National Conference of Catholic Bishops: It Was All That Permissiveness, That's All

A study commissioned by the Catholic church which is being released to today, entitled “The Causes and Contexts of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010.” concludes it was all that 60s and 70s permissiveness that caused the clergy sex abuse scandals.  At the link you can read the Washington Post's take on the report.  According to Michael Boorstein, a reporter at the Post, the commissioned research concludes that the scandals were "a temporary problem caused by poorly trained seminarians, bishops who focused too little on victims and a permissive culture in the 1960s and 1970s that saw the rise of divorce, marijuana experimentation and robbery."   This is, of course garbage.  The report for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) is historically wrong but precisely the sort of thing those of us who pioneered the exposure of this scandal of come to expect.  It's just another outrage.

At the link, the reponse of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP.) 

Alito at the Red Mass

Remember when Bad Lawyer described the multi-faceted gaming of the lawyers, judges, and law givers, here, in OurState and OurTown by the Catholic Church? 

One of the really disturbing examples of this is the Red Mass, an annual celebration of all things Catholic by zealot Catholic lawyers.  Note:  I am a zealot Catholic lawyer (by training, baptism and faith.) These masses were particularly galling in the years in which the liars at the various Dioceses nationally were denying the crimes of child rape and abuse; who (Bishop Quinn) were threatening malicious prosecution law suits against victims and their lawyers, fighting efforts to expand the statute of limitations, and who were actively covering up the criminal activity (Cardinal Law.)  These jolly little luncheons rubbed the noses of survivors of child rape and molestation in the power of the Church to override the law, to crush justice.  These masses featured the big-Kumbaya with the Justices of OurState Supreme Court, the local bench, the legislators, and the defense bar.  Lovely brass plates (the St. Thomas More awards) were given to honor these great Catholic lawyers who were screwing the victims of the Church out of any semblance of justice.  Thing of the past?

Witness:

Yes, that's Associate Justice Samuel Alito re-administering the oath to the Catholic lawyers of western Michigan.  Here's the link to the story at MLive.com.

Feeling better?  More optimistic?  Hold on to that feeling.

As Bishop Quinn nonchalantly told the Midwest Canon Law Society in his humorous accounting of the murder and dismembering of the parish housekeeper by the New York priest, the Church survived that scandal, they'll survive the child sex abuse scandals.

Quinn, a canon and Ohio civil lawyer was a past recipient of the St. Thomas More award at a Red Mass luncheon, also advise all these Canon lawyers at the same speech, cited above, to go back to their diocese and comb through the personnel files of their priests and pack up the evidence to the Vatican embassy in Washington where there was diplomatic immunity.

It is chilling to think in light of the dump of documents by the diocese of San Diego, in light of the scope and scale of crimes against American children, in light of the active obstruction of justice by the various Diocese nationally, Justice Samuel Alito is comfortable doing what he did in Michigan.  Alito was honored at an "invitation-only" dinner.  Would Justice Alito feel as comfortable at a service for Klan lawyers? 

The San Diego Catholic Diocese Document Dump

At this link you can read comprehensive documents about the pedophile preists of San Diego, California.  The documents were released in the wake of the 2007 financial settlement reached with victims. 

Remember that those of us who brought these lawsuits were telling you the truth.  It's what allows me to hold my head up.

Representing Clergy Abuse Victims Takes Its Toll

Reporter Denise Lavoie at DelawareOnline.com  discusses the toll paid by lawyers in clergy sex abuse lawsuits.  I was one of these. Here's her story:

"Attorney Ray Boucher (pic, right) helped secure a record $660 million settlement from the Los Angeles Archdiocese on behalf of more than 500 people molested by priests. Five days after the settlement was announced, his wife left him.

Eric MacLeish, the hard-charging lawyer whose work for victims helped spur the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law in 2002, later suffered a breakdown, stopped practicing law and got divorced.

And Steve Rubino, once such an observant Catholic he couldn't believe a priest would molest a child, lost his faith and eventually retired from the law.

'It moved me completely out of whatever religious context I was in -- completely,' he said.

The sex scandal that rocked the nation's Roman Catholic Church took a fearsome personal toll on some of the top lawyers who dared to challenge the institution.

