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	Victims' Group Attacks Bishop's Statements By Kevin O'Connor Times Argus [Vermont] May 16, 2006 http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? >AID=/20060516/NEWS/605160371/1002/EDUCATION05 A national organization of people sexually abused by clergy is blasting Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano for "attacking deeply wounded men and women who were raped as kids by priests." In a recent letter to the state's 118,000 Catholics, Matano explained why the statewide Diocese of Burlington, fearing the costs of 19 priest misconduct lawsuits against it, just placed its 128 local parishes in charitable trusts. "In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault," Matano wrote. In response, David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is asking the bishop to help instead of blame victims. "It's a terribly hurtful and un-Christian move to lash out at struggling victims of horrific childhood sex crimes and cover-up," Clohessy said Monday in a statement from St. Louis. "If you were raped and sodomized as a child by a trusted priest, and shunned and lied to as an adult by church officials, you may well feel a moral duty to protect others and expose corruption through the time-tested, open American judicial system." The group, in a separate letter to Matano, said the bishop's job was to protect his flock. "How then can you attack perhaps the most lost and hurting sheep, the scarred and struggling men and women who have been doubly assaulted — first by predatory priests, then again by duplicitous bishops?" Clohessy wrote. "How can you lash out at them and call their long-overdue, David vs. Goliath effort an 'unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault?'" In response, the diocese issued a statement saying it "sincerely regretted" any interpretation that the bishop's letter was "one of insensitivity to victims." "The Bishop's letter is not about penalizing victims; rather it is about not creating a new group of victims," diocesan spokeswoman Gloria Gibson said. "It is certainly just to ask the church to be accountable and to repair previous harms that have been done. But is it just to destroy parishes, schools and other agencies of care to do so?" Clohessy, however, said the diocese was more concerned about property than people. He quoted the bishop's letter to Vermont Catholics, in which Matano talked of "beautiful churches" and said it was his job "to protect these parish facilities from unjust attack." "You don't include one word about the terrible pain — inflicted in the past but still deeply present today — in Catholic families that have been shattered by Catholic priests who rape and sodomized kids and by Catholic officials who lie and cover up those crimes," Clohessy wrote to Matano. "Have you forgotten Jesus' admonition to reach out to the suffering, to side with the oppressed, to care for the wounded? Did you not read Christ's teaching about not storing up your treasures on earth?" Clohessy says the diocese's actions demonstrate "you want to avoid even the slightest degree of accountability for these stunning crimes." The support group director noted the diocese's record $965,000 settlement last month in the first priest misconduct lawsuit filed in Burlington's Chittenden Superior Court. "You and your brother bishops often settle cases just before top church officials are forced to disclose under oath, in open court, how much they knew and how little they did about dangerous predatory priests," Clohessy wrote. "When absolutely forced to do so by courageous victims, bishops will pay money to avoid accountability." "Your choice is simple — either act like a kind-hearted, compassionate shepherd or a cold-hearted, corrupt CEO," Clohessy closed. "Stop the legal maneuvering, open up the diocesan finances, let the truth surface, help the victims heal, accept the responsibility for the severe and on-going harm, and let everyone involved move forward." In response, church officials said the diocese hasn't placed its own Burlington headquarters and accompanying land and assets in a trust and therefore would be able to cover any future settlements. "While we conveyed out all parish property, we have kept diocesan property," church lawyer William O'Brien said. "We have more than sufficient assets to pay off all of these judgments combined." Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.
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