Canadian Indian residential schools designed to assimilate natives traumatized individuals and generations

rabble.ca - Canada February 18, 2011

Confronting the hidden legacy of residential schools

by Noreen Mae Ritsema

In an attempt to discuss the impact of residential schools on the families of survivors and strategies for the future, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is opening a national intergenerational conference next week in Winnipeg. It is the first intergenerational event on the issue that is First Nations-led.

Speakers and attendees are expected from across the country to attend workshops from Feb. 22 to 24 on the state of living for First Nations, looking at subjects including prison populations, school dropout rates, gang membership and substance addiction, and how these problems have the single thread of residential schools running through them. The importance of healing and the opportunities for justice are also to be discussed.

The fallout left by the schools has scarred generations of First Nations peoples, and Joanne Henry, executive director of the Committee on Abuse in Residential Schools(CAIRS) in Whitehorse, Yukon, has witnessed this firsthand in her work with survivors.

"The legacy of the schools is over 50 years, we've got generations upon generations of residential school history that we have to heal from. Our parents weren't given the opportunity to learn how to be parents. Therefore, we weren't given the opportunity to learn how to be parents either," said Ms. Henry, in an interview with rabble.ca.

Dedicated to helping the healing incurred this type of historical trauma, Dr. Eduardo Duran, a clinical psychologist and author of The Soul Wound explains that he has found a clear relationship between residential schools and trauma. He is a keynote speaker at the conference.

"It is well known that the boarding school model was developed in order to extricate culture from Native people. The manner in which this was done was violent and thus traumatic... If trauma is not grieved and healed, this is passed on to the children and their children. This transmission can be through behavior patterns, spiritually and genetically."

Ms. Henry reports seeing increased addiction issues with the Indian Residential Schools Settlement because survivors have been recounting their school experiences more frequently in recent years.

"There is a lot of alcohol and drug addiction and it seems to have come out a lot more with the CEP [common experience payment] and more with the IAP [independent assessment process] where you actually talk about your experience in residential school," she said.

"I know one lady, in particular, she did not drink for over 30 years and when she did her IAP she started. So it has a devastating effect. It's not a simple thing to go through. For support afterwards, you can go for counseling, but to actually have a support system in place -- there is nothing like that."

Dr. Gabor Maté, a physician in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, is another speaker at the conference. In conversation, he explains how addiction works. "Addiction is always a response to deep emotional pain, to trauma. It's an attempt to soothe the pain of trauma. The residential school traumatized not only individuals but several consecutive generations; in fact, it traumatized an entire people. When that happens, abuse becomes endemic and is passed on from one generation to the next. As abuse is passed on, so is addiction."

When facing an addiction, Dr. Maté, explains that the first action a person must take actually consists of three steps that must be taken together, a message he wants to discuss at the conference.

"Addicted people must have the courage to accept that they are addicted, that their lives are out of control and that their addiction has multiple negative consequences for themselves and for people close to them. But they also need to recognize at the same time that it's not their fault, it's nothing they chose deliberately but was their way of coping with stress and deep emotional pain," he said.

"And finally, they need to own the problem -- while it's not their fault, it is their responsibility. That is, no matter what the cause of the addiction, only the addicted human being can take responsibility for liberating themselves from its chains."

Western medicine has not widely acknowledged the role of historical trauma, such as the residential school legacy, in relation to illness, and healing from historical trauma has been slow.

Dr. Duran said that without understanding, there is no validation for the pain that people feel.

"In most Western diagnostic procedures the patient is pathologized and their historical context is ignored for the most part. What this tells the person is that they are sick and defective, which can then become a form of identity that takes over their lives."

This points to why The Hidden Legacy conference can have such a positive impact.

"There is strength in numbers, there is power is recognizing that one is not alone, in seeing that the problem is a historical one whose consequences need to be confronted by mutual support and by a common struggle to gain justice. And there is relief in hearing the experience of other people, in telling one's own story, and in learning from one another's strengths and successes," says Dr. Maté.

Joanne Henry also sees the strength in such a gathering. "Anything that deals with residential schools, if we're given the time and the courtesy to look into it and get learning tools from it, will help residential school survivors and be beneficial."

CAIRS, a community resource for residential school survivors in Whitehorse, can be reached at 1-867-667-2247.

Noreen Mae Ritsema is an intern with rabble.ca.


This article was found at:

http://rabble.ca/news/2011/02/confronting-hidden-legacy-residential-schools


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Latest Boy Scouts lawsuit alleges failure to protect boys from troop leader they knew was serial molester

The Oregonian - February 15, 2011

Alleging child abuse, Portland lawyers file another suit against the Boy Scouts

By Tom Hallman Jr., The Oregonian 

Lawyers for a Portland man who claims he was continually abused during a seven-year period filed a $5.2 million lawsuit Tuesday against the Boy Scouts, saying the organization had plenty evidence that a troop leader was a serial child molester, but did nothing to keep him from harming others.

In the past month, the attorneys have filed suits similar to Tuesday's in Alaska, Kentucky and New Mexico on behalf of other alleged childhood victims. Kelly Clark, with the firm O'Donnell Clark & Crew, said this Portland case was particularly egregious.

"The abuse was serious and sustained," he said. "Of the 300 cases I've handled, I can't think of one where there was so much notice of danger."

Clark said the plaintiff -- now in his 30s and a member of the Armed Services -- was a member of Cub Scout Den No. 312, which was a part of the Boy Scout program.

He claims the plaintiff was sexually abused on "hundreds of occasions" from 1981 to 1988 by James F. Hogan, who served at various times as a Scout volunteer, assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster.

Hogan's name came up in 2010 when a Portland jury awarded $18.5 million to punish the Boy Scouts for the abuse that a former Southeast Portland Scout suffered in the 1980s. The case was later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. At the time, jurors considered more than 1,000 confidential Boy Scout files from 1965 to 1985 to judge the Scouts' liability.

In 1974, Boy Scout leaders confronted Hogan over reports he had been kissing and hugging boys he oversaw through a troop sponsored by the Portland Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The file recounted one formerly "enthusiastic" Scout's reaction to a meeting with Hogan.

The boy "took off his uniform and threw it and his books into the closet and has not taken them out to this day," the internal report said.

The file said Hogan had repeated questionable contact with Scouts, but the file contains no record that Boy Scouts reported him to police. They did ban Hogan from Scouting -- but only for a time. In 1981, church leaders asked that Hogan be reinstated because they concluded the earlier accusations against him weren't true.

The Boy Scouts relented and restored Hogan as a volunteer. Nine years later, they put him back on their list of banned volunteers after he abused two boys he met at the church and pleaded guilty to sodomy.

In a 2010 story, Hogan told The Oregonian in an e-mail that he didn't have much memory of how the Boy Scouts handled his case.

"I do take full responsibility for my actions and carry a heavy burden of pain, sorrow and regret both for those young men who have been injured and also for my wife, children and grandchildren who are re-injured each time these things are brought forth."

On Tuesday, attorney Paul Mones said the abuse occurred at a time when the Boy Scouts had "ample knowledge" of sex abuse by adult leaders. He said this case was just another instance where an institution failed to protect children under the institution's care.

Clark described the plaintiff as "emotionally shut down."

He said when another family member talked about allegedly being abused by Hogan, it reopened wounds and the plaintiff decided to file suit against the Boy Scouts to hold them accountable and "get to the bottom of this."

The suit names the Boy Scouts of America and the Cascade Pacific Council.

In a prepared statement, Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, said that "abuse is – and has always been – unacceptable and the Boy Scouts of America extends its sympathies to the victims." Smith said Tuesday was the first he'd heard about the suit.

The statement also noted that the organization has "continued to develop and enhance efforts to protect youth through effective screening of volunteers, including local review and national criminal background checks, clear policies that prohibit one-on-one contact between adults and youth members and rigorous youth protection and abuse recognition training across our entire organization."

