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	Compensation for Clerical Sexual Abuse Victims - Victims to Initiate Civil Proceedings By Francesca Vella Malta Independent September 25, 2011 http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=132648 ‘I am disappointed, surprised and disgusted’ - Lawyer The lawyer representing the group of victims of sexual abuse by priests has reacted to the Archbishop’s Curia’s decision to refuse the possibility of financial compensation for the victims, saying he is “disappointed, surprised and disgusted”. He said the victims would wait for the decision with respect to the appeal filed by the two priests who were convicted last month before initiating civil proceedings against the Curia, the Missionary Society of St Paul and the two priests, one of whom has been defrocked. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Curia said: “…the Church, as an institution, does not have any legal responsibility for what was perpetrated by some individuals and that she cannot take upon herself such responsibility”. Addressing a press conference outside the Archbishop’s Curia yesterday morning, lawyer Patrick Valentino said that the Church is stripping the victims of their humanity and treating them as objects. Initially, some of the victims wanted to organise a protest and even turned up outside the Curia holding posters with messages such as “Only in Malta. No compensation” and “Abused by priests and now… by the bishops”. But after a heated discussion with Dr Valentino, they decided not to use the posters. Their lawyer urged them not to use such messages and ordered photographers and cameramen not to publish and broadcast images of the posters. Flanked by the victims, the lawyer then proceeded to read a statement: “These victims were entrusted to the care of priests in a Church institution and ended up being scarred for life”. He said he was surprised that the Curia seemed to have retracted from the “profound sorrow” expressed by the Maltese bishops in a statement issued the day after two priests, defrocked Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri, both members of the MSSP, were sentenced to six and five years in prison respectively for sexually abusing 11 young boys in their care at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera. The men were granted bail as their lawyers filed an appeal. Dr Valentino noted: “The Church said Mr Pulis and Fr Scerri are personally responsible for what happened. I am surprised that the Church has again used the word ‘allegations’ when Mr Pulis was defrocked by the Vatican. That decision was certainly not based on ‘allegations’”. The lawyer said it was disappointing that the Church seemed to be disregarding its pastoral and spiritual mission in this particular case. It seems irrelevant to the Maltese Church that one of the victims was certified by a psychiatrist as being incapable of holding down a job, or that another one cannot even get himself to leave the house or go to work because he is paranoid that people will comment about him, he said. He also mentioned a particular victim who has never managed to wash his children because he is obsessed that he would be abusing them, as well as other victims who cannot sleep at night because they cannot stop thinking about the abuse they had suffered. “Is it also irrelevant to the Maltese Church that there are victims who would like to take a pill to forget what they’ve been through once and for all? Or that one particular victim had to leave the courtroom to vomit when the priests’ judgement was being read out?” Dr Valentino said the Church is obliged to help anyone who is in need, let alone people who were entrusted to the care of priests in one of the Church’s institutions, and who ended up being abused. He noted that such cases have been dealt with in a different way by the Church in other countries. In similar, if not identical, cases abroad the Church disregarded legal arguments and instead focused on the individuals, he said, adding that the financial compensation given to victims in other countries helped them rebuild their lives in a way that enabled them to distance themselves from their horrible past. Only financial compensation can act as a real turning point in the victims’ lives, he said, adding that the victims deserve this incentive as a means of lessening the burden of the abuse they had suffered and the consequences they still suffer every day. The lawyer noted the Curia’s offer to pay for the services of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers – which some of the victims already receive free of charge by means of assistance from the government and from non-governmental organisations – saying that this was a good thing. “However, this doesn’t make sense, when the Church has said it is not legally responsible,” said Dr Valentino, pointing out that it indicates that the Church is accepting some form of responsibility.
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