Extent of abuse cases staggering, official says [Pilla to release "shocking" numbers]

Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ | 01/20/04 | Joel Rutchick and James F. McCarty

[Akron Al]

Extent of abuse cases staggering, official says 01/20/04Joel Rutchick and James F. McCarty Plain Dealer Reporters The top financial officer of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese has warned church leaders to expect "shocking" numbers when local figures are released as part of a nationwide report on the extent and cost of child sexual abuse. The findings from the past 52 years are contained in a survey of the 190 U.S. dioceses conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The results of the survey, commissioned by the nation's bishops, are scheduled to be announced Feb. 27. Many bishops around the country already have publicly disclosed the findings for their dioceses, and Bishop Anthony Pilla is expected to provide an advanced look at the Cleveland diocese's numbers in the next several weeks. At a meeting last month of the Catholic Charities Corp.'s board of trustees, Chief Financial Officer Joseph H. Smith said the millions of dollars the diocese spent on settlements with victims, their treatment and legal fees will be disturbing and larger than any figures yet reported in the media, according to people who were there. "People are going to be shocked," one board member said Smith told the group. Smith, reached at home on Monday, did not deny the reports. But he declined to speak specifically about the Cleveland diocese's numbers. Smith said he had been working on the study when he was suspended by Pilla on Jan. 6 after questions of financial wrongdoing were raised against him. Diocesan spokesman Bob Tayek would not speculate on the impact the report may have. "I wouldn't put [the numbers] in any category," Tayek said Monday. "We'll do that when we reveal them." Some of the factors that contributed to Cleveland's financial burden are already known. In December 2002, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason concluded a seven-month investigation of the diocese that found more than 1,000 people claimed to have been victimized as children by priests and church figures. He also found evidence of accusations against nearly 500 possible sexual offenders, of whom 145 were priests. Those numbers are among the highest in the country. In the Boston Archdiocese, considered the epicenter of the scandal, more than 500 people had come forward with clergy-abuse claims by the end of 2002. The archdiocese recently agreed to an $85-million settlement with 540 alleged victims. Last June, the diocese in Louisville, Ky., settled 243 sex-abuse lawsuits for $25.7 million. And the totals for Boston and Louisville could be even higher. Neither diocese has released its final tally of the cost of the sex-abuse scandal. Smith's gloomy assessment for the Catholic Charities board included warnings that donations are in decline and church attendance has waned in the wake of the sex-abuse scandal, several members said. But Smith also reported to the board that all of the diocese's costs related to sex abuse have been covered by insurance and accounting procedures. Smith said no money from Catholic Charities or the diocese's general fund was used to pay sex-abuse-related bills, which are expected to be among the highest in the country. Critics are skeptical about the accuracy of the study. "We think the numbers will be underreported," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "By announcing the results early, the bishops get to say, Look how open we're being,' and they get to put their spin on the numbers. But how do we know they're telling the truth?" Clohessy asked. Plain Dealer news researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan contributed to this story. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jrutchick@plaind.com, 216-999-4829 jmccarty@plaind.com, 216-999-4858 © 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.

[Loyalist]

I was thinking that these groups might have been used to arrange sexual offences and transport offenders across state borders either to commit same or obstruct justice. Would that fall under RICO?

[saradippity]

Both Max and I have noted a peculiar resistance to even consider what is going on there. If people who live there won't talk about it,if bishops and cardinals like Bernardin are complicit,if the archbishop,who I believe is,Pilarzyk is every bit as bad,how would Rome know about it?

I do believe that Rome has caught on and things are starting to happen but we need to just keep talking about it. You can bet that there are plenty of lurkers from good and bad diocese that read FR,it drives bad people over the brink when they realize that their faithlessness and duplicity are public knowledge. They do not like it one bit and that is one of many good reasons we need to keep it up.

[Diago]

I do believe that Rome has caught on and things are starting to happen but we need to just keep talking about it. You can bet that there are plenty of lurkers from good and bad diocese that read FR,it drives bad people over the brink when they realize that their faithlessness and duplicity are public knowledge. They do not like it one bit and that is one of many good reasons we need to keep it up.

I hope you are right.

[Polycarp IV]

Every Pope is like a sculptor, trying to make his contribution to the perfecting of the Church. JPII is no different. But his part of the sculpture is very intricate, involving some of the most fragile marble in the entire work of art.

He inherited at this time only two tools, because of the duplicity and machinations of those within and without the Flock during the prior decades:

1) A tiny little diamond edged chisel about the size of a popsicle stick (his encyclicals and his travels) and

2)a massive sledge hammer (the traditional forms of discipline available in years gone by.)

He knows that if he swings his sledgehammer, he'll make a lot of dust and noise, and please some folks. But a large piece of the sculpture will fall into ruin (open schism,) a piece that the next Pope might have been able to perfect (Novus Ordo Catholics.)

He also knows that his little chisel is incapable of weeding out the big imperfections in this piece of the marble, and that too must be left to the next Pope.

So instead of making any huge improvements in the form and shape of the overall sculpture, he simply, quietly, and without rest works on those areas where he is able without doing worse damage by trying to do more with his tools than is realistically possible.

And future generations will see the love and tenderness that went into his quiet suffering work, and be in complete awe, because in his day, no one individual could see all the little improvements he had made at the time, improvements that future generations will see and grasp and shed tears of joy to comprehend.

[COBOL2Java]

That is my belief as well. And probably why the Lord has kept JPII on this earth for as long as He has...

[sitetest]

Dear CathFam,

"Every Pope is like a sculptor, trying to make his contribution to the perfecting of the Church. JPII is no different. But his part of the sculpture is very intricate, involving some of the most fragile marble in the entire work of art."