Clark said the Mormon church had previously reached a settlement with his client. If the case against the Scouts is not settled out of court, Clark said he expects the case to go before a Multnomah County jury sometime in 2012.

– Tom Hallman Jr.

-- Aimee Green contributed to this report

This article was found at:

*************************************************************************

The Oregonian  -  February 15, 2011

Portland attorneys once again sue on behalf of a victim allegedly abused as a child by a Southeast Portland Boy Scouts leader

By Aimee Green, The Oregonian 

Attorneys for a man who was molested by a Southeast Portland Boy Scout leader in the 1980s filed suit this morning, claiming that the Boy Scouts of America and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints failed to protect the man from abuse as a boy even though they knew his leader was a notorious pedophile.

The suit is another in a string of lawsuits filed by Portland attorneys Paul Mones and Kelly Clark. Last spring, they won a nearly $20 million verdict against the Boy Scouts for one childhood victim of former Scout leader Timur Dykes, before agreeing to a settlement for an undisclosed amount on behalf of that victim and five others. In the past month, the attorneys have filed suits similiar to today’s in Alaska, Kentucky and New Mexico on behalf of other alleged childhood victims.

In a news release this morning, Mones said the goal is to prevent future child abuse, as well as to obtain justice for victims.

The lawsuit doesn't list defendants by name, although a news release faults the Boy Scouts and the Mormon church. Steve English, an attorney for the church, said he doesn't think the church is a defendant.

“While the church always and absolutely condemns child abuse -- and its heart and prayers go out to any victim of child abuse -- our understanding is the church is not a defendant in this case,” English said.

Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said in a written statement that the 101-year-old organization has been vigilant in taking measures to protect children by "effective screening of volunteers, including local review and national criminal background checks" and "policies that prohibit one-on-one contact between adults."

"Abuse is - and has always been - unacceptable," Smith wrote. "The Boy Scouts of America extends its sympathies to the victims."

Mones and Clark will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. to talk about more details of the suit, including the amount they are seeking.

The suit filed today claims that an unnamed man was abused by James F. Hogan, now 72, when the man was a boy from 1981 to 1988. Hogan was a leader in Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops chartered by a Mormon Church Ward in Southeast Portland.

The suit alleges that the Boy Scouts of America and the Mormon Church leadership knew Hogan had molested many children before he abused the plaintiff in today’s suit. According to the suit, the two organization received at least 17 separate complaints or reports over a 14-year period about concerns that Hogan was sexually inappropriate with boys while working with Mormon-chartered troops in Portland and Redlands, Calif. Among them was a complaint that Hogan had showered naked with boys, and that he had molested several boys, according to Mones and Clark.

"It is simply inconceivable," Clark was quoted as saying in a news release. "We will show that the abuse this boy suffered was entirely preventable. All the Boy Scouts or the Mormon Church had to do was pick up the phone and call the police. They heard over and over again that this man was sexually abusing young boys."

Hogan pleaded guilty in 1989 to sexually abusing a young relative and two boys he met through his position as a janitor. Two victims filed a civil suit against the church, which was settled.

In 2008, a Portland man sued Hogan claiming Hogan sexually abused him while employed by the church. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.


This article was found at:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/02/portland_attorneys_once_again.html

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FORWARD: The Jewish Daily March 4, 2009

Religious Communities Slow To Uproot Cultures of Silence

by Rebecca Dube


On the surface, Joseph Diangelo and Flora Jessop couldn’t look more different.

Diangelo grew up in a Hasidic community in Brooklyn. Jessop was raised in a polygamous compound, part of a fundamentalist Mormon sect on the Utah-Arizona border.

But as Diangelo listened to Jessop tell her harrowing tale of abuse, forced marriage, spiritual threats, rape and eventual escape, he found himself nodding in recognition.

“I thought she was talking about me,” Diangelo said. Raped in a mikveh as a boy, he is now estranged from his family. (He changed his last name after leaving Orthodox Judaism.) “She said it so perfectly,” Diangelo said, “how any complaints get shoved under the rug.”

The details may differ from a dusty Arizona desert to a bustling Williamsburg street corner. But experts at the March 2 conference, held in Manhattan at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, said that many strict religious communities offer similar advantages to sexual predators: adults who trust their religious leaders without reservation; reluctance to report abuse to outside authorities; and a culture, consisting of silence and shame, that conspires to keep victims quiet.

“It is a rule that the believers may not tell anybody else about the abuse,” whether among Orthodox Jews, Mormons or Catholics, said Marci Hamilton, Cardozo law professor and author of “Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children” published in 2008. “The big winner in that universe is the pedophile.”

There are no reliable studies on rates of child sexual predation in Orthodox Jewish communities. But when Brooklyn’s Democratic New York State Assembly Member Dov Hikind used his weekly radio show last year to invite individuals molested as children to contact him, he quickly compiled more than 1,000 accounts he considered credible from local listeners.

“If you’re a pedophile, the best place for you to come to are some of the Jewish communities,” Hikind said. “Why? Because you can be a pedophile and no one’s going to do anything.”

Studies of America’s general population indicate a rate of child molestation of about 25% for girls and 20% for boys, Hamilton said.

“There is no reason to believe that this rate differs in the Orthodox Jewish community,” said sociologist Hella Winston, who has studied the issue.

Close-knit Orthodox communities enforce the rule of silence with special vigor, said Rabbi Yosef Blau of Yeshiva University. Mesirah, the halachic misdeed of informing on fellow Jews to secular authorities, was once a mere prohibition, but it has been elevated to a virtual taboo, Blau said at the conference. That taboo may have made sense historically, when Jews lived in hostile nations surrounded by antisemitic authorities, but it doesn’t work for children in America.

“Every abuser knows how to throw around the term, to say, ‘How could you?’” he added.

Abuse and cover-up allegations have rocked the Orthodox world in the past few years, but so far they haven’t prompted the tidal wave of lawsuits that ultimately forced the Catholic Church to publicly address its history of such problems.

Recently, some prominent ultra-Orthodox leaders have acknowledged the problem exists. But many in the community continue to believe publicity around the issue is overblown.

Some observers have said that Orthodox Judaism, as an institution, is now where Catholics were a decade ago in terms of dealing with child sexual abuse by clergy. But there are some important nuances, Blau said.

Catholicism is highly centralized, with a clear chain of command from the lowliest parish priest right up to the pope. In the church scandal, senior clerics knowingly transferred priests accused of molesting children from parish to unsuspecting parish, allowing them to continue their pattern of predation.

In Orthodox Jewish communities, some yeshivas are also alleged to cover up for and protect rabbinic predators. Even when problems are identified, there is no central tracking system, and nothing to stop a rabbi fired for predation from getting a job with a congregation or school down the block or in another town.

Blau said that means that the only way to stop abusers is to report them to the secular authorities — no matter how strongly that runs counter to years of tradition and indoctrination against “informing.”

“Our obligation is to protect children. What we have to do is find a way of breaking the taboo,” Blau said.

David Framowitz, who in 2006 filed a $20 million lawsuit with others against Rabbi Yehuda Kolko and Yeshiva Torah Temimah for alleged sexual abuse, said getting Orthodox Jews to turn to outsiders for help will be an uphill battle.

“Most people aren’t willing to understand that this might be a major problem within the community, and they don’t understand that the rabbis aren’t capable of dealing with this problem,” Framowitz said.

The outcome of cases like Framowitz’s will make a big difference in the willingness of Orthodox victims and their families to report sexual abuse, Blau predicted.

“We take two steps forward, one step back. Lawsuits take a long time. If one of these suits actually wins a big judgment, then everything will change,” the rabbi said. “Recent revelations have begun to penetrate the denial, but we lack the internal means to deal with the crisis.”

Advocates for abused children are also lobbying hard for a bill before the New York State Assembly that would add five years to the statute of limitations on crimes of child sexual abuse, and create a one-year window in which people could file claims on old cases. The changes are desperately needed, Hamilton, the law professor, said, because many survivors of childhood sexual abuse don’t come to terms with their abuse until well into their 20s or later.

