BishopAccountability.org
	Catholic Church Ruled Liable for Clonan Sex Abuse in Coventry Guardian March 16, 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/16/catholic-church-liable-clonan-sex-abuse The Catholic church is to pay ?32,500 to a man who was sexually abused by a priest, after the court of appeal overturned a ruling today that the church was not liable – a decision that could open the floodgates for more lawsuits against it. The case concerns a man known only as MAGA, who was sexually abused as a child by Father Christopher Clonan, a parish priest at Christ the King Church in Coventry and a serial sexual abuser. In the original ruling last year, Mr Justice Jack had accepted that Clonan sexually abused the man, who has learning difficulties and an IQ of 70. He also accepted that allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards young boys had been made to his superior, Father McTernan, and that the church had been negligent in failing to take appropriate steps. However, he held that the church was neither vicariously liable as Clonan's employer nor had the church been in breach of a duty of care to the boy because he was not a member of the congregation. The three court of appeal judges decided that he was too restrictive in his application of the law of vicarious liability. Lord Neuberger ruled that it was Clonan's role as a priest that gave him the position and opportunity to draw MAGA into his orbit by ostensibly respectable means. As it was, the church that gave him this special role and status, it was liable as his employer when he exploited this for his own ends. The law firm Clifton Ingram, which represented the man, welcomed the judgement. "The victim is a vulnerable individual who has been put through five years of legal argument before achieving some measure of justice. "This judgment makes clear that when a church clothes its priests or pastors with a special status in the community then the church has to ensure that the trust that is placed on them is not subverted." The court's broad interpretation of priestly duties will make it easier for victims to claim they came into contact with a priest because of his remit, which includes evangelising to non-Catholics.
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