Posted on 10/12/2002 7:46:02 AM PDT by yankeedame
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Former nun files lawsuit--Accuses sisters in Covington of sexual abuse
By The Associated Press
DANVILLE, Ky. - A former nun alleges in a new lawsuit that she was sexually abused by nuns in the 1950s and '60s in northern Kentucky.
Emily Feistritzer, 61, of Washington, D.C., is a Danville native who was offered a scholarship to attend Villa Madonna Academy when she was an eighth-grader at the old SS. Peter and Paul School in Danville, according to her lawyer, Robert Treadway of Lexington.
Ms. Feistritzer named Villa Madonna Academy and St. Walburg Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Covington, formerly known as St. Walburg Convent, as defendants in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Boyle Circuit Court.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages. It says Ms. Feistritzer has spent more than $200,000 on psychotherapy for more than 20 years.
Mr. Treadway, who has also brought a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Lexington, said Ms. Feistritzer's case involves recovered memory. He said she began to recover the memories a year ago through psychotherapy.
Ms. Feistritzer, the president and founder of the National Center for Education Information, a private research group, said her case “is not unique. I don't think this is an isolated case.”
Mark Guilfoyle, a Walton lawyer who represents both defendants, said: “We have not been able to substantiate any of her claims, and we plan to contest the lawsuit.”
Ms. Feistritzer's allegations involve incidents from 1955, when she entered the academy, through roughly 1961. She left in 1971.
Ms. Feistritzer alleges that she was “repeatedly sexually molested” by a science and mathematics teacher, Sister Eugene, whose real name is Rosemary Imbus.
In 1959, during her first year at St. Walburg Convent, Ms. Feistritzer alleges, she was molested by Sister Christopher, whose real name is Marlene Bertke.
Ms. Feistritzer also alleges she was fondled by Sister Terrance. She does not remember the nun's real name, the lawsuit says.
Mr. Treadway said he thinks Ms. Imbus and Ms. Bertke are still alive, but is uncertain about Sister Terrance.
Mr. Guilfoyle said all three women left St. Walburg years ago and are no longer connected in any way with the convent or Villa Madonna Academy. Their departures were unrelated to the allegations in the lawsuit, he said.
Ms. Feistritzer further alleges that she reported Sister Terrance to the mistress of novices, Sister Martha, whose real name she does not know. No action was taken and the alleged incident was not reported to the police, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says Ms. Feistritzer also reported Sister Terrance's alleged conduct to Sister Zachary, who is now known as Sister Rita Brink, the current prioress of St. Walburg. Sister Brink declined comment and referred questions to Mr. Guilfoyle.
I have those all the time...
Oh really? Care to share your "proof" with us?
Do these bad things still happen to you? If not and I assume they are not, you are over it. The problem with this thought process is, suppose those who perpetrated these bad things on you are still doing the same things to others, today! Would you want them to stop?
I agree those that use the legal system for financial gain should be ashamed of themselves but, to think that only male priests would be guilty of these crimes is far fetched.
This practice must be stopped! One would hope it is safe to go to any church un-molested.
From The Pedophocracy;
"Paedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose ... I am also a theologian and as a theologian, I believe it is God's will that there be closeness and intimacy, unity of flesh, between people ... paedophiles can make the assertion that the pursuit of intimacy and love is what they choose. With boldness, they can say, 'I believe this is in fact part of God's will.'"
Ralph Underwager, 'expert' witness for the defense in scores of child abuse cases and former vocal member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, in an interview in Paidika (a pro-pedophilia publication), conducted in June 1991
Another interesting article in relation to the "FMSF is linked below"...
The problem is that it is demonstratable that this methodology induces "false memories" by means of suggestion in susceptible individuals.
That said, of course there is abuse by nuns. However, people abused don't forget it. They may supress it if they are kids who are powerless, but they don't forget it.
Wrong. The "FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME FOUNDATION has been shown to be a crock.
It is not respected in the psychological "profession".
Wrong again. Claims of "false memory syndrome" have no basis in scientific fact, and are the result of fraudulent claims made by those who promote pedophillia.
I hope the accuser can at least help expose and purge any of those that are still practicing this today. Nothing can be done after forty years for an individual that experienced this but, as I said, if this can purge those that practice this today, at least her rediculously late lawsuit will stop the present practice if it exists. I'll bet it did and does. Time will tell! The closet door is open.
Save GODS house.
No matter what religion it is.
This case raises the question - not of "recovered memory", which is plenty dubious - but of a hypnotized witness, which is usually outright inadmissible.
In any case, after 40 years, the guilty parties are almost certainly all dead, and I doubt they recounted their sexual exploits (if any) to their successors. You have to wonder - why, in a substantial girls school, only this one woman and only after 40 years?
This smells like a get-rich-quick scam.
It's why there are statutes of limitation. They should apply in civil cases as well.
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