While many of them ultimately reaped large fees for their services, the all-consuming workload, the pressure of battling the church and the stress of listening to graphic accounts of children's suffering were debilitating.

Since taking his first such case in 2003, Delaware attorney Thomas S. Neuberger (pic, left) said Saturday, 'the stresses have been immense.'  He and his law partner/son Stephen J. Neuberger now have 98 cases against the Diocese of Wilmington, 14 claims against the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and three involving the Norbertine religious order that operates Archmere Academy.

The elder Neuberger said he went into the sex-scandal litigation as a veteran of intense government corruption and civil rights cases, suing entities from the Pentagon to the Delaware State Police, as well as administrative agencies, counties and municipalities, but, he said, "the difficulty of litigating against the Roman Catholic Church makes cases against the Pentagon look like Little Bo Peep.

'It is at a level of intensity and difficulty that everything else in my experience pales in comparison,' he said. 'These are the most difficult cases in my 36 years of experience.'

Sylvia Demarest, a lawyer who helped win a $119.6 million verdict against the Diocese of Dallas in 1997 and later built a national database on clergy sex-abuse cases, said, 'No one can handle these cases and come out of it the same.'  Demarest, now semi- retired, said she grew frustrated with her inability to heal the wounds suffered by her clients. 'What happens to kids when they're abused and what happens to their brains when they are abused is something that we don't know how to fix,' she said.

The crisis exploded in Boston in 2002, after internal church documents released publicly showed that church leaders for decades had shuffled sexually abusive priests from parish to parish. The scandal spread across the country as thousands of lawsuits were filed by people who claimed they had been victimized.

Caring for people with the aftermath of such victimization weighs heavily on Neuberger.

The abuse survivors are people whose lives have been 'ruined ... people with diagnoses of major depression, suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction, some already having taken their lives, people with a complex of emotional and psychiatric issues,'  Neuberger said. 'The responsibility and burden of trying to hold those people together in the face of the onslaught, the slash-and-burn-delay, is almost overwhelming, almost overwhelming.'

Emotionally rattled

For MacLeish, the clergy cases reawakened memories of being sexually abused as a child.

MacLeish and other lawyers won an $85 million settlement in Boston in 2003 for more than 500 victims. But in the months after the landmark settlement was announced, MacLeish began to unravel. He developed insomnia and nausea, lost 40 pounds and couldn't work.

He was rattled by the image of a 9-year-old boy who was repeatedly sodomized over nine hours by a priest. The boy buried his bloody underwear so his mother wouldn't find out.

'The idea of him going off into the woods and burying his underwear, that really got to me,' MacLeish said. MacLeish had been sexually abused by a family friend during a camping trip at 15. And he had memories of being molested at an English boarding school he attended as a boy.

'I began to realize why I had been doing this work and how much my own abuse had affected me,' he said. He said his pursuit of the church 'was absolutely never about money.' He added: 'The wealth I received was the knowledge that I had really helped my clients and helped to change the Catholic Church.'

Rubino, who retired last year after more than 20 years of representing clergy sex-abuse victims, was incredulous after a family friend came to him in 1987 and said a priest had sexually assaulted her 14-year-old son.  'I said, 'Well, that's impossible. Priests are celibate. What are you talking about?' ' recalled Rubino, who grew up in a large Italian Catholic family.  Rubino, whose law office was in Margate City, N.J., spent the next 15 years becoming a canon law expert. He traveled all over the U.S. and to Ireland, Canada and Australia to represent victims and help other lawyers. Story after story of abuse left Rubino disheartened about the Catholic Church.

'I was a true believer. I said my Hail Marys, my Act of Contrition, I learned Latin, I served Mass, I believed in God,'  he said. 'I don't do any of that now.'  At the height of the scandal, Rubino was working 16- to 20-hour days and traveling constantly. His wife and three children resented it. 'While I was [home], I was never there,'  he said. 'I was a second away from the next text, the next e-mail, the next phone call from a client.'

Rubino's marriage survived, but Boucher's did not. Boucher's wife left him right after the 2007 settlement in Los Angeles.  'She just said, 'Look, you're on top of the world, the press is surrounding you, I haven't accomplished what I want to accomplish in life, and I just don't feel like I can stay with you,' Boucher said.

