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2006
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Would you like to update the news in
the field of sexual boundary crossing by clergy on a daily basis? Click on this link for
daily updates of clergy abuse (predominantly American & Canadean
newsitems).
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Help
For Victims of clergy-abuse Groups
offering support and help to clergy-abuse victims include: SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
is an advocacy group for victims, www.snapnetwork.org,
877-762-7432, www.snap-greatplains.org. Survivors Network Minnesota is a
volunteer organization of survivors of childhood sex abuse (not just clergy
victims) and their supporters that works on legal and other fronts. www.survivorsnetworkmn.org,
651-215-9913. Voice of the Faithful, an organization of lay
Catholics, based in Ashley Hill, a nun-abuse victim who wrote the
2000 book "Habits of Sin," and several others have a website called
www.abusebynuns.com. AdvocateWeb, is a
non-profit organization providing a lot of information to victims of clergy
abuse as well as to victims of sexual and emotional exploitation by doctors,
therapists, teachers and coaches. You’ll find a lot of (scientific)
literature on the topic of professional sexual misconduct (PSM). Also you can
join HOPETALK, the e-mail support list for victims and survivors of PSM: www.advocateweb.org Jewish Survivors of Sexual Violence: this Blog is for and about
Jewish Survivors of childhood sexual abuse, survivors of sexual assault and
RABBINICAL SEXUAL MISCONDUCT. Pokrov.org is a website informing about
sexual abuse within the orthodox church. A site with information and support
for victims. Update June 27,
2006 |
Complaints of
sex abuse by nuns begin to emerge – June 26,
2006 – Star Tribune, by: Pamela Miller -- Even now,
decades later, the victims' voices falter as they describe the encounters that
damaged them in ways they cannot fully cast off.
Mary Dunford tells of a molester visiting her
dormitory bed when she was 15. Susan Pavlak speaks of
the teacher who talked to her of love, then seduced her at 16. Siblings
Christine Bertrand and Karen Britten and their
childhood friend Patricia Schwartz describe how their piano teacher touched
them in ways no adult should touch a child.
In each case, the perpetrator was, or recently had been, a Roman Catholic nun.
The five women, who said they were abused in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, are
among a! bout a dozen Minnesotans and an estimated 400
women and men nationwide who have recently come forward to talk about being
sexually abused by nuns.
Last month, Britten, 48, of
Most reports of sexual abuse by nuns have emerged well after the surge of news
about abuse by Catholic priests and brothers, and there is little evidence that
abuse by nuns has continued. But survivors are increasingly coming forward to
seek apologies and reparations.
The issue,
Accusers interviewed for this story say they'! ve come forward only recently because it took them
years to fully remember or process the abuse and decide how to deal with it.
Sexual abuse by nuns has gone largely unaddressed and unreported until now in
part because of cultural biases about gender roles and sex, say those
knowledgeable about the cases. Women often abuse in seductive ways that silence
and confuse victims,
And when abuse is alleged, it can be difficult for victims to assign
accountability in the maze of 450 women's religious orders. The Catholic Church
says it has no jurisdiction over the orders.
But slowly, more victims are telling their stories. The Survivors Network of
those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says it has received as many as 400 reports
nationwide of sex abuse by nuns, "which probably just scratches the
surface," said executive director David Clohessy.
Molested at boarding school
Dunford, now 67 and living in
"It happened after lights-out," she said. "She'd kiss me on the mouth,
then take her clothes off down to the waist and have me kiss and suck her
nipples. She told me she loved me."
The experience "has profoundly affected my life," said Dunford, who graduated in 1956, married Dan Dunford in 1959 and raised three children. She couldn't
talk about it, she said, until age 50, when she realized that the abuse lay at
the root of her depression and other problems.
In 1990, she wrote a letter to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and
When the sister admitted to abusing Dunford, the Ursuline order paid for counseling
for both Dunfords -- it later also returned her! tuition -- and in 1997 arranged for the nun to apologize in
p! erson, D unford and the Ursulines say.
