Hoboken man sues Newark Archdiocese over alleged sex abuse

By Linh Tat
Record
October 07, 2014

http://www.northjersey.com/news/hoboken-man-sues-newark-archdiocese-over-alleged-sex-abuse-1.1104058

Stephen Marlowe, holding a photo of himself at age 12, during a Trenton press conference Tuesday.

TRENTON – A man suing a Catholic parish in Rutherford and the Archdiocese of Newark alleging that he was sexually abused by a priest identified himself publicly Tuesday, saying he decided to come forward to pressure lawmakers into ending the statute of limitations on civil cases stemming from such assaults.

Stephen Marlowe, 48, of Hoboken, said he was 12 and an altar boy at St. Mary’s Church in Rutherford when he was abused by the Rev. David A. Ernst and struggled for years with the decision to come forward with his accusations.

Ernst, who died in 1988, had also served in parishes in Wyckoff and Ridgefield Park and was among nine priests accused of sexually abusing children who were included in a $1 million settlement by the Archdiocese in 2004.

A woman at St. Mary’s Church referred media inquiries to the Archdiocese. There, a spokesman said he could not comment on the case because it is in litigation.

Joined by his family, lawyer and other supporters outside the State House, Marlowe held a picture of himself as a boy and called for an end to the statute of limitations on civil cases. Presently, an individual has two years from when first making a connection between the abuse and the damages they suffered to take action.

Marlowe was identified only by his initials when he filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in Bergen County last month. In it, he claimed that St. Mary’s in Rutherford, the Archdiocese and individuals working for the organizations were negligent in allowing Ernst to have unsupervised access to minors, despite possibly knowing about his alleged deviant behavior.

The lawsuit stated that even after other religious leaders complained about Ernst, the organizations failed to remove or suspend him, failed to adequately investigate the claims, and otherwise participated in a cover-up.

Also named in the suit were Peter Leo Gerety and Theodore Edgar McCarrick, two former archbishops, and Richard Roe(s), (sic) a priest.

Marlowe suffered physical injuries and mental and emotional distress as a result of the alleged abuse, the complaint said.

“Thank you to all the survivors who have gone public before me, to seek justice, to encourage others and to start our fight against those who would harm children,” Marlowe said. “Your courage gave me the hope and a reason to go forward.”

The state’s time limit on filing lawsuits was a factor in his decision to file his complaint and to make a statement Tuesday, he said.

“The state determines which cases go forward, not based on merit, but because of a deadline,” Marlowe said.

His attorney, Gregory G. Gianforcaro, said the law must allow survivors to speak out years later because children who are abused often don’t understand or come to terms with what happened for decades.

“Many abusers who abused in the past are still out there abusing and are able to get away with it because there really is no concrete mechanism or concrete law for the victim to go to court and seek justice,” Gianforcaro said. “If we, as a society, in New Jersey, are really going to be able to discover where the abusers are — and where the abusers have hidden or been allowed to hide — we have to provide a voice and mechanism for victims in the past to speak out.”

Legislators acted quickly to change domestic violence laws after revelations of abuse by NFL players and they should do so now on sexual abuse laws, said Mark Crawford, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests. Crawford said lawmakers have many examples where schools, churches and other organizations were aware of abuse by their employees but did not act.

“We call on New Jersey lawmakers to act with similar urgency,” Crawford said.

Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, is co-sponsoring a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations such child sex abuse cases. That bill has not had a committee hearing. Vitale pushed for a similar bill during the last legislative session which passed out of committee but never reached the floor for a full Senate vote.

Since the state eliminated statute of limitations on criminal sex abuse cases in 1996, a similar action should be taken for civil cases, he said.

“Adults with lifelong psychological, debilitating scars should be able to hold the individuals that abused them, or the organizations that enabled their abuse, accountable,” Vitale said.