Diocese Sex Abuse Data Sought Rogue Priests? Activists Demand Disclosure; Diocese Cites Its Policy of Reporting Abuse to State Officials, by Sheena McFarland, The Salt Lake Tribune, September 8, 2006

Diocese Sex Abuse Data Sought
Rogue Priests? Activists Demand Disclosure; Diocese Cites Its Policy of Reporting Abuse to State Officials

By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
September 8, 2006

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_4304735

Robert Brooks says he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his Catholic priest for nearly two years.

Although the abuse occurred in Los Angeles in the early 1960s when Brooks was 10, the Salt Lake City resident says he was never the same.

"It was soul murder," said Brooks, who stopped practicing Catholicism. "The only way to to survive it is to remain psychologically intact, and few do."

David Clohessy, left, and Robert Brooks leave the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City offices after delivering a letter calling for the diocese to post the names of any clergy connected with abuse allegations.
Photo by Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune

In order to help prevent future abuse, Brooks, along with David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, on Thursday presented a letter to the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City asking that it publish the names of any priests who have sexually abused children.

Clohessy planned his visit to Salt Lake City this week to coincide with a Religion Newswriters Association conference under way at the Marriott City Center.

"God forbid those abusive priests are now volunteering in schools, helping out with children's athletic teams or baby-sitting somewhere tonight," Clohessy said, although he cited no specific allegations brought against Utah priests.

Diocesan administrator Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald spoke with the two, but declined to be interviewed. Instead, he issued a written statement saying the Salt Lake Diocese has had a child abuse reporting requirement since 1989.

"The policy directs that all cases of past, current or suspected child sexual or other abuse are reported to Utah's [Division of Child and Family Services] promptly upon our knowledge of such allegations," Fitzgerald's statement said.

Since the nationwide Catholic church sex abuse scandal broke, Utah has seen one case of alleged abuse by a priest end up in court.

Two Utah brothers, Ralph and Charles Colosimo, in 2003 filed an $80 million lawsuit against the Salt Lake Diocese, alleging they had been sexually abused in the 1970s by the Rev. James F. Rapp, then a Judge Memorial Catholic High School teacher.

The case is pending in the Utah Supreme Court because both the 3rd District Court and the state Court of Appeals dismissed it, saying under Utah law, the two brothers had until age 22, four years after adulthood, to file the case.

Such laws anger Clohessy, who says many bishops know of abusive priests, but keep the information secret until after statutes of limitations expire.

That secrecy is why Brooks and Clohessy say a policy is not enough.

"No one ever said 'I abused a child because I didn't know it was against the policy,' " said Clohessy, who says he was sexually abused for four years as a teenager in Missouri. "Policies don't protect children. Courageous disclosure does."

smcfarland@sltrib.com