Maybe.

Or maybe he just hasn't been that great an administrator.

The pope is protected from error in his teaching office.

He isn't protected from error in prudential decisions.

It will take a perspective of at least several score years after his death before we'll be able to begin to sort out just what was what.

It's clear that he has upheld the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church, and in many ways, has made deeper and clearer our understanding of the Faith. I believe that for these things, he will be remembered well.

But it will be a very long time before adequate judgement can be made of his administrative stewardship.

It wouldn't surprise me if history judged him as having made do as best as he could with a bad situation. It may be that your analysis may be right.

But it also wouldn't surprise me if history's judgement was more mixed regarding his administration of the Church, or even somewhat negative.

This is an unanswered question.

What does not seem to be a question is that whether he did well or poorly in his administrative decisions and prudential judgements, they were his choices to make, they were decisions and judgements which he had the authority to make, and these were binding on the Church, and never an adequate reason for schism.


sitetest

[saradippity]

If anyone in any of these dioceses tried to say a Latin mass without permission the swiss guard would be sent in.

Think about what you and so many others are saying. Yes, you are all right.

Now take it a step further,someone claims that father is inviting him to his room for a Tridentine Mass. The bishop calls father,father says "that is not true,I have been giving him spiritual direction,he is seeing a psychiatrist because he is a big liar and I prefer you don't disclose that I told you". Do you think Rome would send in the swiss guard?

Now look at the other situation. What if a priest said in his bulletin;"because of the demand for a little more excitement during mass,we are going to start having sex orgies every second Sunday,please come".Now,do you think the swiss guards would be sent in?

So when I said you were right,I meant it but it doesn't reflect on Rome.I hope you can see why equating or comparing the two acts in any way is just not reasonable.

[cpforlife.org]

Great analogy, lets pray it is accurate.

I normally don't engage in these threads but I read many.
I don't see Malachi Martin cited much in discussions related to the Church in the last 40+ years. I have read him "always w a grain or two of salt" He seems to have the best insight in many areas, especially in "Keys of this Blood"

Has he been generally dismissed by the Catholic Cacus on FR?

[saradippity]

What diocese are you in and what do you think happened there? What is your opinion of the bishop/s?

[Polycarp IV]

Has he been generally dismissed by the Catholic Cacus on FR?

Hermann the Cherusker has posted info on Malachi Martin in the past that I found to be credible enough to question his overall motives.

I never trusted him completely because of the shadows around his priestly status, but I have read several of his books.

[cpforlife.org]

cp you idiot! You misspelled Caucus!

Sorry

You better be!

[Joan912]

All anyone needs to do is read "Windswept House" in order to see what has happened/is happening in our chanceries, seminaries, etc. Fr. Martin was incredibly prescient and accurate in his writings. He remained a priest in good standing, although he left the corrupt Jesuit order (with permission from the the Holy Father). May God rest his soul.

[Joan912]

It's incredible how much confusion has been sown in our diocese with these mandates from Glenn-Murray/Diocese. I can't wait until the lid is blown sky-high off of Bishop Pilla's office; I hope to have a front row seat! I may begin a "countdown to Pilla's forced-retirement" calendar...

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[BlackElk]

RICO prosecutions or civil suits cannot be sustained without adequate proof of at least two underlying crimes (called predicate acts) that are specified in the RICO act. I forget what all of them are but there are not many and the most often and easiest to use are either wire or mail fraud or extortion under the federal Hobbs Act. Abortion mills usually use the extortion ploy against pro-life Rescuers by claiming that shutting them down in a Rescue will deprive them of income. This conveniently ignores the disconnect from normal extortion law in that the pro-lifers did not carry away the proceeds for their own use, but never mind.

Taking women across state lines for immoral purposes (Victorian euphemism for illicit sex and usually prostitution) is a violation of federal "White Slavery Acts." I know of no statute prohibiting the sending of lavender queens across state boundaries to indulge in their hobbies. The hobbies may well be crimes especially when perpetrated against the young but the crossing of state borders would not seem to be. Liberals call that the "right to travel" which was discovered by the late Justice William Brennan rooting around in the liberal toolbox of the Fourteenth Amendment "equal protection" clause in the matter of Shapiro vs. Thompson (ca. 1968-70) involving the former Connecticut six-month waiting period before residents of other states could collect colossal Connecticut welfare payments by moving to Connecticut from, say, Mississippi. In any event, crossing state borders as such, regardless of purpose, does not seem to violate RICO.

[BlackElk]

RICO can be alleged in a civil suit in federal court by any lawyer admitted to practice there. I there is a federal criminal conviction as to two "predicate acts", the civil case becomes a slam dunk. Sorry I missed this one when you posted it.

[SuziQ]

However, the numbers are definitely inflated for reasons that combine politics and greed by the trial lawyers.

Yeah, I noticed the statement by the Cleveland lawyer that was eeriely similar to that put out by the Massachusetts Attorney General. Both complained that but for the statute of limitations there would probably be more like 1000 cases. There was no evidence to suggest that Riley might be right, he just wanted to turn the sword in the Diocese for his own political gain.

[PFKEY]

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

I can't picture the kindom of heaven full of bound adolescent boys and loose priests.

[ninenot]

RE: 'white slavery' for homosex activity--a Milwaukee-area priest was doing exactly that: importing foreign nationals for such purposes. He was forced to resign.

RE: RICO--glad to hear that it's not restricted to Federal prosecutors. Not likely, however, that a Cleveland barrister will bring the case.

I firmly believe that the liturgical contortionism practiced over the years by Pilla and his cabinet of advisers, both locally and nationally, is a SURE sign of deviant behavior problems on other fronts. It cannot be a co-incidence.