In the meantime, Blau said, the best hope for breaking the silence and ending the communal taboo lies not with leadership from powerful rabbis, but with anonymous voices on the Internet sharing their stories and questioning the status quo.

“Blogs. That’s what’s going to change it,” Blau said. “There are no secrets in the world of the Internet. You can’t control it, you can’t stop them.”

Recently, a group formed that consists of adults who say they were molested as children in the Orthodox community. Known as Survivors for Justice, the group members recognize the barrier that victim isolation poses to exposing and acting on the problem. The group offers those who have been through similar experiences a place to tell their story, and provides them assistance with the often intimidating process of going to the authorities.

Jessop, who has helped numerous other women and girls escape the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, applauded the development.

“In a society where we teach our children they do not have the right to stand up to adults, we teach our children to be victims from the very beginning,” Jessop said. “We’ve got to stand up, find our strength and become our own heroes in order to make a change.”

This article was found at:

http://forward.com/articles/103605/

New Jersey's top court hears case of delay in sexual-abuse claim

The Star-Ledger February 18, 2009 by Tom Martello

The New Jersey Supreme Court this morning is scheduled to hear arguments on whether a man who was sexually abused by his stepfather had a right to pursue the case in court even though his civil lawsuit was not filed until 14 years after the abuse ended.

In a case being closely watched by victims of clergy sex abuse, a unanimous three-judge panel had ruled in September that the Warren County man's civil lawsuit should be allowed since he filed it within two years of realizing the abuse was the cause of his depression, gender confusion and cross-dressing.

The decision reinstated a case that had been thrown out earlier by a trial judge who said the time lapse between the abuse and the 2004 lawsuit was too long. The appeals court judges said there must be a clear link between the "conscious awareness" of the abuse and the discovery that an illness is linked to the abuse.

Gregory Gianforcaro, a Hunterdon County lawyer who represents several victims of clergy sex abuse, said the case to be argued today would have widespread implications for victims of childhood sex abuse who do not come forward until later in life.

"This absolutely has a direct influence on my cases," he said. "This is the most important case on childhood sex abuse ever in New Jersey. This is a landmark case."

Many accused clergy sex abusers have escaped prosecution because the criminal statute of limitations had expired, but this case could allow victims to pursue a civil remedy in the courts they fail to associate problems as adults to the earlier abuse until later in life.

Victor Rotolo, a lawyer for the plaintiff, identified only as "R.L.," said the appeals court ruling recognized the complicated nature of sexual abuse.

"This case is important to R.L. and all victims of sexual abuse because it allows for an understanding of the nature of injuries that victims of sexual abuse suffer," he said.

The case the man identified only as R.L., who was abused by his stepfather, Kenneth Voytac, starting in 1987 when he was 9 years old and lasting for several years. Voytac and the man's mother later divorced.

During high school, he started cross-dressing and was treated for depression. He never mentioned the sexual abuse. Also in those years, he increasingly experienced gender confusion, used drugs and got in trouble with the law for stealing. In 1999, while engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman, he had a "flashback" to the abuse but did not seek any treatment.

It wasn't until 2002, when he was talking with a co-worker about his cross-dressing that he made a direct link between his feelings and the abuse.

Before that realization, R.L. had thought he was "supposed to be born a girl," according to the appeals court decision.

William G. Johnson, who represents Voytac, said he felt the appeals judges was wrong to reject the reasoning of the trial court judge, Morris County Superior Court Judge David Rand, that the two-year time limit for any litigation by R.L. should have begun in 1999 when he discussed the sex abuse with his mother and girlfriend.

The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing arguments at 10 a.m. They can be viewed live on the web.

This article was found at:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/sexual_abuse_victims_await_sta.html

Settlement reached in sex abuse case involving Lutheran pastor

The Star-Ledger, New Jersey   January 14, 2009

by Jeff Diamant | Star-Ledger reporter



Twenty-two men who claimed they were molested by the same Lutheran pastor in Brick Township when they were boys in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s reached a financial settlement today with the estate of the pastor, Robert Slegel, and with other parties in their lawsuit, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The amount of the settlement was not made public, as the agreement forbids the parties from discussing the terms, said Robert Fuggi, a Toms River attorney representing the plaintiffs.

Fuggi had been seeking $5 million per plaintiff in the suit, which was filed in 2005 against Slegel, St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Brick, and the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The settlement was reached after a mediation session, Fuggi said in a statement.

"While the settlement will do much to help my clients," he said, "it will not in and of itself alleviate the lifelong struggle that victims of child sexual abuse, and especially clerical sexual abuse, have in struggling to find healing and closure."

The Rev. Stanley Ellison, current pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church, said he was pleased the suit is now resolved.

"We're very grateful that it's settled -- very, very grateful to everyone who worked so hard to come to agreement on it," he said. "And we're grateful to God. We hope that this brings closure to everybody involved -- the plaintiffs, the church and the school."

Slegel had resigned in 1993 as pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran after police charged him with soliciting an adult male prostitute in Lakewood. He died in 2006 in North Carolina, at age 77, just over a year after the lawsuit was filed.

In court papers, the plaintiffs, identified by initials only, contended that the abuse occurred between 1967 and 1985 and occurred for between one and nine years for each plaintiff. The plaintiffs contended they were between five and 15 years old when they were abused.

The suit contends that Slegel would fondle the boys and himself, usually in the church or in his office, and then would verbally pressure them not to tell anyone what happened. The plaintiffs included parishioners at the church, students at the school associated with the church, and children from the area.

With 22 plaintiffs, the case ranks among the largest involving clergy sex abuse in New Jersey. Other large cases have involved Catholic priests in Morris and Camden counties.

Attorneys for the defendants argued last year that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that civil statutes of limitations had expired. But Superior Court Judge Thomas E. O'Brien ruled the case could proceed.

The school connected to the church downsized last year, closing its first through eighth grades. It still has a pre-school and kindergarten.

This article was found at:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/estate_of_brick_pastor_
reaches.html

Bishop Magee has lost the moral authority to remain in office

The Irish Times - January 5, 2008

GEOFFREY SHANNON

OPINION: The Bishop of Cloyne must take full responsibility for failing to implement safeguards agreed after the Ferns inquiry report

I RECENTLY spent an uncomfortable part of a weekend reading cover to cover the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NSBC) report, which makes for disturbing reading. The NSBC is an independent body set up by the Catholic bishops to audit child protection practices in the church in the aftermath of the Ferns inquiry report. The NSBC report arose from two separate complaints of clerical child abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne and was published last month by the diocese.

The NSBC report found child protection services in the Diocese of Cloyne "inadequate and in some respects dangerous" and has brought into question the capacity of the diocese to respond appropriately to information received regarding child protection concerns involving the clergy.

Moreover, the response by the church authorities in the Diocese of Cloyne to allegations of child sexual abuse by priests operating under the aegis of that diocese raises fundamental concerns as to the consistent implementation of statutory guidelines and agreed church policies on safeguarding children from abuse across all the Catholic dioceses.

It is important to emphasise that the aforementioned agreed church policies were implemented in response to the Ferns inquiry report. The Ferns inquiry was set up on March 28th, 2003, to investigate complaints and allegations made against clergy operating under the aegis of that diocese. The members of the Ferns inquiry expressed the hope that, should the type of abuse outlined in the Ferns report of October 2005 ever occur again, action would be taken to terminate the wrongdoing. The NSBC report indicates that agreed church policies were not followed in the Diocese of Cloyne.

The Ferns inquiry report (pp262-267) made a number of recommendations for dealing with complaints of child sexual abuse.

Ferns observed the key role of the bishop in the diocese as the manager and leader of the priests within that diocese. In addition to his pastoral role, Bishop John Magee holds the position of patron of nearly 130 primary schools in the Diocese of Cloyne.

