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	Doubt over N.L. Diocese Making Sex Abuse Payments Will Upset Victims: Lawyer By Tara Brautigam Macleans [Canada] June 14, 2006 http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/news/shownews.jsp?content=n061451A St. John's, N.L. (CP) - Warnings that a Roman Catholic diocese in Newfoundland may not be able to make future compensation payments to victims of a sexually abusive priest are insulting, a lawyer for the victims said Wednesday. The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. George's Diocese filed a lawsuit last week against six insurance companies, alleging they are fully responsible for a $13-million compensation package awarded to Kevin Bennett's victims. Gregory Stack, who represents 38 of 40 victims receiving compensation, said it's galling for the diocese to launch a lawsuit against its insurers a year after it proposed a settlement that the victims accepted. "When you put out your hand and make an offer to someone and shake hands on it . . . it's expected that you do that," Stack said from his St. John's office. Legal battles were waged for 15 years to determine who was liable for the decades of abuse inflicted by Bennett, a former priest with the diocese. Unlike many other denominations, which are incorporated nationally, the Catholic Church in Canada is legally incorporated only at the diocese level. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in March 2004 that Bennett's victims could sue the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. George's Diocese. The victims accepted a proposed $13-million settlement in May 2005. The diocese was long aware of the problems that could arise in trying to recoup its losses from its insurance companies after the compensation settlement, Stack said. "It should've been done much earlier. I really question the timing of this and whether they can accomplish anything before the process runs out." To date, the diocese has paid about $5 million. Another $3.8-million instalment is due July 22 and a final payment is due a year later. Bishop Douglas Crosby said the diocese remains committed to fulfilling its financial obligations to the victims. "We hope to be able to make the payment in July, we're still working hard on that," Crosby said from the diocese's office in Corner Brook in western Newfoundland. "We're doing our best to raise the funds that we can and we'll just have to see how all of that goes." Crosby acknowledged doubt over whether the diocese will be able to resolve the suit before the final payment is due July 2007. "Who knows? Who knows?" Crosby said. "This can go on for some time and my hope is that it would be resolved, but I can't really make a judgment as to whether it will or not." The statement of claim is seeking indemnity from the insurers the diocese had during the time of Bennett's crimes, in addition to defence costs. It's estimated to total $15 million, Crosby said. Crosby brushed off suggestions that victims may see the lawsuit as an attempt to avoid its obligations to them. "Why would that be? I would hope that they would think that we are remaining faithful to our efforts to try to find the financial solution to this as diligently as we can," he said. "I don't know how it could be seen otherwise." But more litigation will only cause more mental anguish for some of the victims, Stack said. "The Church, in their eyes, is morally bankrupt," he said. "They do these type of tactics instead of just getting together from the outset and saying, 'Yea, look, we know, we sinned, we're going to repent and pay penance.' " Bennett was convicted in May 1990 of hundreds of sexual assaults dating back to 1961. He was sentenced to four years in prison after the court heard how he had plied altar boys with liquor and money for nearly three decades. The suit comes as the diocese is close to finalizing the purchase of more than 100 of its churches, chapels and parish halls that it was ordered to put up for sale as part of the settlement with the victims. The properties, which were never sold to an outside party, are set to be purchased by another corporation set up by the diocese. The diocese has raised nearly $6.5 million from parishioners, priests and churches across Canada over the past year, so that the corporation could purchase its assets. That planned purchase is part of the settlement and is not affected by the lawsuit, Crosby said. Newfoundland has been rocked by a series of sex-abuse scandals involving Catholic clergy, the most infamous of which spanned several decades at the former Mount Cashel Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers in St. John's.
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