BishopAccountability.org

Erie’s Persico backs compensation fund for victims

By Ed Palattella
GoErie
August 30, 2018

http://www.goerie.com/news/20180830/eries-persico-backs-compensation-fund-for-victims#

Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico said he backs the creation of a diocesan fund for abuse victims, a proposal that stops short of a key recommendation in the Aug. 14 grand jury report on child sex abuse.
Photo by CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE

Bishop joins top Pa. state senator in supporting a fund rather than a two-year window that would allow victims to sue in court no matter how old the abuse. The move has upset victim advocates.

Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico has endorsed the creation of church-funded compensation program for victims of clergy sex abuse as a way “to provide justice” in light of the grand jury report on the Catholic Diocese of Erie and five other dioceses statewide.

But the state lawmaker who has advocated for abuse victim said the compensation fund would limit justice.

State Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Democrat from Berks County, said he wants the General Assembly to pass his key proposal — the creation of a two-year window for abuse victims to sue in court no matter what the statute of limitations or how long ago the abuse occurred. The grand jury recommended the creation of the two-year window in its 884-page report, released Aug. 14.

Rozzi said the two year-window, as he has proposed it, would allow any victim of child sexual abuse to go to court, even if the abuse involved an institution other than the Catholic Church. He said the compensation fund would be available only to victims whose abusers were affiliated with the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

“They are just shutting out justice for other victims,” said Rozzi, who testified before the grand jury that a Catholic priest sexually abused him in the 1980s, when Rozzi was 13. “This is bigger than the Catholic Church.”

Compared to what victims could receive in court, Rozzi said in an interview, the church-established compensation fund would provide “pennies on the dollar.” Allowing victims to sue in open court, he said, would allow for public oversight and reduce the possibility of the type of cover-ups that the grand jury report detailed.

“If they think the people of this commonwealth are crazy enough to allow this to continue,” Rozzi said of those who support the compensation fund, “they are nuts.”

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national organization that protested in Erie on Aug. 21, also condemned the creation of a compensation fund instead of the legalization of the two-year civil window.

“Bishops no longer get to set the terms. Our justice system must step in,” Judy Jones, of St. Louis, S.N.A.P.’s Midwest regional leader, who was in Erie on Aug. 21, said in an email. “We want a window. Compensation funds do not deter future crimes, do not expose enablers, do not protect kids.

“It is insulting to think and act like all that victims want is money,” Jones said. “We want the truth exposed, we want the crimes prevented.”

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office ran the grand jury probe, is also pushing for the two-year window, one of four of the grand jury’s recommendations.

“The 23 grand jurors, who spent two years hearing testimony about the abuse and cover-up within six dioceses across Pennsylvania, unanimously recommended four changes to strengthen our laws to protect children and give victims justice,” Shapiro said in a statement on Thursday. “I support the passage all four of the grand jury’s reforms and urge the Legislature to act swiftly.”

In announcing his endorsement of the compensation fund on Thursday, Persico sided with Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, a Republican from Jefferson County. Scarnati on Wednesday announced his support for the compensation fund and reiterated his opposition to the GOP-controlled General Assembly passing the two-year window.

Legislation in the state Senate has blocked the proposal for the two-year window. Scarnati said he continues to be concerned that the window would violate the state constitution, which he said “prohibits a retroactive change to civil and criminal statute of limitations.”

“While I would support a constitutional change, it is an extended process and has no absolute certainty,” Scarnati said in a statement.

Rozzi and others argue that the courts should decide the constitutionality of a two-year window, but Scarnati said the creation of the compensation fund would be the best way forward.

“The church needs to establish a victim support fund this year, to make restitution to its victims,” Scarnati said.

Persico, whom the grand jury praised for his transparency, including his decision to testify before the panel and to name accused priests and laypeople months ago, has said he was open to the possibility of a two-year window as long as it also applied to non-Catholic institutions, such as public schools. Rozzi said he has proposed an amendment that would allow for the other institutions to be sued under the window.

On Thursday, Persico said the compensation fund would be the best method to provide help to victims given the constitutionality concerns associated with the two-year window.

“It is time to take action,” Persico said in a statement. “We must do what is within our power to provide justice to victims. Therefore, I have directed our lawyers to collaborate with the Pennsylvania Legislature to develop an acceptable and appropriate program to make restitution to victims.

“Senator Scarnati has proposed the establishment of a victim compensation fund administered by a neutral third party to ensure fairness and objectivity,” Persico said. “I am prepared to help work out the details of this solution.”

The Catholic Diocese of Erie said in the statement that Persico agrees with Scarnati that “there would be no guarantee of a successful resolution to protracted legal wrangling over the constitutionality of a retroactive change to the civil and criminal statute of limitations.”

“Although both the senator and the bishop understand that no dollar amount can truly make amends for what occurred, they believe that the many victims who were unable to seek justice because of Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations deserve this alternative response,” the statement said.

The statement said Persico and the diocese “wholeheartedly endorse the other three recommendations of the grand jury as proposed.” They are removing the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse going forward, strengthening and expanding laws regarding mandated reporting of abuse and abandoning the use of confidentiality agreements unless a victim or survivor requests them.

“We are days away from a short election-season session for the state legislature,” Persico said in the statement. “We need bold, decisive and collaborative action.”

The grand jury report found evidence that more than 300 Roman Catholic priests, including 41 in the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie, had abused more than 1,000 children over the past 70 years. The other dioceses in the report are in Allentown, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. The Harrisburg diocese on Thursday said it is “open to talks” on the creation of the compensation fund.

The grand jury’s recommendations are sure to be the focus when the General Assembly returns to Harrisburg in September.

The Senate, led by Scarnati, two years ago rejected a provision approved overwhelmingly by the state House of Representatives that restored the ability of all victims to sue, regardless of age. The proposal had been opposed by Pennsylvania’s Catholic dioceses and insurers.

Many lawmakers expect the state House in September will approve the two-year window and send the legislation to the Senate, where Scarnati is expected to lead the effort to block it. Rozzi said he believes the House by the end of September will consider the window legislation, including the provisions that would allow suits to apply to non-Catholic institutions.

“We are coming after everyone,” Rozzi said. “That is what the bishops asked for.”




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