Before that, Boucher had plowed through hundreds of cases in Los Angeles, and mostly managed to 'box it up and store it away.'  But, at times, the enormity of the pain caused by the abuse was overwhelming.

In 2004, Boucher was editing DVDs of victims describing how they were raped or otherwise molested by a priest. He saw a pile of about 150 DVDs ready to be mailed to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. Each DVD cover had a picture of the victim as a child, as they were when they were assaulted. 'I was stunned. I looked at them, and I'm sure I started to cry,' Boucher recalled. 'I will never lose that image.''

Few have regret, though

MacLeish's marriage also ended in divorce. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he began seeing a psychologist. Within two months, they were sleeping together and their affair led to his divorce, MacLeish said.  Neuberger, 63, said he feels lucky that instead of destroying his marriage, 'the stress has done nothing but pull us together.'  MacLeish, now a professor who teaches civil rights and criminal procedure at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, said he doesn't regret the work he did, despite the toll it took on him and his family.

'There is not one case that I've heard of since 2004 where a known pedophile has been placed by the church into an organization where he would be able to do it again,' he said.

Rubino, 61, now spends time with his family and works as chief executive of a sports performance training center for kids. Rubino said it is a respite from the work he used to do. 'For the hundreds of damaged young lives I represented, the kids at [the center] are at the opposite end of the spectrum,'  he said.

Boucher, 53, continues to represent victims. 'I can't imagine walking away from people who are suffering from the isolation of sexual abuse,' he said. 'I don't know how -- no matter what the personal, emotional toll might be -- I don't know how you walk away from that.'
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I met most of these men or talked to them over the phone in the early years of the clergy sex abuse crisis.  With Jeff Anderson, and many, many others including my former "partner" Nancy, we were the pioneers.  We took on cases that were absolutely "hopeless."  In Chicago, many years ago, we met at the behest of Jeff Anderson and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP.)   These are very fine lawyers who care very deeply about their clients.  Ideas like obtaining and utilizing images of survivors from the time frame of the abuse were exchanged--I had already published a brief here in OurState that incorporated black and white photographs of my then 40 something and 50 something-year old clients in their communion dresses and responded to motions to strike filed by the attorneys for the Catholic Church.

Jeff, Ray, Steve, Sylvia, and Eric have the cold comfort of eventual financial successes; while here, in OurState, the Supreme Court kept the lid sealed on the statute of limitations and the OurState General Assembly, until very recently, kept the limitation period at 1 and 2 years for victims of sex crimes.

Setting the aside the stress of a client-base, of victims of crimes on the level of soul and spiritual death as well as clients who committed actual suicides--my financial debts, and judgments accrued in the years of that effort will not go away absent some sort of unforeseen miracle.   If this sounds like the "poor me"s, yeah I'm feeling pretty low as I write this.  Almost twenty years ago, I was warned by a psychologist that the risk of acquired-PTSD was a real.  As this story accurately sets out, as an attorney having clients who have suffered these sorts of horrors and dealing with defendant with bottomless resources to crush them and you--well there's not enough money to make it worth it.

And yet, the effort by Anderson, Boucher, Demarest, Rubino, and we idiots from OurState--did change the world.  Think about this, twenty years ago, victims who came forward were dismissed as crazy, liars, fraudsters--in many cases by their own families.  I sat through deposition after deposition while these courageous men and women had their sex lives cross-examined under a microscope by lawyers for the Catholic Church.  Judges in OurState thought that was fair game, after all, these Judges were for the most part Catholic, and educated in Catholic elementary, middle, high schools and universities.  The Catholic Church gamed the system, and when the public pressure lets up, they'll game it some more.  The Church crushed me, of course, I played my own Bad part in creating and ignoring the financial black hole.

I'm exhausted, just thinking about it.  I'm shedding the tears, still.

Pediatrician Charged with Exchanging Child Porn, Not a Re-Run!

AZCentral has the report of a Sun City (Arizona) physician charged in federal court with possessing, and exchanging pornographic images of children.  Worse the physician is a a pediatrician bringing to mind the case of Connecticut pediatrician Dr. Earl Bradley featured here and at newsites around the world last December. 