"We talked about how what she had done had damaged us," Mary Dunford said. "When we were done, she said, 'You
weren't the only one hurt,' and her provincial [supervisor] turned to her and
said, 'I love you and support you.' There I was, the victim, and the sympathy
was for the perpetrator."
The sister who molested Dunford continued teaching
college students after the order "determined that it was a one-time offense and that there was no threat to others," said Ursuline Provincial Sister Peggy Moore.
The nun died in 1999.
Since she began telling her story, Dunford said, she
has been contacted by more than 200 alleged victims of nun abuse.
A trio of young students
Bertrand and Britten claim to have been molested by
Sister Benen
Kent, who died in 2003, "insinuated herself entirely into our families,
and was a trusted friend and confidante to our parents," Bertrand said.
Britten was the first to reveal the abuse. In 1991,
she called Sister Dolore Rockers, president of the
Rochester Franciscans, to tell her what had happened when she was 6:
Next to reveal her story was Schwartz, who says she didn't recognize what had
happened to her as sexual abuse until late 2001, when she heard Britten's story.
Bertrand's memory of being molested did not fully emerge until 2002. "One
morning ... my husband came up behind me and startled me, and the memory burst
back," she said. "I ran to the bathroom, retching."
The w! omen then went to the Franciscans as a trio. Despite
a flurry ! of calls ,
registered letters and meetings assuring the women that the case would be
investigated, their lawsuits claim, little happened.
"Then I got a letter saying she had died," Bertrand said. "That
was the turning point. I said, 'Sue them.' "
Bertrand said she's convinced that Kent, who worked at many schools over her
career, victimized more children. She said she has received several calls from
others saying they were also victimized by
Bertrand, Britten and Schwartz are seeking at least
$50,000 apiece from the Franciscans, but say their main goal is to protect
others.
The Rochester Franciscans have not responded to repeated calls and e-mails.
Culture and circumstance
Cases involving nuns feature complex sociological and psychological factors,
said
In the past, he said, "arrested social development" among some nuns,
who often went directly from high school to the convent, fostered a climate
where sexual touching of children and novices "occurred without anyone
involved even fully understanding it was abuse."
Cases that
Author Ashley Hill, who lives in New England, told of being molested at
age
Hill said she found "a lot of mental illness, which made for a very
destructive environment."
As a 16-year-old at a St. Paul Catholic high school, Pavlak,
now 51, of
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the former
order of the alleged perpetrator, said via spokeswoman Ann Thompson that the
woman was not part of their order when the alleged abuse occurred. However, the
Archdiocese of
The legal issues
Many cases alleging abuse by nuns will never go through
the legal system.
Attorneys are less likely to take nun cases than cases involving male clergy,
said Clohessy of SNAP, because "lawyers know
that the deference shown to priests is even more intense with nuns."
And most cases cannot clear
So far, six cases with
The lawsuits against the Rochester Franciscans seek to circumvent the statute
by focusing on recent recognition of the abuse and on the order's response,
The Rev. Kevin McDonough, vicar general of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and
But Bob Schwiderski, a
Response and reaction
Many victims look first to their dioceses for help. In
the Twin Cities, McDonough said, the church offers them counseling
and help in communicating with those responsible.
"But we do not have the right to tell the nuns how to respond," he
said. "Frankly, we have our own housecleaning to do on the priest abuse
situation. We don't want to make it look like we're putting the spotlight on
nuns to get it off of us."
Some victims have turned to the national Leadership Conference of Women
Religious. But that group angered victims when it declined to adopt the U.S.
Catholic bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,
drafted in 2002. It has refused victims' requests to speak at its gatherings,
they say.
Annmarie Sanders, communications director for the
Maryland-based conference, said it has no control over h! ow orders have handled cases, but began in the 1990s
to push member orders to punish misconduct, help victims and prevent further
abuse.
Spokeswomen for the orders to which alleged perpetrators belong say they have
provided counseling and financial compensation to
victims and have improved anti-abuse policies and education.
But those who have reported abuse say little has been done to restore trust. Bertrand,
Britten, Schwartz and Dunford
have asked the orders involved in their cases to look for possible other
victims at the locations where the perpetrators lived and worked. The orders,
citing confidentiality concerns and logistical difficulty, have refused to do
so.