The bishop did not respond in an adequate manner to the complaints that were made to him. Indeed, he has publicly admitted "full responsibility for the criticism of our management of some issues". He should now take responsibility for these failures and resign.

The resignation of Bishop Brendan Comiskey was followed by the appointment of Bishop Eamonn Walsh in Ferns. This provided the impetus for change in that diocese. Bishop Magee has lost the moral authority to remain in office by the failure to implement in his diocese the safeguards that were agreed by the church following the publication of the Ferns inquiry report. His position is untenable, and has the potential to undermine the rigorous standards of child protection applied in other dioceses

Some dioceses have embraced fully the recommendations of the Ferns inquiry report. For example, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has taken effective steps to ensure the protection of children and has been pro-active and exemplary in the handling of clerical abuse allegations in his diocese. The archbishop has set a high standard in the handling of such cases.

Similarly, the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady in his statement last Friday night reiterated "the moral and civic duty on everyone with responsibility for safeguarding children to implement all statutory guidelines".

He said: "At all times the welfare of children must be the paramount consideration. This is a Gospel value as well as a core principle of safeguarding policy."

There has been some confusion surrounding the role of Minister for Children Barry Andrews in dealing with the Cloyne clerical child abuse claims. This has only served to deflect attention from where the blame rests. The Minister for Children followed the recommendations of the Ferns inquiry report in referring the matter to the Health Service Executive (HSE). While some questioned his decision not to read the report before referring it to the HSE, this was in my opinion the correct course of action. It is not for the Minister or his staff to investigate child protection matters. Moreover, neither the Minister nor his staff have the competence to do so. This is a function reserved exclusively to the HSE. The Minister is to be commended for the measured and balanced manner in which he has dealt with the issue to date. He must now, however, make some difficult decisions.

Given the public disquiet on the mismanagement of allegations of clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne, there is a compelling case to refer the matter to the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation. The commission is currently investigating the handling of allegations and complaints of child sexual abuse made against clergy operating under the aegis of the Dublin Archdiocese and is to complete its report by the end of the month.

However, the commission can investigate the position in any Catholic diocese in the State, following a notification from the Minister for Children that the diocese may not be implementing church guidelines in relation to child sexual abuse by a priest, or a notification that a diocese may not be implementing satisfactorily the recommendations of the Ferns inquiry report. There is surely a prima-facie case for referring the Diocese of Cloyne to the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation.

The report on child protection practices in the Diocese of Cloyne has also highlighted the issue of delay that is often associated with bringing child sexual abuse cases to trial.

The child is asked to "hold onto" the trauma until the case is completed. A year or two years can see significant changes in the lives of children - they may have progressed from primary school to secondary school, they may be entering a period of State examinations, etc.

If a system was introduced which ensured that trials would proceed as efficiently and as promptly as possible, this would ensure minimum disruption in the life of the child and minimum prejudice to his/her outside life.

Cases in which children are sexual abuse victims ought to be governed by a statutory system of case management. Assistance can be gleaned from case management models found in other areas of Irish law, eg the commercial court, but particular consideration ought to be given to the English and Australian models.

The process should be judge-led, with increased focus on time limits for processing the case. Sanctions ought to be included to deal with any party that does not adhere to the system.

Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UNCRC) is the key international legal provision on child abuse and neglect. It provides that states shall take all appropriate measures to protect children from all forms of abuse. The second paragraph of Article 19 of the UNCRC outlines a wide range of potential responses to child abuse and neglect.

The state action which it calls for includes the establishment of social programmes for the prevention of abuse and neglect, a system for reporting child abuse and a system for responding to such reporting with treatment where necessary.

It is clear from Article 19 that state

obligations do not simply involve negative obligations (ie that the state and its organs refrain from abusing children). Article 19 also stipulates that states have a positive obligation to ensure children are not abused or neglected.

This requires a proactive approach obliging states to put effective child protection systems in place.

Child protection is not a discretionary issue. The Minister for Children and Government should remember this when deciding whether to refer the Diocese of Cloyne to the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation.

Geoffrey Shannon is a solicitor and a special rapporteur on child protection

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

This article was found at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0105/
1230936654248.html

U.S. Supreme Court gets exorcism case of ex-Colleyville woman

Star-Telegram - Texas December 26, 2008 by Max B. Baker

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review the case of a former Colleyville woman who claims a forced traumatic exorcism left her so physically bruised and emotionally scarred that she later attempted to commit suicide.

A sharply divided Texas Supreme Court ruled in June that the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God staff and members are protected by the First Amendment because it involves an ecclesiastical dispute over religious conduct.

Laura Schubert Pearson described a wild night in 1996 that involved casting out demons from the church and two attempts to exorcise demons from her. Only 17 years old, the incident lead Pearson to eventually attempt suicide.

Pearson’s attorneys contend that the Texas Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision "dramatically and dangerously departs" from U.S. Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence, adding that someone’s religious beliefs do not excuse them from being held accountable under valid state laws that prohibit such things as assault and false imprisonment.

"We don’t know what kind of mischief the decision is going to create," because it tries to expand the universe of activities that are protected by the First Amendment’s freedom of religion precepts, said Scott Gant, the Washington D.C. attorney who is representing the Pearson and her family. "The Texas Supreme Court’s majority ignored some of the most relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions and then misapplied others."

Forbidden territory

In briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys representing the now defunct church _ it has since merged with another Colleyville Church — contend the case is about a personal injury case regarding mental anguish damages that should be left for the state courts to decide.

Arguing that a similar claim has never been made in a United States court, David Pruessner, the church’s attorney, also wrote that "pursuing this tort path would take the courts into forbidden territory: protected religious conduct." He adds the Texas high court’s decision is consistent with the legal doctrine of ecclesiastical autonomy.

"It is fundamental that the Constitution embraces the right to be free from unwarranted governmental intervention," Pruessner’s brief states. The Dallas attorney could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Gant expects the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if it will consider the case by mid to late January.

Pearson is now 29 years old, married and lives in Georgia.

Spread eagle

What happened to Laura Schubert Pearson at the church spanned several days in the summer of 1996.

Pearson and her brother, Joey, were involved in church activities while there parents were out of town. On a Friday evening, the atmosphere at the church became "spiritually charged" when another youth said he saw a demon.

At the youth minister’s direction, the youth frantically anointed everything in the church with holy oil until they were exhausted and finally dismissed early Saturday morning.

At the Sunday evening worship services, Laura Pearson collapsed and church members "laid hands" on her and forcibly held her arms even as she cried, yelled and demanded to be let go. She was finally released after she calmed down and replied with requests to say the name Jesus.

The following Wednesday, during a youth service, Pearson reportedly began acting in the same manner, curling into a fetal position and asked to be left alone. Church members thought she was in distress and held her down in a "spread eagle" position. Pearson suffered carpet burns and scrapes on her back and bruised wrists.

After the exorcism, she dropped out of high school her senior year, began to cut herself as many as 100 times over several years, and refused to leave the house. Pearson slit her wrists with a box cutter.

Spiritual warfare

In his U.S. Supreme Court brief, Pruessner describes the activities at the Pentecostal Pleasant Glade church to cast out demons as "spiritual warfare" that is a controversial activity of the denomination.

To outsiders, while it may appear "weird," he said that tens of millions of Pentecostal followers pursue these beliefs without harm, including Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Her father, Tom Schubert, is a former Assembly of God pastor and missionary. He has since quit the church.

"This was simply normal church life for (Pearson) and her family," Pruessner wrote.

The church’s attorneys told a Tarrant County jury that Pearson’s psychological problems actually were caused by traumatic events she witnessed while her parents were serving in Africa. They also continually argued that the ministers and staff were trying to help Pearson, not hurt her.

But her father questioned what happened and the family eventually sued. They said their daughter had been abused and falsely imprisoned, and the 2002 trial never touched on the religious aspects of the case.

A jury found the church and its members liable and awarded Pearson $300,000 for mental anguish, but the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth cut $122,000 from the verdict for loss of future income.

