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	Abuse Survivor Angry at Court’s Limitations By Patti Mengers The Daily Times [Pennsylvania] March 22, 2005 John Salveson says he is through trying to reason with church officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia about how they handle victims of clerical sexual abuse. "The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has neither the courage nor the integrity to do the right thing by people they victimize. Instead, they hide behind the statute of limitations," he said last Tuesday. The 49-year-old Radnor resident, who was allegedly abused by a priest as a teenager in Long Island, N.Y., has been regional director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, since 2002.!His ire was ignited March 14 after a three-judge Superior Court panel upheld an August ruling by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Arnold L. New dismissing 16 sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia based on the statute of limitations. "Our No.1-priority in Philadelphia for SNAP is to get those laws changed," said Salveson. He would like to see a law introduced in the Pennsylvania Legislature to withdraw the statute of limitations on clerical sexual abuse, before the end of the year. The Superior Court panel noted that even if church officials were guilty of "inexcusable conduct" they were protected by Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations, which generally requires lawsuits in such cases to be filed within two years. "It is not that the court found it didn’t happen. It happened, but the statute of limitations prevents us from doing anything about it. The church has benefited greatly from these statutes," maintained Salveson. The 18 plaintiffs, nine of whom are current or former Delaware County residents, ranged in age from 10 to 18 when they were allegedly abused by priests and a former nun -- whom they maintain archdiocesan officials knew were sexual predators -- between 1957 and 1983. They ranged in age from 34 to 61 when they filed the lawsuits. Attorney Richard M. Serbin of Blair County who, with Berks County attorney Jay N. Abramowitch, filed the Philadelphia lawsuits, said they are determining whether to appeal the cases to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court or request that the full complement of Superior Court judges re-hear the cases. He said similar cases filed by himself and Abramowitch against dioceses in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Blair and Lehigh counties have been permitted to proceed despite the statute of limitations. "They concluded a jury should decide whether the victims acted reasonably in not filing claims earlier, given the circumstances. They were all in a relationship with the church, and who would believe the church would allow this to happen to children?" said Serbin. In a prepared statement, officials from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said they were unable to comment on pending litigation. "We continue to offer our support and compassion for all victims of abuse and to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse does not occur in the future," said church officials in the statement. "I would like to know how it is supportive and compassionate to deny victims the right to face their abusers in court. How is that supportive and compassionate? I think their legalistic risk-management approach to this is reprehensible," said Salveson. He said both Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, and his predecessor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, have refused to meet with SNAP members. Salveson said they have met with the archdiocese’s victim assistance coordinators, who have heeded SNAP’s advice on confidentiality issues. "What they don’t understand is that the church’s behavior in terms of the legalistic approach is re-victimizing the victims because it denies them any chance of justice and justice is an important part of the healing process," said Salveson. Eileen Rhoads of Upper Darby is the former nun named in the local lawsuits by students she taught at Holy Cross Grade School, Springfield, in the mid-1970s. She is now completing a six-month jail term for sexually abusing a boy in 1969-70 while teaching at a Catholic grade school in Virginia Beach, Va., which does not have a statute of limitations on felonies. In February, Rev. James J. Behan, the first person to be charged as a result of a three-year-old Philadelphia grand jury investigation into clerical sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student while he taught religion at Northeast Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia in the late 1970s. District Attorney Lynne Abraham maintained the clock stopped on Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations in Behan’s case because the priest left the state for an assignment in North Carolina in 1980, just after the abuse occurred.
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