Is it still going on?
There have been few modern-day cases alleging abuse by nuns. The reason may
simply be that there are far fewer nuns. In 1965, the number of
Representatives of ! female
religious orders say better education and policies have! squelch
ed the problem.
But victims' groups, attorneys and psychologists point out that clergy-abuse
victims often don't come forward until middle age.
"There will always be new perpetrators," Clohessy
said. "We owe it to our kids to err on the side of caution."
Meanwhile, victims find some comfort in pressing for accountability -- and in
the faith almost all of them say survived the trauma.
Said Bertrand: "For the first couple of months after I
remembered my abuse, I went to church with my husband. But I could not
worship. A nun would walk in and I would begin shaking. ... I remain faithful,
but there's a lot of rebuilding that needs to take place."
Ierse priester schuldig
aan verkrachting – 1 juni 2006 – Het
Parool – DUBLIN – Een Ierse jury heft een priester schuldig bevonden aan het
verkrachten van een dertienjarig meisje. In oktober wordt de strafmaat bekend.
Back in 1970, Moran
was too ashamed to tell anyone what happened. He did tell his supervisor that Laurano was gay, hoping that the monsignor would make the
connection, but nothing happened. When Moran left the parish for another
assignment, he recommended that he not be replaced by another young intern, but
he was. He told one other priest of his ordeal, under the seal of confession.
With his ordination
looming, he had to decide: Could he still become a priest?
``The idea of being
a virgin and offering myself to the church was blown out of the water,"
said Moran, who is now 60. He had entered
Ultimately, Moran
decided that all the good works he could perform as a priest would counter the
bad he had experienced. And so for 35 years he served as a parish priest, a
Navy chaplain, and finally a hospital chaplain in
He was set to
retire May 31 on a medical disability from the
In the small
hospital chapel, he took a deep breath and detailed his abuse at another
priest's hands.
``For nearly 35
years I've rationalized that the little good that I can do would offset the
evil done to me." But, he said, he had been appalled at the coverups by the church hierarchy, as they moved abusers
from parish to parish. ``They are more concerned with the things of this world
than they are in simple Christian justice," he said. ``It is difficult to
leave -- I have loved serving the church, but I cannot go against my conscience
in standing up to the bishops in calling for them to take responsibility."
Throughout his
years as a priest, Moran says he kept people -- particularly fellow priests --
at a distance. ``I never felt the so-called fraternity of the priesthood. I
didn't trust priests, because the ones I went to did nothing." In January
2002, Moran called Cardinal Bernard F. Law and sent him a seven-page letter
detailing his charges against Laurano. It took five
months to get an appointment. When he finally saw Law, it seemed that the
cardinal had not read the letter. ``He did not have the foggiest idea of what
had happened," Moran said. ``When I finished talking, he said, `We'll have to talk to Tony [Laurano], and we'll pay for your counseling.'
That was it. There was no warmth." Moran was so angry that he filed a
lawsuit and settled with the archdiocese for $90,000 -- money he says he gave
away. ``To me it was dirty money," he said. ``I was more concerned with
justice. I was concerned that others would be hurt. I was assured there were no
other accusers." In fact, there were other cases in Laurano's
file, and later that year he was placed on administrative leave by the
archdiocese: He could no longer perform priestly duties. Laurano,
who retired in 1995, is due in Hingham District Court Friday for a pretrial hearing on rape charges involving an 8-year-old
boy. The rapes allegedly occurred 15 years ago, when he was pastor at St. Mary's
Church in
``I got the same punishment that Laurano
did, and he's a rapist," said Moran. ``It tore my heart out."
A spokeswoman for
the Archdiocese of Washington said Moran in effect took his own credentials away.
For one thing, the hospital staff, after learning of his comments, was
concerned that Moran needed pastoral care and therefore was in no shape to
provide it for others. ``Without a ministry, he can't have faculties,"
said Susan Gibbs of the
Moran takes serious
um-brage at such statements. ``I have never renounced
my faculties," he said.
