situational factors and opportunity to abuse played a significant role in the onset and continuation of abusive acts.”
The bishops statement quoted Terry saying, “The bulk of cases occurred decades ago,” and “The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s was consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society during that time.”
The Republican requested comments Wednesday from Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, or any other appropriate diocesan spokesperson, but there were no responses to the requests.
Terry presented the report in Washington Wednesday to Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., who chairs the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.
The conference of bishops quoted Cupich saying that the report shows “what we are doing works” in addressing child sexual abuse.
“The Catholic Church has taken a position of zero tolerance of any cleric who would sexually abuse a child,” Cupich was quoted as saying by the bishops conference.
“The shame of failing our people will remain with us for a long time. It should. Its sting can keep us resolute in our commitments and humble so as to never forget the insight we came to nearly a decade ago in Dallas,” Cupich said.
Responding to the statistics in the report indicating that the number of reports of sexual abuse by Catholic priests peaked in the 1970s and 1980s and has since declined, Stobierski said, “I think the vast majority of victims never report their abuse. For a man who was molested as a little boy, it is rare that anyone reports it under the age of 40. Most of the reports come when a man is seasoned enough to realize it wasn’t his fault.”
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