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.
Like I said before Mass attending Catholics that voted for Romney dwarfs any protestant denomination in the country.
You need to worry about the 15% of the population that are black in this country that voted 97% for Obama. That’s a hell of a lot of votes.
I am optimistic in thinking my ancestors were of those churches that your religion spent most of its history trying to destroy...
Without the Catholic Church there is real good chance there would have never been a United States. Ever heard of guy named Christopher Columbus, you know the one who discovered the American continent. Guess what, he was a Catholic. He was acting under the direction of Catholic monarchs. And that “false gospel” that the early Spanish priests spread all over the New World was the reason the country we now call the United States of America exists today.
Nonsense...The original Colonies were Protestant...Protestants came over on the 2nd trip of the Mayflower...Protestants landed at Plymouth Rock...Catholics were spread out around the Great Lakes and other remote areas...
Even the so called Catholic State, Maryland was inhabited by mostly Protestants...
The red/blue map does not support your assertions.
No, dear. When I DO have something to say to you, I will ping you. Why do you always seem so quick to complain to the moderator? I think it's kinda creepy, like grade school tattling to the teacher.
Well duh! I’ll bet anyone who is interested can backtrack a few screens to easily see who it was you were addressing that PERSONAL attack against and accusing her of lying. “Mutually exclusive” my big toe! What I know is that skating, or trying to that is, the RF rules against this behavior is not a strong suit.
I can only imagine how incredibly frustrating that must be for faithful Catholics in America. Perhaps if Pope Francis has the moral backbone many are hoping he does, Pelousi's trump card will be rendered void because he will remove Wuerl and all the others that play the game of debauchery roulette and leave the consequences up to God. I believe that God really would honor such a cleansing and your church will benefit greatly once it's over. I don't see how it can get much worse. You have my sympathy.
Romney was an interesting case for pro life conservatives. I did not support him in the primaries given Santorum was the best pro life candidate.
Romney’s history as a pro abortion governor and the fact he did not sign the pro life pledge as did the other GOP candidates, made voting for him a tough decision. But knowing any vote for a third party candidate was a vote for Obama I held my nose and hoped Romney would make good with his statements.
We are entering an era of politics where the GOP will continue to present us with candidates who have little difference from their demoncrat opponents. We see that now with the sodomite issues. Do we really expect a GOP presidential candidate in 2016 will support a traditional marriage amendment platform? No way they will side step the issue and say let the states decide. But we know that is a cop out given every week states with traditional marriage laws are being shot down by federal judiciary fiat.
So for any GOP candidate to get the nomination next go around they will focus on fiscal issues since that is all they have left to get votes. Yes a very bleak picture indeed.
I have no hopes that this Pope will do any such thing. He has elevated Wuerl, placing him in the Congregation for Bishops. In other words, Wuerl will be sending more homosexual bishops to America.
And this Pope has brought Cardinal Sean O’Malley into his inner, inner circle. O’Malley just gave an award, in Boston, to a prominent pro-abortionist. O’Malley presided over the stomach-turning canonization of Ted Kennedy.
The Joseph Bernardin machine placed homosexual pro-abortionists as bishops throughout the U.S.
Archbishop Pio Laghi, Apostolic Delegate for many years, wrote about how he was instructed from Rome: The American bishops are to be allowed to pick their own successors. The homosexual pro-abortion Democrats have been picking their successors for several generations.
Do you really realize how idiotic that statement sounds?
I'd say that it's a pretty safe bet that MANY homeschooled kids have guns at "school" and more power to them.
Really? Posting private messages on the open forum is not a "for your eyes only" message.
You did.
And the Catholic church has ordained homosexual priests and retains those who they knew are homosexual or homosexual supporting.
No Catholic is in ANY position to cast any stones in that regard.
Yes, indeed. Thank you for that kind of honesty.
You just shot to the top of my “Catholics Whom I Respect” list.
WHAT?
As in canonizing him for sainthood??
A figure of speech.
Kennedy’s funeral was totally inappropriate for a person who had made war on the unborn and the Catholic Church for decades.
Only the Pope canonizes anybody.
You mentioned “the poster” in your remarks. That’s what I thought you meant.
Show me where I used the word “private”, If you can’t well I guess than you are just bearing....... again.
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