Last week Moran, who lives in
Priest Removed From Post After Speaking About Abuse: Church Strips Away
Sacramental Duties -- May 18, 2006 – the bostonchannel.com -
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/9240485/detail.html
Sexual abuse by a nun in the UNITED STATES
Alleged victim says abuse by nuns 'not being addressed' – April 21, 2006 – RenieuwAmerica.us; Matt
C. Abbott – Nieuwsbericht over vrouw-vrouw
misbruik; vrouwelijke plegers van seksueel grensoverschrijdend gedrag (GOG);
female/female abuse -- Mary C. Dunford, an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a nun, would
like more attention to be paid to the victim-survivors of abuse by women
religious.
States Dunford (edited):
"I believe there are a number of reasons
why abuse by nuns is not in the public eye and not being addressed. Taboos
against believing female abuse exists and, most especially, female abuse by
nuns; and statutes of limitation laws which, after brief period of time, keep
victims from bringing charges. Typically victims don't understand that they were
abused, nor do they realize the extent of the damage until well into adulthood
— different for each victim. The Catholic Church actively lobbies against any
change in these laws.
"Another reason is that nuns are not held
accountable. Bishops refuse to take any responsibility for them or their behavior. Nuns are accountable only to their own orders'
provincials and to some obscure body in
The following is the text of a 2005 lawsuit
filed on behalf of an alleged victim of sex abuse by a woman religious.
STATE OF
Case Type: Personal Injury
______________________________
Christine
Bertrand, Court File
No.:____________
Plaintiff,
vs. COMPLAINT
The
Franciscan Sisters d/b/a Sisters of
the Third
Order Regular of St. Francis
of the
Congregation of Our Lady
of
Defendant.
__________________________________________
Plaintiff,
for her cause of action against Defendant, alleges that:
PARTIES
1. Plaintiff
Christine Bertrand (hereinafter ABertrand@) is an
adult female resident of the State of
2. At all
times material, Defendant The Franciscan
Sisters d/b/a Sisters of the Third Order Regular, Congregation of Our Lady of
Lourdes (hereinafter AOrder@) was and is an
unincorporated Roman Catholic religious
order of women with its principal place of business located at 1001 14th Street
N.W., Suite 100, Rochester, MN 55901, and doing business in the State of
Illinois, in conjunction with the Catholic Bishop of Chicago (hereinafter AArchdiocese@), a corporation sole. The Order and its
agents and employees were and continue to be responsible for the selection and
assignment of personnel, supervision of personnel activities, the exercise of
authority over various members of its religious order, and the maintenance of
the well-being of its members attending schools and parishes which are staffed
and/or operated by the Order.
FACTS
3. Plaintiff
was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family, was baptized, confirmed, and
regularly celebrated mass and received the sacraments through the Roman
Catholic Church (hereinafter AChurch@). As a result,
Plaintiff developed great admiration, trust, reverence, and respect for, and
obedience to representatives of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, including Sr. Benen Kent, o.s.f. (hereinafter AKent@).
4. At all
times material,
5. Generally,
6. During
her tenure as a member of the Order,
7. At all times material, Plaintiff was a parishioner
and student at St. Juliana's parish school, where she came to know, admire,
trust, revere and respect
8.
9. Starting
in or around 1962, and continuing through the summer of 1967, while Bertrand was entrusted to Defendant's
care for instruction, custody and control,
11.
Defendant Order and others within the Church held themselves out to
parishioners, including Plaintiff, as counselors and
instructors on matters that were spiritual, moral and ethical. Accordingly,
Plaintiff and her family placed trust in Defendant and so that Defendant gained
superiority and influence over Plaintiff. Defendant, by maintaining and
encouraging such a relationship with Plaintiff and her family, entered into a
fiduciary relationship with Plaintiff and her family.
12. This fiduciary relationship with Plaintiff
established a duty of good faith, fair dealing and the duty to act with the
highest degree of trust and confidence. This fiduciary relationship includes
the duty to warn, and to disclose, and the duty to protect children from sexual
abuse and exploitation by Catholic nuns whom the Defendant Order promote as
being celibate and chaste representatives of God on earth. Said Defendant's
fiduciary relationship with Plaintiff was based upon a justifiable trust on
Plaintiff's side, and superiority and influence on the side of the Defendant.
