BishopAccountability.org

Prosecutors launch statewide priest probe

By Joe Mahoney
Press-Republican
August 25, 2018

http://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/prosecutors-launch-statewide-priest-probe/article_36be888f-14d9-5b6d-a42a-4e474d253f2b.html

The group representing county prosecutors across New York says it will assist in a statewide investigation into alleged sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests.

The move comes after a similar review in Pennsylvania identified more than 1,000 such reports dating back 60 years.

District attorneys in all 62 counties are poised to assist in the probe launched by state Attorney General Barbara Underwood and will convene grand juries to delve into allegations “when necessary,” said David Soares, president of the District Attorneys Association of New York and the top prosecutor for Albany County.

But the organization representing Catholic bishops in New York said the focus of the probe is “insufficient,” contending it should also examine allegations arising from spheres unrelated to the clergy.

“While the Catholic Church has made major changes in its handling of abuse, we continue to see modern-day stories of abuse and cover-ups in education, the state foster care system, public university athletic programs and elsewhere,” said Dennis Poust, spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference.

The bishops are urging that the New York probe be widened to examine allegations arising from other religious institutions, the public sector and nonprofits.

Poust acknowledged that “the Pennsylvania grand jury report was sickening to read, and brought home the horror of sexual abuse in the Catholic church and the failures of leadership in the past to address this issue properly.”

The joint probe by New York’s district attorneys and the state attorney general comes as Pope Francis, the world-wide leader of the Catholic Church, faces mounting pressure from groups representing abuse victims to identify priests accused of abusing minors and to hold accountable bishops found to have covered up molestations.

Pope Francis is expected to address the abuse issue when he arrives in Ireland this weekend for a 36-hour visit that is being described as the first by a pontiff since 1979.

Clergy abuse scandals in numerous dioceses in the United States and Europe, along with related efforts to keep them covered up, have been linked to a drop in Mass attendance and donations by parishioners.

The Catholic Church, which only allows men to be ordained as priests, has also suffered a decline in vocations, and dozens of churches and parochial schools have closed across New York over the past decade.

OLD ALLEGATIONS

In Lockport, Niagara County District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek said her office looks forward to cooperating with the statewide investigation, noting it now has five separate allegations involving abuse that took place beyond the statute of limitations, with those cases involving a total of three priests.

“We’re going to cooperate in any way we can,” said Wojtaszek.

The Pennsylvania grand jury report cited examples of abuse by priests accused of molesting children in both that state and in Western New York.

CHILD VICTIMS ACT

Wojtaszek acknowledged in response to questions that the allegations probed by her office include ones where a priest is suspected of molesting youths in more than one county.

The author of the New York legislation, Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) said while he supports the new statewide investigation, it should not be used as a reason for delaying action on his bill, dubbed the Child Victims Act.

The measure, he said, is designed to bring justice to people who have waited for years for those who victimized them to be held accountable.

RETROACTIVE WINDOW

The Catholic Conference, in opposing the legislation, said it would raise the civil statute of limitations until a victim turns 50 years old in addition to offering a retroactive window that allows “old lawsuits to be brought no matter how long ago the incident occurred.”

“Clearly, the bill’s focus on lawsuits against organizations, rather than punishing predators and removing them from our communities, does not in any way achieve a goal of protecting children today or in the future,” the Catholic Conference stated in a bill memo.

The conference’s members include the Dioceses of Buffalo (a territory that includes Niagara County); Ogdensburg (spanning the North Country); and Albany (extending to the Oneonta region).

DELAYED ALLEGATIONS

Wojtaszek said many victims of sexual abuse as children often delay coming forward with the allegations because of the trauma they experience, something that often becomes even more acute when the perpetrator was a clergy member.

“My training has been with children who have been victims, and so I understand the dynamic behind that,” she said.

She supports creating a retrospective window for charges to be filed years later.

Contact: jmahoney@cnhi.com




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