Archdiocesan
Files of Rev. Joseph E. Birmingham
Release from Claims | Page 1
March 19, 1991
In exchange for $3,500, this survivor settled and released the archdiocese from
all claims in an agreement that described those claims against Rev. Joseph E.
Birmingham as "doubtful and disputed." But if the abuse described
in the original November 9, 1990 claim letter is the same abuse
discussed in a February 12-14, 1987 memo by Bishops Mulcahy
and Banks, Birmingham had admitted to this abuse. Banks writes that Birmingham
"admitted there had been some difficulty. He agreed it would be helpful
to resign from the parish and to seek assessment and therapy." Sr. Rita
McCarthy would describe this settlement as "meager"
during an exchange of memos in 1995. The survivor needed therapy and a replacement
priest interceded
for him, but the archdiocese would only offer him six months of therapy. He
feared
"that such a short term commitment might leave him abandoned again in six
months."
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