13. Further,
the local leaders of Defendant Order were in specialized or superior positions
to receive and did receive specific information regarding misconduct by
priests, nuns, and other agents and employees that was of critical importance
to the well being, protection, care and treatment of innocent victims,
including Plaintiff. This knowledge was not otherwise readily available from
any other source. Defendant Order exercised its special or superior position to
assume control of said knowledge and any response thereto.
14. On the
other hand, Plaintiff was in a
subordinate position of weakness, vulnerability, and inequality and were
lacking in such knowledge. Further, the abilities of Plaintiff or her
family to monitor the use or misuse of the power and authority of Defendant
Order or Kent were compromised, inhibited or restricted by Defendant.
15.
Defendant had a secular standard of fiduciary duty which it breached by failing
to act upon, or insufficiently acting upon or responding to, information which
it had obtained by virtue of their superior status, known only or secretly to
its agents, affiliates, and representatives that was indicative or highly
suggestive of a pattern of wrongful, unlawful or criminal behavior
on its part.
16.
Defendants breached this duty, as well as other duties, through inaction, manipulation, intimidation,
evasion, intended deception, undue influence, duress or otherwise, as more
fully described and set forth elsewhere in this complaint, resulting in
negative consequences to the welfare and well being of Plaintiff.
17. As
detailed elsewhere in this complaint, the acts of Defendant Order and others
allowed pedophile predators, including Kent, to
perpetrate criminal acts of child sexual abuse throughout the United States for
many decades. Persons controlling or directing the affairs of the Church and
Defendant Order allowed this by making fraudulent representations, concealing
criminal activity, obstructing justice and criminal investigations, evading
civil and/or criminal liability, and by inculcating parishioners to keep their
scandals secret through the guise of religious teachings and spiritual
instruction and counseling.
18.
Defendant Order's intentional concealment and/or negligent and/or reckless
failure to prevent, disclose or discover Kent's acts of sexual misconduct, contributed
to Plaintiff's repression of the events of abuse described herein and prevented
Plaintiff from discovering or acting upon the wrongs done to her.
19. By
tradition, Roman Catholics, including Plaintiff, are taught to hold nuns in the
highest esteem as earthly representatives of God, and that nuns, unlike lay
people, belong to a separate and higher state in life, the so called Aclerical state,@ which they represent to be of divine
origin and which they represent entitles them to special privileges. For these and other reasons relating to the
practices of the Church, nuns and other persons in leadership positions in the
Church have traditionally occupied a position of great trust and allegiance
among the parents and youth, including Plaintiff.
20. As part
of this traditional reverence of Church clergy, Plaintiff was instructed and
indoctrinated as a small child to show obedience to nuns and was taught to
believe and did believe that it would be Asinful@ or
wrong to make any kind of an accusation against a priest, a nun, or any other
representatives of the Church. Plaintiff relied upon these teachings and
incorporated them into her religious beliefs and practices. Accordingly, she
believed that it would be sinful or wrong for anyone to make any kind of an
accusation against nuns or priests.
22. The sexual abuse of the Plaintiff and the
circumstances under which it occurred caused Plaintiff to develop various
psychological coping mechanisms, including repression, denial, avoidance,
amnesia, and other psychological manifestations which prohibited her from
knowing or having reason to know that she was a victim of sexual abuse, and, as
a result of abuse, suffered damages. Plaintiff did not know that she was a
victim of sexual abuse, or that she suffered injury by reason of sexual abuse,
until within six years of the commencement of her lawsuit. In February or
March 2002, while preparing for a bridal shower, Plaintiff's husband approached
her from behind and began tickling her. Plaintiff had an immediate negative
reaction to her husband's action, and had a flashback to
23. Plaintiff suffered a traumatic amnesia, or
memory repression, of the sexual abuse when she was a child. She had no memory
of the sexual abuse from the time that she was a child until February or March
of 2002.
