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Back-to-school legal troubles at 2 Catholic high schools | Quigley
By Joan Quigley
This wasn't a good-news month at two Catholic high schools in Bergen County. Without admitting wrongdoing, officials of Bergen Catholic High School agreed to pay $1.9 million to 21 former students who alleged sexual abuse decades ago. And Paramus Catholic High School was knocked down in court on its plea to deny a hearing to a teacher who was fired because she is in a same-sex marriage. Mitchell Garabedian, attorney for seven people in the Bergen Catholic suit, said that between 1963 and 1978 students were subjected to routine sexual abuse by some of the Christian Brothers in charge of the school. The students were between 13 and 17 years old at the time, he said, and had been taught to do whatever the brothers instructed, no matter how they felt about it. The victims recalled being told to pull down their pants so they could be whipped with leather straps or pinched and groped by some instructors. Others said they were punched or beaten for minor offenses, while some complained not about touching of any sort but having to remove their underwear to allow brothers simply to stare at them. Court-ordered payments will be distributed during the first week of December, with each award ranging from $65,000 to $115,000. An arbitrator will decide how much each alleged victim receives based on the nature of the abuse suffered, the duration and frequency of such abuse, and the extent of injuries suffered. One of the men who said he was abused set up a website encouraging other victims to report abuse at Bergen Catholic. The school demanded the website be taken down, but the court refused to order that. Back in 2013, the North American Province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, which operated many schools across America, agreed to a $16.5 million settlement as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in federal court. At the time, Brothers said they filed for bankruptcy because of the legal costs of settling similar cases. Paramus Catholic, a co-ed institution operated by the Archdiocese of Newark, has problems very different from its neighbor in Oradell. Kate Drumgoole, the former dean of guidance and girls basketball coach, was fired in January. She is gay and was open about her relationship for a long time. She was married back in 2014, but recently her wife's sister posted wedding photos on social media. That was one step too far for school administrators, who suspended her four days later. They argued in court that they didn't terminate her employment because of her sexual orientation but because she is in a same-sex marriage. Lawyers for the school said they are allowed, under religious freedom laws, to require employees to subscribe to their religious tenets. However, Drumgoole's attorneys countered the school must abide by all New Jersey laws against discrimination and treat all employees equitably. They said other unmarried faculty members violate school policies by living with members of the opposite sex or having out-of-wedlock children and have not been penalized. After listening to oral arguments from both sides, Superior Court Judge Lisa Perez Friscia issued an 18-page ruling ordering a hearing. Both sides predict a protracted battle pitting anti-discrimination laws against religious rights. You'd hope the Christian Brothers and other Catholic school administrators have learned in 50 years to keep their hands and other body parts out of kids' pants. Now we can only hope they also learn to keep their noses out of other people's bedrooms.
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