Manhattan Beach Mother Files Sexual Abuse Lawsuit against Former American Martyrs Priest
By Carley Dryden
A Manhattan Beach woman has filed a lawsuit against a former priest from American Martyrs Catholic Church, alleging he sexually abused her while she was setting up a Mass. Kate Bergin also named the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the suit, announced Wednesday morning, claiming the church was negligent and failed to warn parishioners when it transferred the priest to another parish in Los Angeles late last year. Bergin said she would drop the lawsuit if Father Nicholas Assi is removed from ministry. “I don’t want to sue the church. I want to be able to go to church, but I can’t,” Bergin said through tears Wednesday outside American Martyrs. “It’s hypocrisy. They act like everything’s fine. It’s not. When something like this happens, they turn their backs.” Bergin claims that last April, while she was helping set up the altar for Mass on Holy Thursday, Assi came up behind her. “I never saw or heard him coming. He pressed his belly against my back and pushed me against the counter,” she said. “He put his hand under my shirt and sexually caressed my abdomen in slow, sensual circles, moving down my pants. His nose was taking my neck in. Then he said, ‘Hi, my darling.’ ” Bergin, a church parishioner since 2005 and a married mother of three children, was stunned. “It was revolting, disgusting and shocking to be sexually violated by a trusted male in a leadership role,” said Bergin, a board member for the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation and longtime community volunteer. “The emotional and physical pain, humiliation, fear and loneliness, it’s real. And no one should have to endure it.” Bergin said in December 2013, Assi had greeted her with a hug, put his nose in her neck, took deep breaths and “snuggled,” and Bergin immediately separated herself from him. In March 2014, while she was volunteering in the hall, Assi greeted her with a hug and kissed her on the lips, she said. Again, she pulled away. Two days after the alleged assault on Holy Thursday, she met with Monsignor John Berry, who told her, “I told him to use more discretion,” the lawsuit claimed. Over the next several months, she reached out to numerous archdiocese officials, hoping to have Assi removed from American Martyrs and the Catholic church. An investigator hired by the archdiocese interviewed Assi and later told Bergin, “He totally did it.” Assi even told the investigator to tell Bergin he was sorry if he had hurt her, the lawsuit said. But she was shunned and ignored by the archdiocese, Bergin said. A month after the incident, a paragraph in a church bulletin announced that Assi, who had been with the church since 2008, was placed on administrative leave as they investigated “an allegation of inappropriate conduct involving a female adult.” In December, parishioners were told that Assi, 66, had been moved to St. Basil Catholic Church in Koreatown. Bergin said the church simply moved the problem to a different parish. “I couldn’t look my children in the eye or live with myself if this ever happened again to a woman or a minor,” she said. “I pray that I am his only victim, but in my heart, I suspect there are others.” The statute of limitations for criminal charges runs out on April 17. Manhattan Beach Police Detective Michael Rosenberger said police investigated and presented their findings to the district attorney’s office, but so far, there has been insufficient evidence to file charges. Bergin’s attorney, Joseph George, urged any other victims of Assi to come forward immediately. George said Assi previously served at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Pomona and St. Pancratius Catholic Church in Lakewood. “Obviously, if another victim came forward with a similar allegation, that would lend some credence to the initial allegation,” Rosenberger said. “Our agency would bring that information to the D.A.’s office for consideration.” Rosenberger noted that while the standard for arrest is probable cause, the standard to file charges is the D.A.’s belief that they can convince 12 jurors beyond a reasonable doubt. Joelle Casteix has no doubt. “We know that Father Assi did not just learn how to sexually assault someone last year,” said Casteix, the western regional director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). “We are confident that there are other victims out there, other women who might not be as strong as Kate or are convinced they are the only one, their claims are not valid or they asked for it.” Casteix said victims of sexual assault, especially by priests, often are scared or embarrassed to come forward, as she was when she was abused at 15. “Nobody wants to stand here and say their church hurt them,” she said. “But Kate was put in a corner because the (archbishop) would not do the right thing.” An Archdiocese of Los Angeles spokeswoman said Assi was removed from ministry while police were investigating. They offered Bergin professional counseling and she declined. The archdiocese had no previous reports of misconduct prior to Bergin’s report or any similar complaints against Assi, said Monica Valencia, the director of media relations. Valencia said when the District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue charges, Assi was returned to the church as a priest in good standing. The archdiocese recently was made aware of additional details related to the incident that were not previously reported to the archdiocese, but Bergin declined further interviews, Valencia said. “Law enforcement informed the archdiocese that the information did not result in reopening the case. The case has since been closed,” she said. Bergin said she is not looking for financial damages and will immediately drop the suit if Assi is removed from ministry. “I will not perpetuate this cycle of abuse and let there be other victims,” she said. “It is not OK to have priests who prey on children, teenagers or adults.”
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