24. Upon
information and belief, both before and after Plaintiff Bertrand was sexually
abused by
COUNT I:
NEGLIGENCE
Plaintiff
incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth under this
count and further alleges that:
25. By
establishing, staffing, and/or operating a church and school, encouraging the
membership and instruction of the Plaintiff in this church, accepting the
membership of the Plaintiff in this church, and holding the church to be a safe
environment for learning, worship and spiritual growth, Defendant Order entered
into an express and/or implied duty to provide a reasonably safe learning and
spiritual environment. Defendant Order further assumed this duty by holding
26. As a
direct result of Defendant's negligent conduct, Plaintiff has suffered the
injuries and damages described herein.
COUNT II:
NEGLIGENT
SUPERVISION
Plaintiff
incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth under this
count and further alleges that:
27. At all
times material,
28. As a
direct result of Defendant's negligent conduct, Plaintiff has suffered the
injuries and damages described herein.
COUNT III:
NEGLIGENT
RETENTION
Plaintiff
incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth under this
count and further alleges that:
29.
Defendant Order, by and through its agents, servants and employees, became
aware, or should have become aware, of problems indicating that Kent was an
unfit agent with dangerous and exploitive propensities, yet Defendant Order
failed to take any further action to remedy the problem and failed to
investigate or discharge Kent.
30. As a
direct result of Defendant's negligent conduct, Plaintiff has suffered the
injuries and damages described herein.
COUNT IV:
VICARIOUS
LIABILITY
Plaintiff
incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth under this
count and further alleges that:
31. At all
times material, Defendant Order employed
32.
Defendant Order granted
33.
34. By using
her position as a nun and the trust, power and authority of the position
conferred on her,
35.
36. As a
direct result of the sexual abuse, Plaintiff has suffered the injuries and
damages as described herein.
WHEREFORE,
Plaintiff contends the Franciscan Sisters Order has shown itself incapable of
taking appropriate action for prevention of child sexual abuse within the Roman
Catholic Church and healing for victims who have been abused by clergy, and the
Order in this instance has failed to protect the individual Plaintiff and other
children from harm and has been incapable of dealing with the issue of child
sexual abuse within the church. Plaintiff respectfully requests the Court to
take supervision of this matter under established principles of law and equity.
WHEREFORE,
Plaintiff demands judgement against Defendant in an amount in excess of $50,000
plus costs, disbursements, reasonable attorneys fees, interest, and whatever
other relief the Court deems just and equitable.
Dated:
____________
JEFF ANDERSON & ASSOCIATES, P.A.
_____________________________
By: Jeffrey
R. Anderson, #2057
Attorney for
Plaintiff
E-1000
(651)
227-9990
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The
undersigned hereby acknowledges that sanctions, including costs, disbursements,
and reasonable attorney fees, may be awarded pursuant to Minn.
Stat. ' 549.211 to the party against whom the allegations in this pleading are
asserted.
Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic journalist and
commentator. He is a columnist for and/or contributor to RenewAmerica.us,
TheConservativeVoice.com, MichNews.com, Catholic.org, Opeds.com, and
Speroforum.com. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/060421
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists
are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Alan Keyes, RenewAmerica, or its affiliates.
Sexual abuse by clergy in IRELAND
Ierse kerk: 102 priesters verdacht – 8 maart 2006 -- RTLNieuws.nl
-- De Ierse katholieke kerk heeft voor
het eerst openheid van zaken gegeven over de omvang van seksueel misbruik in de
kerk.
Schadevergoedingen: De kerk zegt dat sinds 1940 102 priesters verdacht zijn in zedenzaken
waarbij kinderen betrokken zijn. Het gaat om zeker 350 kinderen. 105 van hen
hebben sindsdien schadevergoedingen gekregen van de kerk. Dat heeft de Ierse
kerk 6 miljoen euro gekost. Er lopen nog eens 40 zaken.
Klein offer: De kerk moet bezittingen verkopen om de schadevergoedingen te betalen,
'maar dat is een klein offer als je kijkt naar het leed dat is aangericht'.
Exorcism in BELGIUM
Sexual abuse by clergy in ITALY
www.misbruikdoorhulpverleners.nl