What follows is an excerpt for Stepahnie Russo and Brennan Smith's account:

"A federal judge on Friday issued the release of a Sun City pediatrician accused of sharing thousands of pornographic images of children. Dr. Emilio Luna, 40, is charged with distributing child pornography in interstate commerce. Conditions of his release include that he surrender his passports, wear an electronic monitoring device and not have access to children or the Internet.

Authorities said Luna would not be released until those conditions were met. It was not clear if he remained in custody Friday evening.

Federal authorities arrested Luna on Wednesday after nearly a three-month investigation into the file sharing activity of "Speeedi69." A federal criminal complaint said someone with that user name shared files depicting sexual exploitative images of children engaging in sexual acts, at times with adult men.  FBI Cyber Crimes Squad agents traced the user name's Internet protocol address to Luna's home in Sun City, where he lives with his parents. Agents executed a search warrant of the residence Tuesday, according to the complaint.

During a search of Luna's bedroom, investigators seized two laptops, a desktop computer, four external hard drives and approximately 300 DVDs and DVD-Rs, some of which were encrypted. Investigators also found multiple passports and approximately $15,550 in a file folder in his closet.

Luna began working at Desert Valley Pediatrics in January of this year. Authorities do not know if any of the images were of patients from the West Valley practice [ . . . ]According to the office's website, Luna received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1996 and has been practicing pediatrics for over 10 years in California, Texas and Arizona.

His practice has been at least temporarily halted. On Friday, Luna signed a voluntary practice restriction on his medical license with the Arizona Medical Board. The restriction prevents him from practicing medicine in Arizona indefinitely, Executive Director Lisa Wynn said.

A conviction of distributing child pornography carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office"
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In the Earl Bradley case there is alleged, definitive evidence that monstrous crimes were committed by the pediatrician over many years against his patients.  That is not this case in the matter of Dr. Luna, yet. 

One of the most heart-breaking aspects of the Clergy Sex Abuse scandals was the place of honor held by clergy-perpetrators in the minds and memories of parishoners.  Those perpetrators baptised, educated, confirmed, routinely gave out sacraments, and blessings and of course presided over weddings and funerals.  The priest/perpetrators were frequently honored guests in homes, and alawys memorialized in family photos often prominently displayed on mantelpieces. 

I am reminded of these facts, because those of us who brought the original claims arising of child sex abuse by priests we were villified, threatened and insulted in the media.  I related here on Bad Lawyer how a woman I still occasionally encounter, asked me at the time "how do you sleep at night?"  This after I revealed information that a local icon/priest was a serial child molester eventuating his removal.  Her husband, the son of a local judge published my address and suggested that my home be vandalized. Eventually, a Vatican canonical trial found this vile Pastor guilty and he was "defrocked."  A locally reknwoned columnist called me "one of those lawyers who believes everything his client tells him." 

"Professionals" have the capacity to do great good and great injury.  Our licensure opens doors to degrees of intimacy and thus the opportunity to violate trust at the most fundamental level.  My struggle over the last year has been to embrace precisely how I did this not only to my family but to the clients who actually looked to me to advocate for them.   A dear old client, calls me still even within the last couple of days to talk about the currents in the crises of the Catholic Church and I am at a loss to say anything at all other than to remind him that I can make those arguments for anyone anymore.

Kiddie Porn Arrest of LaCrosse Diocese (Wisconsin) Priest, And a Comment on The Vatican's New Sex Abuse Policy

The Bad Lawyer has marshaled over the last year lots of anecdotal evidence of the widespread "appeal" of kiddie porn in an effort to make the point that this crime is not limited to someones creepy hillbilly uncle Fred.  Here on Bad Lawyer we've seen the arrest ad prosecution of persons from all social classes and all occupations including lawyers, judges, law enforcement, social workers and physicians.

This story at TwinCities.com about Father Patrick A. Umberger a LaCrosse, Wisconisn priest is a slightly more disturbing report, and not because Umberger's a priest.  He is also the webmaster of the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin!  This is from Todd Richmond's account:

The Rev. Patrick A. Umberger, the Diocese of La Crosse's webmaster, faces one felony count punishable by up to $100,000 in fines and 25 years in prison. Among several images of children that state department of justice agents discovered on Umberger's computer were three photographs depicting boys and possibly a girl in sexual positions, according to the complaint.  Umberger, 59, has served as pastor at St. Patrick's Parish in Onalaska since 2005. He also teaches at the parish's school and serves as chaplain at Aquinas Middle School in La Crosse, according to his website.

