ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
LI Herald
October 26, 2017
By Nakeem Grant
The Diocese of Rockville Centre established an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program for survivors of sexual abuse by local clergy, it announced on Oct. 16. But the effort does not provide a voice for victims, said former West Hempstead resident Dave McGuire.
“It’s not about reconciliation. It’s about [the diocese] protecting themselves,” said McGuire, who alleges that he was a victim of clergy abuse from 1980 to 1982. “Rather than allowing the law to be the arbiter of whatever damages had occurred and whatever compensation needs to be paid, they want to keep it a secret, and they want to do it internally.”
McGuire, who currently lives in Los Angeles, said that he was 13 when he was sexually abused at St. Thomas the Apostle parish in West Hempstead, where he attended parochial school and was an altar boy.
“I think the culture in society at that time was that the Catholic clergy was kind of superhuman in a way,” McGuire said. “They were fairly untouchable and they were really held up on a pedestal.”
Phase one of the reconciliation program, modeled after those created in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn over the past year to help victims of abuse by priests and deacons, began on Oct. 16, and will handle claims already made to the diocese. The program is funded by investment returns and insurance programs.
Anyone wishing to file a claim of sexual abuse not previously reported to the diocese may be eligible to participate in phase two of the program, which the diocese anticipates launching in January. All claims will be investigated by the program’s administrators, including an independent oversight committee.
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