Two More Join Priest Sex Abuse Suit against Catholic School

Oman Tribune
June 7, 2012

http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=news&id=120984&heading=Other%20Top%20Stories

MORRISTOWN (US) Accusations of child sex abuse at New Jersey’s elite Delbarton School widened on Tuesday as two men joined a lawsuit claiming molestation by priests at the Roman Catholic boys academy in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Just two days after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke at his son’s graduation from Delbarton, Steve Badt, 44, and a second unidentified man joined the suit alleging sexual abuse by robe-clad monks at the picturesque Morristown school.

The lawsuit was first filed in March by Tom Crane and Bill Crane Jr, now in their 40s, the twin sons of a former teacher and administrator at Delbarton, run by the Roman Catholic Benedictine monks of St Mary’s Abbey.

The school typically draws sons of power brokers and those wealthy enough to afford its $27,800 annual tuition fee.

No one was immediately available for comment at Delbarton or at St Mary’s Abbey.

The lawsuit names Father Luke Travers and former teachers Father Justin Capato, Father Timothy Brennan and Father Benedict Worry, now pastor of St Elizabeth Church in Linden, New Jersey.

Like many lawsuits alleging decades-old abuse, the case faces a significant legal hurdle - New Jersey’s statute of limitations that requires child sex abuse lawsuits be filed within two years of the victim turning 18.

An exception is made if the victim can prove the memories only surfaced as an adult and realises emotional damage was caused. Even then, a case may not proceed if a judge believes a victim should have come forward earlier, said attorney Gregory Gianforcaro, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the men.

Badt, 44, who heads a soup kitchen in Washington, that cooks vegetables from first lady Michelle Obama’s White House garden, urged Christie to support a stalled bill in the New Jersey legislature to lift the civil statute of limitations.