By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
December 13, 2005
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051213/NEWS10/512130362
A victims' advocacy group yesterday urged Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo to testify before an Ohio House panel on Thursday about his opposition to a bill that would extend the deadline for victims of sexual abuse to sue their perpetrators.
Claudia Vercellotti and Barbara Blaine, leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, delivered a letter to the Toledo diocese headquarters yesterday saying that since Bishop Blair has lobbied privately against Senate Bill 17, he should be willing to "face the legislators and answer questions" publicly about the diocese's handling of clerical sexual abuse cases.
Bishop Blair was in Chicago yesterday on an apostolic visit to a seminary and could not be reached for comment, the diocese said. SNAP's letter was accepted by his executive assistant, Terrie Albert.
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| Claudia Vercellotti, left, and Barbara Blaine, center, talk with Terrie Albert, Bishop Leonard Blair's executive assistant, inside the Toledo diocese headquarters downtown. Photo by The Blade/Andrew McMurtrie |
Ms. Vercellotti, leader of the Toledo chapter of SNAP, and Ms. Blaine, founder and president of the national victims' advocacy group, held news conferences in four Ohio cities yesterday urging bishops to testify.
"This is a homecoming because Senate Bill 17 started right here in Toledo, Ohio, in 2002," Ms. Vercellotti said, displaying blown-up copies of documents involving Toledo abuse cases.
She said she went to state Rep. Teresa Fedor (D. Toledo), now a state senator, in 2002 out of frustration over efforts to protect children from abuse, and asked the lawmaker to help change state statute-of-limitations laws.
The result was Senate Bill 17, passed unanimously by the Senate in March, which would extend the statute of limitations for civil suits from 2 to 20 years after a person turns 18. It also would set a one-year "look-back" period during which victims of abuse from as long ago as 1970 could file suit.
Sally Oberski, director of communications for the Toledo diocese, said Bishop Blair supports Senate Bill 17 except for the look-back provision, which church officials believe is unconstitutional.
She said the decision on who should testify before the House panel was made by the Catholic Conference of Ohio, or CCO.
Ms. Vercellotti and Ms. Blaine contended that the CCO, a lobbying group that represents the state dioceses, chose Bishop Frederick Campbell, of Columbus, because he has the least seniority of Ohio bishops, having been in office for a year, and therefore "has less to hide."
"Bishop Blair isn't afraid of anything," Ms. Oberski said in response. "He would testify if the Catholic Conference asked him to. It's their decision."
SNAP yesterday also urged Ohio bishops to discipline Tim Luckhaupt, head of the CCO, for "making false statements to the media."
They disputed Mr. Luckhaupt's published statements claiming that Ohio dioceses have released the names of all priests and employees facing credible allegations of sexual abuse, and that all clerics accused of abusing minors have been removed from ministry.
SNAP included with its letter a one-way bus ticket to Columbus for Bishop Blair, saying it wanted to "make it easier" for the bishop to testify.
Contact David Yonke at:
dyonke@theblade.com or
419-724-6154.
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