Posted on 08/31/2002 8:30:23 AM PDT by Diago
Group pushes for top U.S. bishop to stop priests from suing accusers
08/31/02
Tom Breckenridge Plain Dealer Reporter
A group representing those who say they have been sexually abused by priests is calling on the nation's top bishop to stop priests from suing their accusers.
In Cleveland and four other dioceses, priests have filed defamation lawsuits against their accusers.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, calls it a "brutal legal tactic" that will discourage other victims from coming forward.
SNAP wants Bishop Wilton Gregory, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to end the practice.
But Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the conference, said neither Gregory nor the conference has the power to keep priests from pursuing "a basic civil right."
"The reality is that this is America, and people have the right to defend their name," Walsh said.
In the Cleveland diocese, SNAP has called on Bishop Anthony Pilla to demand that the Rev. Joseph Seminatore, 60, drop his defamation lawsuit against three accusers and their two lawyers.
The accusers claimed in a July 11 lawsuit against the Cleveland diocese that they were victimized in the mid-1980s by Seminatore, while he was chaplain at a Parma treatment center for troubled children. The priest sued his accusers Aug. 20.
Seminatore is among 15 priests the Cleveland diocese has put on administrative leave while allegations of sexual abuse are investigated by a lay review board and the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.
In a recent letter, SNAP called on Pilla to discipline Seminatore for naming an accuser and attacking his character. The accuser has a criminal record and filed for bankruptcy last year, the lawsuit noted.
Diocese spokesman Bob Tayek said the diocese has no policy preventing priests from filing such lawsuits.
"The priests in our diocese can act under their own volition to take such an action," said Tayek.
Priests also have sued accusers for defamation in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; St. Louis; and Orange County, Calif., according to SNAP.
The lawsuits violate the spirit of promises American bishops made in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy said yesterday.
Bishops crafted the charter in June in Dallas as a national policy for a quick and pastoral response to reports of sexual abuse.
"We're not saying priests need to forfeit their rights, but they need to defend themselves in an appropriate and Christian manner," Clohessy said.
Lawyer Kenneth Seminatore, who is representing his accused brother, noted that Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services in June found allegations against his brother "unsubstantiated." Yet Rev. Seminatore remains on administrative leave.
"When priests are falsely accused, there's no recourse but the protection of common law," Kenneth Seminatore said.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
tbreckenridge@plaind.com, 216-999-4695
© 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
Copyright 2002 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.
What the hell does that mean? David Clohessy's brother, Kevin, is a former priest who has been accused of molesting a male college student. I wonder what tune David would be singing if the accusations against his own brother were unfounded.
A false accusation ain't brutal tactic, huh?
So should all civil cases about slander, liable, loss of reputation concerning those who are NOT priests be stopped also?
This is nonsense. Make a false accusation in the secular world, you suffer the consequences. Sounds reasonable for the church world, too, or does SNAP want the Church to now turn the "other" cheek?
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