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.
How many cases going to court were won by priests?
I have fired and and adjusted smoke screens in both combat and service practice. That post is among the best smoke screens I have seen.
Any time there is money, there will be fraud. Look at the 9/11 “hero” firemen who claimed they had PTSD so bad they could not leave their beds and homes much less work — later seen gleefully water skiing with friends or whatever and working other jobs while on Disability. I am not surprised at all that fraud occurs when money is to be made simply on someone’s say-so that something happened.
That report says a lot. Given it was a study commissioned by the UCCB so an in house survey. So I can see the appeal with the RC caucus here.
I am sure we should be comforted that only 12.7% of the abuse cases involved penile penetration and ‘only’ 0.5% involved children ages 1-4. And ‘only’ 15.4% involved “cleric performing oral sex.”
Maybe the bishops should have turned these cases over to the men in the Knights of Columbus. Perhaps the problems would disappear over night so to speak.
>>Over and over again priests who were accused were transferred to other parishes without letting people in the new parish know...>>
I’m getting awfully sick of having to type this, but the psychiatrists said they could cure the priests and return them to the Church. Believing they were cured, they were sent to other parishes to avoid any misunderstandings. THEN the psychiatrists said OOOPS! We were wrong. Blame the psychiatrists, not the church.
Also, remember the quote from Kruschvev when he said, “We will bury you, and we’ll do it from the inside.”
What I see here is a defense of an organization which hid sin to protect its reputation. So articles like this one saying “it was not half as bad” as people think is an awful self examination. As is “we are better than the fallen world.”
My father a member of the Knights of Columbus since after WW II had a much different opinion of these matters as did his brothers in the KoC.
Sure we can go to liberal political sites and find the 54% of Roman Catholics who voted for Obama.
Don't get tired of telling the truth. No money - no long scandal.
So covering up felony child rape is OK because shrinks allegedly claimed (against any real world evidence) that they could cure the perp? So what? It’s still covering up a crime that already happened. Church officials are responsible for their actions, not some unnamed shrinks.
And I thought the excuse was they couldn’t violate confessional privacy?
I will have to dig deeper into the Jay report to find that but truly am not surprised. We were warned people would do this. That is why the church which is confronted with such sin and civil law breaking must have mechanisms in place to remove such clergy and bring them to justice. I think the issue which haunts the Roman Catholic church is the diocese cover ups and hush money along with moving priests around to avoid negative press and potential law suits.
You are correct there are what you would call protestant churches which deviate from the authority of Holy Scriptures and ‘ordain’ women and “marry” sodomites. You would be hard pressed to find any here on the RF nor find those who belong to churches which look to Holy Scriptures as the authority defending such practices.
So you may have to go elsewhere to find a place for you point.
Would you say the USA is the greatest nation in that Western civilization?
Are you serious here?? If you are indeed serious, then I am at a complete loss as to what to say to you.
So blame the psychiatrist is now the defense? Considering the Roman Catholic church has their own psychiatrists you don’t see a problem with this?
So a priest goes from molesting a child to the confessional and it doesn’t have a connection in your mind?
The disconnect in the minds of Catholics is stunning! A priest goes from molesting a child to the confessional to take the confessions of parishioners and there is no connection? Just wow!!!!
You do not represent the majority of the liberal, derelict, degenerate members of the Catholic body of Christ as you guys would like to call yourselves...**
LOL...If I was generalizing, I would have included you guys with that bunch...
Why isn't Cardinal Donald Wuerl excommunicated, then?
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