Dangerous practice

In the church’s appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, it raised the question of whether Pleasant Glades’ First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion do not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress triggered by what it described as a "hyper spiritualistic environment."

For the court to impose any legal liability on members would possibly have an unconstitutional 'chilling effect’ by compelling the church to abandon core principles, Justice David Medina wrote.

In a stinging dissent, Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson said the majority’s opinion is an "overly broad holding" that conflicts with well-settled legal and constitutional principles that could "prove to be dangerous in practice."

This article was found at:

http://www.star-telegram.com/northeast/story/1112895.html

Saving Child Witches: A Nigerian Perspective

by Leo Igwe, executive secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement

Some months ago, a British film-maker drew my attention to the plight of children in Akwa Ibom State who had been accused of being witches and wizards and thrown out of their homes by their families and relatives. In August, I travelled to the city of Eket to meet with these kids and the individuals helping to look after them, to find out how my organization could offer help and support.

First of all, I met with Luckyimoh Inyang of Stepping Stones Nigeria. The UK branch of his organization is raising money to support these children. Mr. Inyang told me how they had been rescuing children who had been beaten, burnt and brutalized by their own parents, and he took me to a school block and a football field which some of these children had taken as their home. They sleep there at night and roam the streets during the day in search of food. We also met some of the kids on the streets, who were carrying plastic bags filled with rice, garri and soup. Mr. Inyang told me that was how the children were trying to survive: donations were not enough, so some of them try to support themselves by taking left over food items from ceremonies, even though they are sometimes physically attacked when they do this. The children looked sick, malnourished and unkempt.

After meeting with Inyang, I went to see Mr. Sam Ikpe-Ituama of the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network. Sam and his wife manage a camp where some of the kids live. Sam had been taking care of these children in his house, but eventually he had to set up the camp, with a school and a dormitory, to accommodate the increasing number of child victims. Right now the camp has over 130 children; most of them are less than ten years old. I interviewed some of them and they told me about their horrible and traumatic ordeals. Two girls described how they had been chained to a window for days, before being starved, beaten and thrown into the bush to die by parents and relations who accused them of causing diseases and death in the family by bewitchment. Other kids explained how they had been taken to churches and subjected by pastors to various forms of torture, and inhuman and degrading treatment, all in the name exorcism and deliverance. Most of the children had scars on their bodies. Some were still nursing wounds which they sustained in the course of this terrible experience. I was totally shocked and dumbfounded by what I saw. Particularly, I was stunned to hear that many of the kids had been in the camp for over three years. It was obvious that the local authorities had neglected and completely ignored this tragic situation. I was told that some officials of the Akwa Ibom State Government had visited the camp, but that nothing had been heard afterwards. So the camp and children were surviving on the limited donations they were receiving from overseas.

So I was delighted to hear that on November 4, the documentary Saving Africa’s Witch Children was broadcast in the UK, on Channel 4. This documentary has brought to the attention of the world the pain, agony, abuse and trauma which these children have suffered and endured over the years. It has exposed to the world the intellectual anomie, cultural darkness, social stagnation, moral decadence and primitive mentality that prevail in Nigeria as a result of ignorance, poverty, superstition and religious fanaticism. It has also demonstrated graphically the greed, thievery, mischief and charlatanism of pastors and other men and women, who deceive, debase, defraud and degrade human beings in the name of God. Witch-hunting is history in the western world, but in Nigeria and in Africa it is an ongoing experience.

Now, the question is: How do we save these children?

First of all we need to raise money to support them and provide them with basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing and education. The children need medical care, counselling and rehabilitation programs. The government of Akwa Ibom State must wake up to its duties and responsibilities. The police should investigate and ensure that parents and the persons who perpetrated these atrocities – including the pastors who aided and abetted these criminal acts – are adequately punished.

More importantly long-term, we need to launch a nationwide campaign against superstition and belief in witchcraft. Nigerians should be told that witches are not real, and that witches and spirits are imaginary entities created by primitive minds during the infancy of human race to explain situations and issues they could not understand or resolve commonsensically. This campaign should be taken to all Nigerian schools, colleges and universities. It should be publicized over the radios and television, in the newspapers, in market places, in churches and mosques.

In particular, we need to check the activities of our so called pastors and other self styled men and women of God who use the Bible or Holy books to perpetrate and justify atrocious acts and human right abuses. These religious charlatans continue to act and preach in ways that reinforce the belief in witches and provoke acts of witch accusation, persecution and killing. This has been the driving force in Akwa Ibom State, and until Nigerians learn to reject superstition and irrationalism such tragedies will continue to occur.

In most cases pastors invoke the Biblical verse Exodus 22:8, which says “Thou shall not suffer a witch to live”, to justify their position, so we also need combat this wave of Pentecostalism that promotes literal interpretation and blind faith in the “word of God”. To save the witch-children in Nigeria and rescue this nation from witch-believing forces, we need to get all Nigerians to exercise their common sense, reason and critical intelligence when practicing or professing their religion or belief. This is especially important when they are reading, preaching and interpreting messages and doctrines contained in their holy books.

(c) Leo Igwe 2008. Permission granted for non-profit re-publication, although please acknowledge authorship. The author asserts his moral rights.

This article was found at:

http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/saving-child-witches-a-nigerian-perspective/

Sexual abuse by the Brothers of Holy Cross ruined lives of victims

The Montreal Gazette - December 6, 2008

Ruined Lives of Victims

by Sue Montgomery


Sexual abuse by the Brothers of Holy Cross wasn't confined to inside the brick walls of Collège Notre Dame. All of the brothers' victims The Gazette contacted recently are now grown men, largely destroyed by the trauma they suffered. Broken marriages, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse are the legacies of a life marked by sexual abuse in the formative years. Here are some of their stories:

- - -

One of the most notorious brothers, from many accounts, was a brother who ran a halfway house, Maison Charlemagne, and a home for the disabled, Maison Durjarié, both in Montreal. He was known to abuse handicapped people and kept a young male lover for years at the order's expense. Now 88, the brother this week heatedly denied all allegations.

Yvan Sarrasin was warned, according to sources, about using petty cash to buy groceries and alcohol for the poor and addicted residents in exchange for sex.

One of those was Daniel Charest, who spent six weeks in 1979 at the halfway house run by Sarrasin. The religious brother had the power to refuse those staying there certain privileges, but also threatened to send people like Charest back to prison if they did not co-operate. The sessions, Charest said in a recent interview, lasted about 15 minutes and consisted of the brother touching their genitals, telling them to undress, then masturbating. For Charest, it was always when he needed something - food, money or alcohol, even though he was not supposed to drink as part of his probation.

In exchange, Sarrasin asked that he pull down his pants, let the brother touch him, then masturbate while the brother watched.

"He took advantage of my vulnerability, he used me," Charest said in a recent interview. "Just talking about that now brings up these horrible feelings in me, scars that therapy couldn't erase completely."

After he bought clothes, food or electronic equipment for those at the halfway house, Charest said, Sarrasin told them to keep the receipts, so he could be reimbursed by the order through his petty cash. But they weren't to spend too much, so as not to raise suspicions. Once Charest had left the house, he sporadically saw the brother between 1981 and 1997, when he needed things.

In July 1997, Sarrasin asked for suggestive photos of Charest, who had posed nude for American magazines in order to make some extra cash. The brother said he would use them to masturbate. Charest gave him five photos.

Sarrasin told him he had a night life, during which he cruised Ste. Catherine St. and Lafontaine Park. He would trade food, alcohol, money or clothes with young street boys, many of whom were drug addicts. He had kept a young, HIV-positive male prostitute by the name of Sami for 14 years, since the boy was 14. The brother referred to him as Bambi and the boy called him Papi.

Charest said when he went to the order's lawyer and told him what the brother was up to, the lawyer told him not to go to the authorities because no one would believe his word over the brother's.