The Diocese of La Crosse has stripped Umberger of his duties 'to protect all parties involved,' according to a Thursday statement from diocese attorney James Birnbaum. However, the diocese cautioned the move should not be taken as a sign of Umberger's guilt or innocence.   Umberger, who was arrested Wednesday, was released Thursday on a $10,000 signature bond and ordered not to have contact with children or use a computer. Online court filings did not list a personal defense attorney.

The case against Umberger began when police received a report that he had been acting 'suspiciously' at a Lake Delton water park in July 2009, according to the criminal complaint. A family had told Noah's Ark Water Park employees that Umberger was sitting near a kiddie pool and following boys into the men's restroom, and the employees called police, according to a Lake Delton Police report. Umberger told an officer he had a season pass and was near the restrooms because he had prostate problems and had to urinate often, the report said.

The officer told Umberger that park officials had revoked his season pass and drove him to his car. The officer noted she questioned Umberger for an hour and he never had to use the restroom. Noah's Ark Operations Manager Justin Strayer said in a statement Thursday that Umberger remains on the park's watch list.

Lake Delton officers shared the report with police in Onalaska, who discovered Umberger had a website as well as a Facebook account that listed many young boys as friends. Onalaska police turned the case over to the state Justice Department.  During an interview with a justice department agent Wednesday, Umberger denied any inappropriate sexual contact with children during his 30 years as a priest and said nothing inappropriate happened at the water park, according to the criminal complaint.

Umberger allegedly told the agent, however, that he found people could become sexually attracted to him when they were 12 or 13 years old and he was attracted to boys between the ages of 12 and 15 or older. Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland ordained Umberger in 1980. Weakland resigned as archbishop in 2002 after admitting the archdiocese secretly paid $450,000 to a man who accused Weakland of sexual abuse.

Umberger served multiple stints around central and western Wisconsin, including stops at parishes in Arcadia, La Crosse, Mauston, Wonewoc and Elroy. He describes himself on his website as a self-taught computer user, saying he bought his first computer in 1984 through the mail and never has had a computer class of any kind.

In August 2005 then-Bishop Jerome Listecki, now the archbishop of Milwaukee, named Umberger webmaster for the Diocese of La Crosse and the following year he was named to a committee to select software for the diocese.

Jessica Kircher — an associate of Birnbaum, the diocese attorney — said in an e-mail to the Associated Press that the diocese was not aware of Umberger's alleged inappropriate computer use. Milwaukee Archdiocese spokeswoman Gillian Lester-George said in an e-mail that Listecki was "surprised and saddened" to hear about Umberger's arrest.  'Archbishop Listecki had no previous indication that there were any potential issues that would have prevented Fr. Pat from serving in public ministry,' Lester-George wrote."
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Sometimes perpetrators of these crimes explain themselves, Father Umberger seems to be willing to own what's obvious, he was "attracted" to young boys and was "aroused" by images of these children. 

Here we have the conundrum for my Church which has once again expressed its will that priest be celibate and that the ordination of women is a "grave" crime.  Don't get the connection?  The Catholic Church does that's why it reiterated these ideas as part of it's new expression of policies relating to child sex abuse by clergy. 

My Church is hip to the digital world, but continues to demand that the faithful embrace its fantastic delusion that the sexuality in the male human beings that are its priests can be sublimated to make them more perfect representatives of Jesus Christ on earth.  This, sadly, continues the willful blindness and stupidity by the pathetic old men in the Vatican, and their zealous defenders in the incredibly shrinking world of Catholicism in America and around the world.

Doe v. Holy See, Goes Forward

On the last day of the term, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the appeal of the Holy See (the Vatican, the Holy Roman Catholic Church) seeking dismissal from a child sex abuse suit as a Sovereign Power--an argument I discussed in the first days of this "blawg."  This is a good development in the evolution of the Rule of Law.  Expect St. Paul clergy sex abuse lawyer, Jeff Anderson to seek the Pope's deposition in coming months and the hysterical arguments over those discovery efforts.  At the link you can read the Chicago Sun Times' background story on the case that was filed more than 8 years ago!

