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Law Firm Releases More Details on Priest Abuse

By Philip Gambini and Rick Pfeiffer
Union-Sun and Journal
April 19, 2018

http://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/law-firm-releases-more-details-on-priest-abuse/article_fa48acf0-fa6b-557f-a6ea-831ed851c731.html



Attorney Mike Reck returned to Buffalo on Tuesday to again demand the Catholic Diocese release a comprehensive list of clerics within its jurisdiction who have been credibly accused of sexual assaults against children or other abuses.

It is the second call Reck and his firm, Jeff Anderson and Associates, P.A., have made in as many months. The first occurred in March, when Reck’s firm released a list of 13 priests accused of committing sexual crimes against minors while serving in Western New York.

A subsequent disclosure by the diocese added 30 priests that the religious institution said had “credible” allegations of abuse brought against them.

The second batch of information released by the law firm on Tuesday included details about where the 42 named clergymen were assigned, while laying out a hierarchy of church leaders who oversaw the diocese between 1945 and 2017. They are individuals Reck said are “responsible for the current crisis.”

“We are going to stand with and on behalf of survivors and call upon the diocese to do the right thing, all of the right thing, and that’s going to include releasing the identities and whereabouts of all credibly accused clerics,” he said during a press conference in Buffalo’s downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Reck and the firm’s director of communications, Stacey Benson, repeatedly questioned why it was the job of third parties to disclose the information based on public records research. Benson said a substantial amount of that work was done by studying the diocese directories of priests.

“This information is readily and easily available to church officials,” he said. “It requires nothing other than transparency. Transparency that’s necessary for both analysis of mistakes that have been made and transparency that’s necessary for healing.”

Advocate Judith Burns-Quinn appeared at the press conference to make additional calls for increased support for survivors, going so far as to suggest an independent “trauma center” should be created.

Regarding what can be a complicated internal struggle for survivors being asked to publicly disclose their experiences of abuse, Burns-Quinn said the “validation” of being heard and support of the network of other survivors can inform an individual’s healing process.

“If they had a group together, with social workers studying trauma and teachers of trauma, they could start being helped and they can help each other,” she said after the press conference.

Reck said the diocese’s previous disclosure naming 42 priests was the result of a push by survivors and advocates for transparency, but the figure posted by the institution is “likely a drop in the bucket” relative to the total number of abusers.

Reck cited a 2004 letter he said was written by then Monsignor Robert J. Cunningham, which mentioned 53 diocesan clerics known to have committed sexual abuse. Reck said the communication was part of a study organized by bishops across the nation at John Jay College in New York City.

The analysis involved “every diocese in the country” but cataloged statistics, not identities, Reck said.

“The identities of those 53 rests with then Monsignor Cunningham and the bishop at the time,” he continued.

At a press conference called by Bishop Richard J. Malone later Tuesday, he said that figure includes members of religious orders not under the direct supervision of the diocese. Malone said he would be tasked with approving the transfer of any order cleric to work “here,” and could bestow the individual’s right to perform “priestly faculties,” or to preside over the Catholic sacraments.

“And I can withdraw those (priestly faculties), which is what we do instantly if there’s a credible allegation,” Malone said. “But what happens from that time on is entirely the responsibility of that religious order’s authority.”

There is far less known about abusers who have served in the religious orders outside the diocese, Reck and Benson said. Despite criticisms of the diocese’s victim compensation program, Reck said the disparate religious orders have had no “clear, coordinated response” to the matters.

TO REACH OUT:

If you know of instances of clergy sexual abuse or have been a victim of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy, you can contact reporters Rick Pfeiffer and Philip Gambini at 282-2311 ext. 2251.

Contact: philip.gambini@lockportjournal.com

 

 

 

 

 




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