Diocesean Program Offers Compensation, Alternative to Courtroom Battles
By Haidee V Eugenio
Below are excerpts from an interview with Caspino about Hope and Healing Guam: Question: Why should victims or plaintiffs choose Hope and Healing over the lawsuits that they already have? Answer: They’re not mutually exclusive one or the other. So if someone is in litigation, they can still take advantage of the benefits of the Hope and Healing fund, counseling, different things that we can offer to them... What we want to do is sit down with each victim to figure out what they actually need, and fund that. So for instance, a high number of victims of childhood sexual abuse are substance addicted. So we want to be able to pay for substance abuse remediation programs, rehab...We want to be able to pay for psychiatric counseling that goes along with that. We want to tailor a plan to get them better. They don’t do that in court. They just give you a check and it’s gone. And I can tell you that so many times, I have seen people who resolve their cases, get a check and then gone within a year. It’s gone, and they’re no better off than they were. So we want to deal with the entire person through Hope and Healing. Q: Besides the counseling, when do they get to talk to a spiritual figure, because that is also part of the process, right? A: Each person will be offered a spiritual director because perhaps one of the largest injustices that these people feel is many of them are turned away from the church. They are injured in such a way they don’t want to go to church anymore. They lose their faith. And as I said in the press conference, two things that I see victims must have to heal. Number one is counsel, number two is we need to open our arms and bring them back to the church. (Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes) has committed to any victim who wants one. He will assign a priest to be their spiritual director or a nun, to bring a sister to bring them to counsel with them on a spiritual level to bring them back to the church. And that is already a part of that program. Q: Healing, treatment ... what about the idea of justice? How would you convince the victims that there is justice also in this process, not just in the court? A: I’ve been asked that question before, and the answer to that is that, first off, justice is God’s. As Catholics, these people are harmed by the Catholic Church but justice is in the hands of God. He is the determiner of that. If people are saying to me, 'am I here to mete out justice' with regard to priests and things that have happened in the past? I am not focused on the past, I’m only focused on the future, that’s it. And the future to me is the healing of these people. Q: So in this process, is the church in any way admitting or acknowledging any of this officially? Isn’t that what some of these accusers are looking for, some sort of acknowledgement that this happened to them?
A: I can tell you that you have one of the best archbishops (Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes) in the United States. I have dealt with bishops, cardinals, archbishops all my career. He has already met with victims. He is already starting the process of meeting with victims. He is going to write a letter to each victim and he’s starting it now. He is a wise and just archbishop. And I know, from just talking to him, his commitment is the same as mine and the people in Hope and Healing, which is to heal these people. Q: How would you respond to criticism that having this fund (program) decreases the gravity of the alleged crimes or the crimes of raping children, sexually abusing children? A: I can’t see any justification for that...Any child abuse is reprehensible, it’s wrong and it should be punished. There’s no criticism that I think we’re not taking this seriously, that we’re not taking the victims seriously. In fact, I think it’s just the opposite. I think this fund is created to take this seriously, to show the deep commitment the archbishop, the archdiocese have. Q: If victims request it, will the archdiocese bring the living priests to apologize, acknowledge, admit their wrongdoing publicly? A: I can’t speak for that. But what I can tell you is, what’s going on in the church, for instance, the canonical trial of Archbishop Apuron, shows that the church is taking this very very seriously. And I believe that there will be repercussions, serious repercussions that the church will be dealing with with regard to each person who’s involved in the past... Q: Besides treatment, rehabilitation and counseling, will they get compensation? A: Yes. Just for them. To compensate them for the pain and suffering they’ve had to go through in their lifetime, absolutely, there will be. Q: What’s the formula for that? A: There’s not going to be a rigid formula. We take every case on a case by case basis. Q: People are saying $1 million, even though it’s an initial figure (for the program), is very small compared to the amount that they are demanding (in court). A: This fund will be millions, not a million. This fund will comprise of insurance money, money that we receive from insurance policies, and land sales, property sales. Q: About the insurance money. Where is this money coming from? Do you have to file a claim? What exactly is your claim? A: So under a typical liability insurance policy that every diocese in the United States has, there is coverage for these types of claims. Now there are exclusions and things you go back and forth, but claims have already been made to the insurance companies and I understand that there’s almost daily communication back and forth between insurance companies. Q: Have you already received calls? A: Yes. And we have people in counseling today, seeing psychologists. We have already gotten people the help they need, people telling us that they have never told anybody before about this, never, and all they want is to be able to talk to someone, that’s it. So we’re setting them up with counseling immediately. It’s already been done...What we’re trying to do here instead of just fighting it out for the next three years in court is create a bridge for the victims to resolve their cases and not create all this animosity that happens with litigation. Q: On the review of claims. Is that where the investigators come in? A: We will have a psychologist meet with them, talk to them and make a recommendation to us as to what kind of damage they have suffered and what kind of healing and services they need in the future, so that’s the number one thing that the board is going to rely on...That’s going to take a little while. I have psychologists ready to help in that regard and they’re off-island psychologists. Q: So this is a different set of psychologists? A: Yes. We have a different set. That’s very important. I was gonna try to use some on the island but because everybody knows everybody, it’s very difficult. So I’d like to bring in a psychologist from outside to do an independent examination of each victim and give us a recommendation as to what kind of treatment is gonna be needed to heal that person and that will be the main thing that’s relied upon by the board, the psychologist’s report.
Q: So is this (program) considered a form of mediation and if so, does that mean things that are said, if someone agrees to this process, can’t be used in court on the civil side? A: We will not let anything out with regards to that. If they want to talk about what’s said to them, they can talk all they want. They’re free to talk. We don’t want to muzzle any victim ever. They can say whatever they want but we will keep their personal information absolutely confidential and we agreed to that. Can it be used in court? Well, settlement privileges probably dictate that it cannot, but we don’t plan to use anything that we get in this process, in court. Remember, we’re a separate, independent body from the archdiocese. All they do is fund us. Q: Based on the number of cases already filed and also the number of calls you’ve received, how serious is the problem here compared to other places you’ve been? A: It’s a very serious problem here...Any child sexual abuse in the church is a major, major problem and we have to do everything we can to stamp it out...I think that this is a unique community in that everybody knows everybody here. Q: Can family members of victims also avail of counseling? A: Absolutely, they can. We can’t offer it to them in every case because remember it’s confidential. But if...a survivor calls us and says Mike, mother or father would like to come in for counseling, we’ll absolutely pay for it. Q: Has attorney David Lujan mentioned whether his clients will drop the lawsuits? A: No. The lawsuits are going to be maintained. But his clients will go and to try to resolve the cases through the Hope and Healing process...We are hoping to...have a temporary stay of the cases, ask the judge to hold the cases in abeyance for three or four months, give us the opportunity to go ahead, put a halt to this litigation for a little bit to give us the (time) to sit down and try to settle these cases. Q: When will this program end? A: When the last victim is healed. Contact: heugenio@guampdn.com
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