John Waters on Criminal Intent

The Sunday New York Times Magazine has a too short interview with one of my all time favorite cultural critics, film director and wit, John Waters who had this to say about justifiable homicide:

[New York Times Writer, Deborah Solomon] Is there anyone you would actually kill if you knew you could get away with it?


[John Waters]I find it repellent when people do yoga exercises at the gate in airports. I want to kill them.

[Deborah Solomon] That’s reasonable.

[John Waters] There are little things that get on my nerves, like people who have reading material in their powder room. When you go in someone’s house, and next to the toilet they have a huge basket of magazines, I find that repellent. I recommend against straining while reading.
____________________

Waters also had some compelling observations about Leslie Van Houten, the Manson killer, victims of crime and one brilliant statement about Pope Benedict:

"[Deborah Solomon] As a Catholic who attended parochial school, do you have any sympathy for the pope?

[John Waters] No. I feel that Catholics who hide child molesters in the church are worse than child molesters. I don’t think anyone chooses to be a child molester. I think they’re terrible; I think they rob children of their dreams; they should be stopped. However, clergy that hide them do have a choice, and I think they’re worse than the molesters themselves."

I have been trying to say the same thing for years with thousands of words, and Waters says it all in a tossed off bon mot that is right on the bullseye.  Brilliant.   For more John Waters including a lengthy discussion fo the Manson killings check the Fresh Air airchive at NPR.

Georgia Judge, Inactive Law License, and Foul Mouth--Gets Reprimanded

The Georgia Judge, Kristina Cook Connelly Graham, daughter of famous Georgia Trial Attorney Bobby Lee Cook (purportedly the model for "Matlock," don't miss reading a terrific ABAJournal profile at the link), --was reprimanded in an Order of the Georgia Supreme Court.  Apparently Judge Choose-a-Last-Name is an arrogant and obnoxious jurist in person.  She is spectacularly disrespectful to other lawyers, law enforcement and public servants.  Not news, folks--this is pretty common.  What's not common is when the Judge lets his or her law license lapse and continues to act as a Judge! 

That's amazing!  What's really unusual is that the various states make it easy as pie for Judges to obtain their continuing legal education requirements while lawyers have to go to considerable  inconvenience.  Judges get paid while attending these "cle" classes.  Usually cle coursework is free to our public servants.  Lawyers on the other hand use their own time and money to get into compliance.  While you can see how someone could inadvertently let a deadline slip, in OurState, a computer kicks out your name and you are publically suspended unitl you pay a small penalty and bring yourself into compliance.  That this Georgia situation could happen really raises some startling issues--like:  are the matters for which Judge Choose-a-Last-Name issued orders, valid?  Five years! 

This made me reflect on double standards in OurTown.  Here there is a major courthouse named after a famous politician who ended his career on the local bench despite being busted on one or more occasions for shop-lifting.  There is also a Law School named after another famous lawyer/rainmaker who notably forgot to bring his license into compliance.  Some lawyers pay, some lawyers pay more, and some lawyers get buildings named after them.

Florida Lifts Statute of Limitations for Arising Out of Child Abuse

Florida's Govenor, Charlie Crist has signed into law a bill (HB 525) lifting all limitations on civil and criminal actions arising out child sex abuse.  The organized opposition came from the Florida Catholic Conference.  The stated reason, the removal of the statute of limitations would create uncertainty for organizations like the Roman Catholic Church, according the reports in the Flordia press.  Here's a novel idea, don't abuse childrern, don't tolerate abuse of children, report all abuse of children.  Uncertainty vanishes, like the stain on the Church's clerical robes. 

Chicago's Father Przybylo Sues, Says He's Not a Child Molester, and Don't Read Anything Into the Payment of a $1.1 Mil to My Victim

The Chicago Tribune is reporting on the defamation lawsuit filed by Father Chester Przybylo, the former pastor of at a Polish Parish in a western Chicago neighborhood.  This is from the article by Cynthia Dizikes:

"A pastor of a west suburban church who was accused of molesting a 13-year-old Polish immigrant two decades ago filed a lawsuit against his accusers in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, alleging they intentionally ruined his reputation.  [The priest .  .  .] was accused of molesting a 13-year-old Polish immigrant two decades ago filed a lawsuit against his accusers in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, alleging they intentionally ruined his reputation.  The lawsuit comes about a month after the sex-abuse case was dismissed. It accuses the immigrant, his lawyers, and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) of defamation, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. The Rev. Chester Przybylo, 59, is asking for at least $500,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

