Sex Abuse Victims Need Truth and Not Cash from Archdiocese
By Mitchell Garabedian
The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program announced Thursday by Timothy Cardinal Dolan does not help clergy sexual abuse victims truly heal and gain closure. It fails to fulfill the emotional and spiritual needs of clergy sexual abuse victims to get to the truth found in the secret documents and files of the Archdiocese of New York. Those documents will tell us the crimes committed by pedophile priests and the supervisors who knowingly let innocent children be sexually abused for decades upon decades. By avoiding the process of discovery in legal proceedings, the archdiocese will also avoid making public documents and witness testimony that details what church officials knew about sexual abuse and when they knew it.
Money may provide partial validation for clergy sexual abuse victims, but money is no substitute for good old-fashioned honesty. Clergy sexual abuse victims deserve and need the truth now. Clergy sexual abuse victims have been left out in the wilderness much too long by the Archdiocese of New York and the failure of Cardinal Dolan to provide the documentation in the secret files revictimizes many clergy sexual abuse victims. It is time for the Archdiocese of New York to come clean, publicly reveal the documents, admit guilt by stating the truth and end all opposition to much-needed legislation allowing clergy sexual abuse victims to obtain justice in the courts of New York. Clergy sexual abuse victims need real justice, justice which reveals the truth and helps survivors gain closure. Mitchell Garabedian is a Boston attorney who has represented hundreds of clients sexually abused by priests and other Catholic clergy. He was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in “Spotlight. ”
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