Eight Victims Get $1m Settlement from Catholic Order
By Mike LaBella
Outside St. Mary of the Assumption Parish late Wednesday morning, Robert Hoatson, president of Road to Recovery Inc., announced that a Roman Catholic order has agreed to pay $1 million to eight people who say they were sexually abused by the Revs. John Gallagher and Robert Turnbull during the 1970s and 1980s at Catholic schools in Lawrence and Reading. Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has been at the forefront of representing victims of clergy sexual abuse, said the settlement with his clients and the Augustinian Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova in the Philadelphia area was reached last month during mediation. He said the settlement avoided bringing a lawsuit against the Augustinians. Hoatson, whose nonprofit charity in New Jersey assists victims of sexual abuse and encourages them come forward with their stories, made the announcement. "We Augustinians, taking seriously allegations of misconduct in these cases that occurred approximately 40 years ago, have dedicated resources to investigate them," Cher Rago, communications director for the Augustinian Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova, said in addressing the settlement. "Because we are committed to justice in upholding the dignity of every person, and in a desire to promote healing, we have concluded the claims made against our Province. At the same time, we continue to work diligently to ensure the safety and protection of all children and adults." Garabedian said three of his clients, now adult women, were abused by a former parish priest who was also a coach at St. Mary's in Lawrence between 1973 and 1976. The victims were 9 to 12 years old at the time. "He (Gallagher) was a swim coach and basketball coach for CYO, and would abuse young girls on the two teams in the rectory, and he would also take them on field trips, including a trip to Saratoga, New York." Garabedian said five other people, now adult males, were abused by a priest who was also a teacher and athletic equipment manager while the victims, who were 13 and 14 at the time, attended Austin Preparatory School in Reading between 1977 and 1981. "He would sexually abuse my clients (fondling and some digital penetration) at the Northmeadow Health & Racquet Club in Tewksbury, in the showers and in the swimming pool. And he would also sexually abuse them in a room next to his classroom at Austin Prep," Garabedian said. "It is difficult to believe that Father Turnbull's supervisors did not know he was sexually abusing as there were rumors about Turnbull among students. His supervisors turned their backs on innocent children." The two priests have since died, Garabedian said. Garabedian said claims were brought to the attention of the Augustinians about a year ago and that during mediation, an out-of-court settlement was reached that will provide a total of $1 million to be shared by his eight clients. During the brief presentation in front of St. Mary's in Lawrence, Hoatson read excerpts from a letter that Garbedian said was sent to the late Cardinal Bernard Law in 1992 by one of the female victims. He said Law never responded to the woman's letter. "By not responding, my client was not given the opportunity to try to heal and gain a degree of closure," Garabedian said. A letter disregarded Hoatson said one of Gallagher's victims was sexually abused when she was attending fourth, fifth and sixth grade at the Catholic Inter-Parochial schools in Lawrence, noting those schools consisted of St. Mary, St. Lawrence and Holy Rosary. "Typically, Father Gallagher would have me and my friends with him for some reason: to paint the gym, to count out the money from collections, because he was our coach. ... while the rest of the girls would be doing the work, he would call one of us to him," the woman stated in her letter to Law. "As he sat facing the girls working, he would tell me to climb on his lap. This way I could not see the other girls. He would wrap my legs around him so that I was straddling him. He would push me very close to him ... and would insist that I hug him tightly and kiss him ... when he finished with me, he would release me and call up another girl and repeat his act on her." Hoatson said the woman told Law that it was her desire to see Gallagher punished for the pain he caused her. "This pain is still with me and will be a part of my being forever," the woman said in her letter. Garabedian said the woman's letter to Law proves that the former archbishop of Boston knew of sexual abuse by priests. "The rumors about him among the children were that he would also sexually abuse them at the YMCA in Lawrence and at the St. Joseph Plains Community Center," Garabedian said. "And at times he would abuse these girls in front of each other." Garabedian called Gallagher a "pure predator." "Obviously, his supervisors were not properly supervising him," Garabedian said. "Someone should have questioned why he was taking young girls on field trips and what he was doing on these trips." Garabedian said Law should have warned parishioners and the public about Gallagher. "But instead he participated in the coverup by hiding the fact that Father Gallagher was a sexual abuser," Garabedian said. "You have purportedly the most moral institution in the world, the Catholic church, acting the most immorally." Garabedian said that for priests such as Gallagher and Turnbull to work within the geographic boundaries of the Archdiocese of Boston would have required permission. He said priests such as Gallagher were shuffled from one parish to another. "The cardinal or archdiocese had an obligation to inquire as to why these individuals were transferred into the Archdiocese of Boston," Garabedian said. "Questions should have been asked, including why are they coming, was there a history of sexual, and were they screened at all? It's another indication of how the Catholic Archdiocese has failed miserably to protect children." More victims speaking out Garabedian said the victims of clergy sexual abuse are still coming forward in great numbers. "The damage caused by priests, predators and their supervisors is ongoing and everlasting. My clients, in coming forward, have empowered themselves and other victims and have made the world a safer place for children," he said. "And also coming forward, my clients have transformed themselves from victims into survivors. They now understand that as children, they were not responsible for the sexual abuse and the crimes committed by the sexual predators and their supervisors," he continued. Garabedian said the victms of clergy sexual abuse continue to suffer a host of troubles in the lives, ranging from lack of self-esteem to unnecessary guilt, to shame and embarrassment, to a lack of trust and a loss of religious faith. Hoatson noted that since his organization was formed in 2003, it has provided a range of support services to more than 5,000 victims of clergy sexual abuse and their families. "I attend these public events as an advocate and to encourage other victims to come to me," said Hoatson, who said he was a victim of clergy sexual abuse when he was a child and went on to serve as a Catholic priest for 14 years. "We'll do anything to help a victim get on the road to recovery."
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