'It is a matter of clearing his name, setting the record straight,' said Przybylo's lawyer, Walter Maksym.  In 2006, Przybylo was accused of molesting the teen while serving at Five Holy Martyrs parish in Chicago in the late 1980s. The Chicago Archdiocese was named as a defendant.  Przybylo, who for the last decade has been pastor of the Shrine of Christ the King in Winfield, denied the allegations. The archdiocese settled with Przybylo's accuser for nearly $1.4 million.  But Maksym successfully moved to have the case against Przybylo dismissed in December based on an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that clarified the time frame in which sexual-abuse survivors can file lawsuits.

Przybylo is claiming that he 'suffered and endured acute nervousness, bodily pain and ruination and impairment of his reputation for honesty and integrity' because of the accusations and media attention. Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, called the accusations 'frivolous' and defended the attention that her group paid to the allegations of abuse.  An attorney for the accuser stressed that Przybylo's case was thrown out based on a technicality and not on its merits."
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Disclosure:  I know and I have worked with Barbara Blaine.  She is a courageous lawyer, a social activist and one of the real  reasons priests and the Catholic Church are held to account for sex crimes against children not just in the United States, but all over the world.

Father Przybylo has just stupendously blundered, and the attorney who filed this lawsuit is going to rue the day he drank Father Przybylo's koolaid. 

Your archdiocese does pay a victim a million dollars+ away for no reason, had Father Przybylo actually been exonerated he would not be working a "shrine."  In my opinion, Father who skated on a "statute of limitation" defense is confusing a dismissal based on the elapse of time with being deemed exonerated.  Idiot! 

Here's what would not surprise me.  The archdiocese of Chicago is in the long drawn out process of "laicizing" or defrocking, Father Przybylo--who won't go quietly;  Przybylo is fighting the archdiocese's canon lawyers who are seeking to defrock him.  The civil lawsuit is part of his clerical defense.  Do not be at all surprised when Przybylo quietly dismisses the defamation lawsuit.   You see, when Przybylo filed this lawsuit and made allegations about his mental health, he opened himself up to "discovery" and suddenly every document in the hands of the archdiocese, every document in Father Przybylo's custody is suddenly fairgame in the defense of his accuser and SNAP.  Not only that, Father Przybylo is subject to being psychologically assessed by the expert of the each of the named defendants, depending on how many named defendants, Father can be required to attend and submit to multiple evaluations.  Father Przybylo will have to undergo deposition and answer all sorts of questions, that he apparently, thus far avoided by virtue of the statute of limitations defense. 

I'm not a fortune teller, but I predict that Father's little legal show will go away quickly and quietly.   It was ill-advised.

Your Pastor Did What?!

Pastor Keith Pettis is accused of statutory rape of a 12 year old female parishioner.

He may or may not be guilty, but this we know, his church "vows to support him," according to the Charlotte Observer.  According to the Observer, the girl, now 14 lives in another N.C. town, claims the abuse began in August 2006 and continued until March of this year.  The Gaston County, North Carolina prosecutor has indicted the pastor.


The pastor's church held a rally for their spiritual leader on Tuesday.  Michelle Brown, one of the pastor's parishioners is quoted as saying "I believe in his innocence, . . . I don't believe that he did this."

I got news for Ms. Brown and her fellow parishioners, get ready to be disappointed.  At this Blawg, I"ve talked about my work with victims of clergy abuse, I deposed the Auxiliary Bishop in charge of investigating clergy sex abuse claims for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops focusing at one point on the issue of "false allegations" against priests.  Bishop, A. James Quinn, the point man for the Catholic Church in America was no shrinking violet--he is a canon and civil lawyer.  Quinn had been quoted in the press as threatening retaliation against lawyers and persons making false accusations against priests.   So, how many cases of false charges had he encountered, . . . none.

There was a particularly vile priest who had molested many boys in his parish over decades--when I leveled charges against him he aggressively fought the allegations.  Father's parish held support rallies, I was threatened, my house was vandalized.  He was guilty.  After a canonical trial, he was defrocked.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1086250.html