Sources say the provincial superior at the time, Robert Réginald, was aware of the Sarrasin's behaviour, but aside from briefly taking away his car and credit cards, nothing was done to stop him. Yesterday, Réginald referred all questions to the present provincial superior, saying he was not aware of anything to do with the brother. And besides, he said, "if anyone took away his car or credit cards, that information is confidential."

In a telephone interview this week, Sarrasin admitted that for many years, he has had a friendship with Sami and with Charest, but insisted he helped them both by buying food, bus passes or paying rent.

Outraged at the allegations of sexual abuse, Sarrasin accused Charest of being a drunk who was trying to blackmail him.

"Did he tell you how much money I spent on him for food? How many times I picked him up off the street because he was loaded? Quelle affaire!"

The brother said he'd heard the rumours about other brothers, that there were "suspicions and maybe misdeeds, but the authorities knew about these things.

"But I'm telling you quite frankly that I feel completely innocent," he said. "If you mention my name in the paper, you will be accusing an innocent man."

-----


Patrick Bannan has been through binges with drugs and alcohol, suicide attempts and two marriages, trying to deal with the abuse he suffered at age 15 at the hands of Brother Julien Hétu, while attending the order's first English institution in Delhi, Ont., as a postulant.

Bannan, who had been raised a Catholic and had several relatives who'd become nuns, said that a week after arriving at the school, Hétu preyed on him.

"He would say things like 'this isn't wrong, this is natural'," said Bannan, his voice shaking with emotion. "I should've done more, I should've fought, but he was the principal of the school."

He said Hétu, who'd spent time in Africa working in the order's mission, told Bannan he preferred "little black boys."

"He drove me to the beach, then he started rubbing me, putting his hands on my privates, kissing me, hugging me and then performing oral sex on me and told me he hoped that I understood and hoped that I wouldn't mention this to anyone," Bannan said.

After eight or nine months, Bannan left, numbing himself to the aftershocks with drugs and alcohol.

Years later, in 1997, Bannan was watching television alone when a talk show came on about sexual abuse. He began to cry, as the pain he had tried to bury for 30 years came pouring out.

He immediately contacted lawyer Joseph Wilby and told him of the abuse he'd suffered. Wilby called the brothers in Montreal, only to be told there was no Julien Hétu. Bannan called himself, pretending to be a friend of Hétu and was put immediately in touch. But he never spoke to him. Instead, the lawyer for the brothers, Emile Perrin, and Wilby, met in Fredericton with Bannan. They cut a deal - $20,000 and Bannan wouldn't say another word about it.

"Réginald Robert, the provincial superior, called Emile Perrin and said I don't want any trouble from New Brunswick," said a source close to the brother's financial affairs.


Hétu, 80, reached at the brothers' large retirement home in Laval this week, said of the abuse and payoff allegations: "This is very sad that this is coming out right before Christmas."

He said the Brothers of Holy Cross had already dealt with his case by paying out "a large sum of money."

"I put it in the hands of the lawyer," he said. "I didn't deny it because the lawyer was looking after it and we didn't want a big court case."

Hétu said he was aware of other abuse cases involving fellow brothers, but said they were all handed over to the order's lawyer and dealt with.

He said all he did to Bannan was "a little bit of touching here and there," but when told how Bannan has been affected by the abuse, Hétu replied, "But what can we do?"

----


Between 1972 and 1979, Holy Cross Brother Gilles Côté, who taught in aboriginal reserves near Sept Îles, would head to the tiny fishing village of Cloridorme, in the Gaspé, to spend his summer breaks hanging out with his young nephew, Richard.

Richard's mother, Huguette Joncas, was thrilled that her son, who had a tempestuous relationship with his father, was spending his summers with a "saint," a religious man who would have a positive influence over her young son.

But several years later, in 2002, she discovered that while taking Richard camping, on trips to the east coast and teaching him how to paint and read sophisticated books, Gilles Côté was also sodomizing, masturbating and having oral sex with Richard.

It all came out when Richard caught his uncle with his hand down the pants of Richard's own three-year-old son. Overcome with anger, he went to the police and Côté was charged, tried, found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison in 2003. The judge noted at the time that he showed no remorse, and that Côté, who has now completed his sentence and is living in one of the brothers' retirement homes in St. Césaire, still posed a danger to children.

Richard Côté has been off work since his uncle's trial, living in an aunt's house since his wife left with their three children.

"He controlled me completely," he said, reached in the Gaspé, where he lives a broken, bankrupt man, divorced and shunned by most of his relatives. "He kept me from my parents, he controlled who I spoke with. When he took me camping, he slept with a gun next to him."

- - -

Where are the brothers now?

Gilles Côté lives in a brothers' residence called Maison St. Césaire in St. Césaire.

Claude Hurtubise lives in Maison Dujarié, on Jean Brillant St., near the oratory, with 10 other brothers and one priest, including Réginald Robert, a former director of Collège Notre Dame who is now responsible for the brothers' archives.

Living in a retirement and nursing home, the provincial infirmary Le Grand St. Joseph in Chomedey, Laval, are: Ulysse Hamel, Julien Hétu, Olivain Leblanc, and the brother who allegedly abused people in a half-way house and home for the disabled.

Charles Edward Smith, former director of Collège Notre Dame, is the superior of Le Grand Saint Joseph.

Gérard Dionne is the assistant provincial vicar, and lives in the Alfred Bessette house.

History of the order

The Brothers of Holy Cross began in France following the French Revolution. It then spread to North America, where its main role was teaching in schools and ministries. There are over 450 brothers in the U.S., and they founded the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, among other schools. Their numbers in Quebec are dwindling, with fewer than 60 brothers in the province, mainly in Montreal.

The order has missions in India, Bangladesh, Haiti and Brazil. Members take vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience.

Roots in Montreal

Alfred Bessette was born in 1845, and after a difficult life became a novice of the Brothers of Holy Cross in Montreal in 1870. He became known as Brother André, and was the doorman at Collège Notre Dame for 40 years. He had to wash the floors and lights and bring in the firewood.

Soon, the sick began showing up to pray to St. Joseph, and he eventually built the first small chapel in 1904 on the St. Joseph Oratory site; it quickly became too small, and was enlarged in 1908 and 1910.

But it was still too small - a large church was needed, and so in 1917 a crypt was inaugurated that could hold 1,000 people. In 1931, the economic crisis temporarily stopped construction of the church, but it was eventually finished in 1936.

Bessette died in January 1936 at the age of 92.

An English unit of the brothers was formed in 1943. They run parishes in the dioceses of Toronto, St. Catharines, Ont., Charlottetown and Edmonton.

Life of a brother today

The brothers are either appointed to a ministry such as half-way houses, working with people with AIDS or the handicapped - or told to go out and get a job, like teaching. Their salaries are returned to the province and put into a common pot. They receive $100 to $200 petty cash a month and their room, board and medical supplies are all taken care of. Vacations are paid for out of the common pot as well.

A small fraternity of four to 30 brothers live together in a house, and are provided with a cook and cleaning person.

"We were never preoccupied with Hydro or gas bills," said Wilson Kennedy, who was the last brother to enter the order and who left last year. "We were never worried like a regular person would be."

Noteworthy graduates

Former premier Maurice Duplessis, musician Gregory Charles, Hydro-Quebec president Thierry Vandal, anchorman Jean-Luc Mongrain, actor Jacques Lussier.

This article was found at:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Ruined+lives+victims/
1040424/story.html

Sexual abuse: Faith can silence victims or provide solace

University of Montreal - Press Release
December 8, 2008

Université de Montréal researcher finds prayer gets some through; others feel guilt

Childhood sexual abuse victims with a strong religious upbringing often report feeling terrible guilt about their assault, which doesn't surprise Jean-Guy Nadeau. A professor of theology and religious sciences at the Université de Montréal, Nadeau has conducted dozens of interviews with women who were sexually abused as children and found the impact of religious beliefs can produce varying reactions.

