Posted on 01/18/2014 11:23:29 AM PST by Salvation
January 2, 2011 By TheMediaReport.com
In a stunning ten-page declaration recently submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, veteran attorney Donald H. Steier stated that his investigations into claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have uncovered vast fraud and that his probes have revealed that many accusations are completely false.
Counselor Steier has played a role in over one hundred investigations involving Catholic clergy in Los Angeles. In his missive Mr. Steier relayed:
"One retired F.B.I. agent who worked with me to investigate many claims in the Clergy Cases told me, in his opinion, about ONE-HALF of the claims made in the Clergy Cases were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported a prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse."
(Capital letters are Steier's)
Mr. Steier also added, "In several cases my investigation has provided objective information that could not be reconciled with the truthfulness of the subjective allegations. In other words, in many cases objective facts showed that accusations were false."
Mr. Steier's declaration is a stunner. He is as experienced as anyone in studying the claims of abuse against Catholic clergy in the Los Angeles area. Also among Steier's eye-opening statements:
Steier signed and submitted the declaration "under penalty of perjury" November 30, 2010. Los Angeles County Superior Court officially filed it at 11 a.m. on December 15, 2010.
Steier also took aim at the outspoken advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests):
They maintain an interactive Internet website with a user 'Forum' and 'Message Board,' among other features, where people can share detailed information between alleged victims pertaining to identity of specific alleged perpetrators, their alleged 'modus operandi,' and other details of alleged molestation. In effect, a person who wanted to make a false claim of sexual abuse by a priest could go to that website and find a 'blueprint' of factual allegations to make that would coincide with allegations made by other people. Law enforcement also uses the S.N.A.P. website to attempt to locate new victims and allegations against Catholic priests.
Needless to say, SNAP had a fit at the sight of Steier's declaration. In a frantic press statement dated December 13, 2010, SNAP derided Steier's declaration as a "legal maneuver" that was "among the most outrageous and hurtful ever made by a church defense lawyer." In addition to claiming it will file a complaint with the California Bar Association, it demanded that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony "denounce Steier's claims and to disclose how much archdiocesan money has been paid to Steier." (Gee, the last time I checked, SNAP steadfastly refused to divulge how much of its income is derived from the number of lawyers with whom it closely collaborates!)
Yet there is a glaring absence from SNAP's statement. The organization does not refute nor deny any of the specific claims made by Steier. It simply labels them as "outrageous" and "hurtful." That is hardly a blow to the explosive declaration aired by the veteran attorney.
Yes, Catholic priests terribly abused minors, and bishops failed to stop the harm. That's an undeniable truth. There are few crimes that revolt more than sexual abuse. The abuse of minors is a dark episode that the Church will forever have to live with.
Yet major media outlets have largely ignored a major element to the entire Catholic abuse scandal narrative.
Here is Wall Street Journal writer Dorothy Rabinowitz:
"People have to come to understand that there is a large scam going on with personal injury attorneys, and what began as a serious effort has now expanded to become a huge money-making proposition."
Surprise: Ms. Rabinowitz made her remark in 2005. Since then, the Church has doled out an additional $1 billion in settlements.
Will 2011 be the year that the media finally begins to take a closer look at many of the claims being made? What about the suspicious relationships between SNAP, lawyers, and many in the media? (Vincent Carroll at the Denver Post is a rare voice of acknowledgement: "[F]raudulent or highly dubious accusations are more common than is acknowledged in coverage of the church scandals — although they should not be surprising, given the monumental settlements various dioceses have paid out over the years" (Oct. 10, 2010).)
Stay tuned.
That’s a fact! I watch as they applaud the fact that “only half are true”. Can you imagine? Then they somehow think that by pointing to other organizations or groups doing the same it lessons the fact that there is something terribly wrong with who they follow. If I knew of an organization that I belonged to had done even one tenth of what the RCC has done in this regard I wouldn’t have anything to do with them.
That must be your one trick pony, eh???
The Word of God?
If I knew of an organization that I belonged to had done even one tenth of what the RCC has done in this regard I wouldn’t have anything to do with them.But aren't you on record as equating all organized religions as false? And do not all of them have similar track records with this societal evil that you appear to want to make unique to the Holy Catholic Church?
No...Posting the same page of the word of God in almost every post for the last 4 years regardless of the topic being discussed...
You appear to have a tough time with the truth. Sad.
School teachers abuse children at a 5X greater rate. But you rarely hear that mentioned.
No doubt then CynicalBear has stopped paying taxes to the schools. Right?
What you said speaks eternally! Your definition of Anti-Catholic is anybody that disagrees with your cult. "
Another interesting comment.
First the commenter deliberately misstates what I said by changing words to suit their agenda and now we see this blatant example of mind reading.
People who cannot make a comment without resorting to distortions, outright lies, and mind reading aren't working for Christ.
I think that those people who accused priests had $$$$$ on their mind.
Also, back in the '60's the Church didn't screen priest candidates looking for pedophilia. They do now.
Also, there HAD to have been equal amounts of claim against other males of the cloth. It was just the priests who were accused. People think that there is so much wealth in the Catholic Church. Shows me how stupid they are.
Dioceses are wealthy, middle class or poor--not Catholic Churches.
The beautiful gold/silver plates and chalices used for communion aren't a show of wealth. They are to honor God.
Lol.
Too bad you couldn't record the lawyers' sound of
KA-CHING!!
or
licking of chops in anticipation.
My mother's grammar school art teacher told her that her drawings looked like she drew them with her feet.
At 55 years old my widowed mother did two things;
1. She went to art school and became VERY proficient in water color and etching. The entire family and all her friends have her art work as a memento of her talent. She passed away last year at 94 years old.
2. She decided to be a lawyer. She went to law school four nights a week and finished the course. She took the California Bar exam and passed it the first time. It took Richard Nixon THREE times to pass the bar.
My mother practiced family law from age 60-80 years of age.
Sad that teachers take out their own personal problems with vengeance on the children, even if said children are the BIGGEST pain in the neck. Not their call to do that.
Now why would we need to comment about the worldly organizations that one would expect that type of behavior to be fostered in? Are you saying the School teachers are on the same level spiritually as the RCC? Do school teacher claim to be the “one true church”? Do school teachers claim to be the “body of Christ”?
Render unto Cesar.
I don’t know. I do know that none of them claim to be the only true church. I do know that none of them claim their leaders can forgive sins. I do know that none of them say if you do not belong to that church you are not saved.
“This article is pathetic. Why am I not surprised considering who is paying the attorney fees.”
Wonder if it was the same firm representing the Holocaust deniers.
And the thread that Catholics posted on it is linked to where, exactly?
You’d best tell that to your *Once a priest, always a priest* fellow Catholics.
Apparently they have not gotten the newsflash yet.
Hiding under a rock when the news story is only a couple days old?
Pretending that this is old news is intellectually dishonest.
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