Nadeau interviewed one woman, who as a child was physically and mentally abused by her mother, yet followed the 10 Commandments to the letter. That meant she could not rebel because she'd been taught to honour her mother and father. Indeed, as a child, the woman felt she had to forgive her mother's behaviour otherwise she'd go to hell.

Another child, sodomized by her father, also felt she had to forgive him or burn in hell, which her abuser used to his advantage. Another woman, who was raped by a neighbor, was blamed by her mother who claimed the victim provoked the assault.

"A child's God can be kidnapped and exploited by an adult, often by the very adult who taught the child about God in the first place," says Nadeau. "It's the victims, not the aggressors, who find themselves silenced and overwhelmed by guilt, pain and isolation."

Kids sometimes deny the existence of a God that doesn't protect children, while others pray their abuse will end and some pray or get through the ordeal. The common thread is that religion is an important resilience factor in abused children. Many kids recite the 21st Psalm, the Lord is my Shepherd: "Yeah though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with me."

Depending on what part of the world they inhabit, Nadeau cautions that victims feel differently about their sexual abuse. In the northern United States, abuse can weaken a victim's faith whereas a southerner can strengthen their belief in God following abuse.

Nadeau plans to further investigate how religion affects people. He is currently interviewing victims of post-traumatic events such as rape, life-threatening illnesses, accidents or war. He is collaborating with Denise Couture, a Université de Montréal professor of theology and religious sciences, as well as researchers from the Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa.

About the Université de Montréal:
www.umontreal.ca/english/index.htm

Complete French version of this news item at
http://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/content/view/2098/221.

Media contact:

Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
International press attaché
Université de Montréal
Telephone: 514-343-7593
Email:sylvain-jacques.desjardins@umontreal.ca

This article was found at:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uom-saf120808.php

Many clergy abuse claimants unhappy with settlements

The Republican - Massachusetts    December 7, 2008

by Stephanie Barry | Republican Staff


SPRINGFIELD - In a conference room at a downtown high-rise, dozens of men who say they were molested by priests learned recently about the economics of abuse.

Gauge the ugliness and duration. Measure the fallout: drugs, divorce, hospitalizations, suicide attempts.

For Daniel B. Daley, four years of alleged abuse by the Rev. Michael H. Devlin, his parish priest in West Springfield, yielded $80,000 in damages.

"They asked me: 'What difference did it make in your life?'" said Daley, one of 59 plaintiffs who in November collectively settled $4.5 million in clergy abuse claims with the local Catholic diocese. "But it's hard for me to say. I don't know how my life would have been different if it didn't happen."

Victims and their lawyers said they feel the settlements did not nearly assuage years of trauma - in Daley's case, starting when he was 11 years old.

But, a representative for the diocese said the church squeezed as much money as it could out of insurance carriers that resisted covering the claims for years.

"We did honestly and earnestly try to reach the best possible settlement that we could with the insurance companies, and turn it around in large part to the victims. We didn't profit from it," said Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, which covers all four western counties.

The settlement followed a $7.7 million resolution with previous victims in 2004, which the diocese paid out of pocket, Dupont said. The more recent settlement was hung up by wrangling between the church and three insurance companies, which ultimately paid out $8.5 million to the diocese in June.

Lawyers, whose fees can be in the range of a third of any settlement, said high legal hurdles under state law, coupled with the juggernaut of clergy abuse claims that overcame the church in Massachusetts and elsewhere, have produced a protocol for victims looking to settle out of court. Claims are unlikely to make it to a jury, considering statutes of limitations for sex abuse crimes, charitable immunity protections and other legal impediments.

The statute of limitations to report sexual abuse in Massachusetts is 15 years; many victims of clergy abuse come forward long afterward. Also under state law, charities are generally capped at $20,000 in terms of civil awards.

"You have a very difficult job in getting past all of those things in any particular case," said Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso, who had 10 clients in this round of litigation with the Springfield diocese, and dozens before them with the Boston archdiocese, where more than 500 victims came forward after the scandal broke in 2001. "So (the claimants) don't have a lot of bargaining power."

According to a Web site set up for clergy abuse watchers - bishopaccountability.org - about 30 cases have gone to trial since 1950.

In this city, former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre was indicted in 2004 in connection with the abuse of two boys during the 1970s. However, the district attorney was unable to prosecute because the cases were too old. Dupre resigned when the allegations became public, and contributed to the settlements received in November by two men who sued him.

As a result of dwindling resources, dioceses here and elsewhere have turned to insurance carriers to satisfy legal claims, and insurance companies have begun to place median sums on the members of "victim pools."

In the most recent round in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, each victim entered into voluntary arbitration with a $75,000 allocation, lawyers said. The diocese waived its charitable immunity and statute of limitations protections as a concession.

After completing questionnaires on the extent of their abuse, each plaintiff met with mediators in a conference room at Monarch Place this fall. Arbitrators were charged with deciding who deserved the $75,000 median, or more, or less. The claimants were obligated to take the sums mediators afforded as a condition of participating.

The overall result, according to lawyers, was a mathematical balancing act that took away from one victim as it gave to another. The diocese set a range of $5,000 to $200,000 for each settlement.

"The first time you give someone $200,000, you take $125,000 over the median amount out of the pool . So, in practice, you can't have many people getting $200,000 unless you have a bunch of people getting $5,000. What you end up with is a cluster around the median," said Durso.

A retired U.S. Air Force veteran who now works as a nurse, Daley, 48, of Holyoke, might be considered one of the lucky ones in the relative world of priest abuse.

Although he is twice divorced, Daley said he has not struggled with depression, homelessness or drug abuse, as scores of other clergy abuse victims have reported.

"Did I think the process was fair? Did I think my settlement was fair? No and no," he said.

But Daley struggled to come up with a number that would have satisfied him.

His lawyer, John J. Stobierski, called the most recent settlement process in Springfield "grossly unfair" in comparison with the last, when he represented virtually all of the victims and negotiated personally with the diocese and its lawyers.

"I think the touchstone was how much a victim could really open his heart and spill his guts, which is unfortunate," said Stobierski, who said he observed variances in awards that he thought missed the mark slightly, but lauded mediators' efforts to be fair nonetheless.

He said the high end in the 2004 settlement in Springfield was around $300,000 and the median far exceeded $75,000.

To that end, Daley and other victims said they can't help but be mindful of settlements in other states that are far higher than their own.

According to the clergy abuse watch site, the average settlement per victim between the mid-1980s and today is $325,000. The last three average settlements listed on the site in Spokane, Wash.; Dubuque, Iowa; and Denver, in 2008 were $180,000, $157,000 and $183,000, respectively.

The number of victims in each case was far fewer than in Springfield in each case, however. Jury awards tend to be much higher, according to reports.

Adelard Pierre "Duke" Dumaine III, 45, of Holyoke, also a victim of Devlin, said he received around the median settlement in the Springfield arbitration. He left the process unsatisfied, noting his medical bills exceeded his award after years of drug abuse, hospitalizations for depression and therapy.

However, he said the diocese offered an in-person meeting with Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, which he found infinitely more rewarding.

"I told him what happened in my life and how it affected me. I am not happy with the financial settlement. I don't think it was nearly enough. But I did feel that he was sincere in his words, and that meant a lot."

This article was found at:

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/many_clergy_abuse_
claimants_un.html

Child abuse cases similar yet so different

The Daily Telegraph - Australia

August 28, 2008

by Dr. Gary Schoener | The Daily Telegraph



OVER the years I have dealt with around 2000 victims of child sex abuse involving clergy.

I've assisted people in bringing complaints about all manner of religious organisations and groups - from Catholic dioceses to Anglican, Jewish organisations and Lutheran Synods.

Most people would be familiar with the US Catholic Church scandal uncovered in the Archdioscese of Boston involving a secret settlement of child molestation claims against at least 70 Catholic priests.

The story made world headlines with some calling it the worst crisis in the Catholic Church in 500 years.

Contrary to what most believe, most victims were known only to their attorneys and the church. Those 500-plus cases in Boston were, for the most part, not public.

The first 15 men I evaluated had not told their parents - and did not plan to. Only a few had told their wives and they often lied to them when they came to see me.

Without confidentiality, most would not have come forward.

Here's a typical comment: "Look, my parents worked three jobs to pay tuition so I could go to Catholic school so as to avoid sex and drugs and bad things and despite their efforts that's what I got. I do not want them to know this, it is of no benefit to tell them."


Hearing of the alleged St Stanislaus College cases it was of little surprise only 13 of as many as 40 alleged victims had come forward. My experience has shown that many victims don't. There is little incentive to come forward as nobody benefits from being identified as a sex abuse victim.

The victim in the Bathurst case who told the police he hadn't told his wife would be the most common case - the rule not the exception.

For some of the victims who are reading the headlines as the story unfolds, the abuse becoming public can help them. As others come forward they can feel less isolated.

Interestingly, the internet was a key ingredient in these allegations coming out. This is not unusual, the same has been true elsewhere in the world. The internet has brought about a major change in that victims can find each other and find support.

However, when stories like these come out, some begin to relive the trauma and develop post traumatic stress disorder.

Others develop incredible rage, especially as they learn that they are only one of many. They do not feel different or "special" any more.

And it's common for the victim to ruminate about the question, "why me?", tending to blame themselves for "letting it happen," or "letting it happen multiple times" or "not reporting it".

The victim who spoke out in The Daily Telegraph described "being herded into a prayer room by a priest chanting 'hypnotic' spells in tongues".

This is one of many ways in which the stage can be set for abuse; however abuse does not require any special techniques - the power of faith in the priest and church is sufficient to do the job.

He also described how the priest or priests in question involved the kids abusing each other.

Again, as horrific as this sounds, this is not new. While many of the cases I have dealt with have eerie similarities to this one, the impact of the sexual abuse on the victim varies dramatically person to person.

It's dependent on many things - the timing in their life, the degree to which the perpetrator was trusted, the amount of repetition, the degree to which fear was induced, the degree of physical pain, and dozens of other factors.

Either way, the impact on their lives can be severe and the course of their life drastically changed.

They lose basic trust in others and have difficulty forming relationships later in life. They have low self esteem and insecurity issues, they are depressed and have suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.

They often question their sexual identity or develop sexual impulse control disorders of their own.

They take to drug and alcohol abuse and become addicts as a way of dealing with their inner turmoil.

The vast majority lose faith in religion or society in general.

Another thing we also see, though, is people have lost their family. Their parents might be devout followers of the church and they don't dare tell them. Or in cases where they have been brave enough to tell them, the parents have not been able to rise to the occasion and don't believe the child.

When I evaluate damages for a court case, one of the things I do is look at their siblings and see how their lives turned out.

You don't need to be a psychologist to say: "My God, something bad happened here to this individual."

* Dr Gary Schoener is a US-based psychologist who has treated more than 2000 sex abuse victims.

This article was found at :

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24251797-5007146,00.html

Dad in maluntrition abuse case gets 15 years

The Arizona Republic - November 1, 2008

Dad in 'vegan' abuse case gets 15 years

by Michael Kiefer

A father convicted of three counts of child abuse for nearly starving his children to death while following a bizarre diet he mistakenly called "vegan" begged for probation Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court so that he could care for the child still in his custody.
Instead, the judge sentenced Blair Parker to nearly 15 years in prison.
"There are certain cases that haunt you," said Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Frankie Grimsman, who prosecuted the case. "There are certain cases you never forget. This is one of them."

In April 2003, Parker's 3-year-old daughter was rushed to the hospital because she was having a seizure. The girl weighed 13 pounds and looked like a concentration-camp casualty. Her 11-year-old sister was the size of a 5-year-old; her 9-year-old brother was no bigger than a 3-year-old.
Parker and his wife, Kimu, both 38, kept the children on a strict daily regimen of prayer, study, chores, exercise and rigid adherence to diet, right down to what liquids they could drink and when.
Then they failed to seek medical help when the children wasted away.
Both were charged with multiple counts of child abuse, and the children were placed in a foster home, where they have thrived. The Parkers later had another child; authorities never charged them in the death of a fifth child, who succumbed to meningitis, allegedly because they did not seek medical care in time.
Kimu Parker went to trial in 2007, was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Blair Parker's trial last summer was before a different judge and jury, and even though he was the parent who planned and executed the near-deadly diet, he was found guilty of lesser child-abuse crimes. Technically, he was eligible for probation.
But at Friday's hearing, Grimsman asked for the maximum punishment, saying that the Parkers put "their religious beliefs over the welfare of their children."
"These children deserve justice," she said.
Parker wept when it was his turn to address Judge Roland Steinle.
"In the last three years of dealing with this situation, I have been humiliated, I have been embarrassed," Parker said.
He appealed to Steinle for the sake of the child who remained in his custody and asked that he be sentenced to probation.
Steinle was unmoved and remarked that Parker was more embarrassed than remorseful. He sentenced Parker to two three-year and one 8 3/4-year prison sentences to be served consecutively.
This article was found at:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/11/01/
20081101parker1101.html

Catholic diocese settles sex abuse cases

SooToday.com - Canada     October 17, 2008

By SooToday.com Staff

Two men who launched multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, claiming sexual abuse at the hands of one of its priests, have reached a settlement with the regional church authority.

The two accusers - Robert Berube and a man who identifies himself only as Claude - allege that Father Jean-Claude Etienne of Warren, near Sudbury, abused them more than three decades ago.

Etienne is no longer living.

The following news release was issued today in Sudbury by London, Ontario-based Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers:

*************************

Father Jean-Claude Etienne victims settle


Almost forty years ago in a small village not far from here a horrible crime was committed; a sexual crime.

It happened not once, not twice but for years against these two men.

But what made this crime so much worse was that these two were not men at that time but only boys.

Even more disturbing was the fact that the perpetrator of these crimes was none other than their own parish priest, Father Jean-Claude Etienne.

After decades of silence and pain and more recently following years of outspoken defiance these men have finally achieved some justice.

I say some and not absolute justice for their abuser died without having to account for his crimes.

Another irreversible fact is that the damage inflicted upon their minds and souls will never completely fade.

Yet for someone from a time and place when a priest could do no harm; today is a day long in coming.

The conclusion of their lawsuits brings them vindication, closure and a measure of healing.

The primary purpose of their appearance here today is to reach out to others who have endured such evil acts.

To let them know that light does exist at the end of what may appear to be an endless tunnel.

During the course of their lawsuits these men learned of other victims of Father Etienne who let that darkness swallow them up when they tragically committed suicide.

Their message is to seek help, seek justice and seek life.

Robert and Claude also wish to thank those who spoke up so that the truth could be known.

Fellow victims and others stepped forward to answer their call.

As a result of the public's awareness of this matter information was obtained which assisted in corroborating their claims of abuse.

Most dramatic of all was the information which was received by my office that a letter was sent to Father Etienne from Bishop Alexander Carter in July 1970.

The letter which was viewed by a witness, warned Etienne to stay away from a number of altar boys due to complaints from their parents.

It listed a number of local boys by name.

To the local Diocese and the Roman Catholic Church, both clergy and faithful, these men wish to issue a public pronouncement.

We are but a pair of many.

There are others who need the gentle hand of truth and justice to guide them out of the darkness.

Please extend your Christian beliefs to the treatment of them.

We the victims of your own wayward shepherds deserve true pastoral care and compassion.

Take action to both heal those wounded and to prevent future causalities of sexual perversion.

Finally, thanks is due to the reporters, the editors and the media outlets who have covered this and similar matters.

Without the exposure and interest generated by the media getting to the bottom of these crimes would not be possible.

Today you truly provide a public service.

Thank you.


This article was found at:


http://www.sootoday.com/content/
news/full_story.asp?
StoryNumber=35137