Lawsuit alleges sex-abuse at community residence overseen by Mount Loretto

By Maura Grunlund
Staten Island Advance
August 29, 2020

https://www.silive.com/news/2020/08/lawsuit-alleges-sex-abuse-at-community-residence-overseen-by-mount-loretto.html

Mount Loretto, located in Pleasant Plains.

A boy was sexually abused decades ago in a community residence overseen by the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto, a new lawsuit alleges.

The boy revealed some of the abuse to a doctor and priest at Mt. Loretto during the time period when he was being sexually assaulted in the early 1980s, but the charity took no action to protect the victim, who eventually left the home and ended up living on the streets, the filing alleges.

The Archdiocese of New York and Catholic Charities of Staten Island are named as defendants in the suit, which was filed on Aug. 20 in state Supreme Court, St. George, on behalf of the anonymous victim.

“He is a survivor of abuse,” said attorney Bradley Rice, who represents the plaintiff. “It has had a profound impact on his life throughout his entire life.”

Rice added, “It is something that is dealt [with] on a day-to-day basis.”

The victim, who currently lives on Staten Island, was adopted at birth by his parents. He was placed at Mt. Loretto at about age 14 by the courts due to his conduct, according to the lawsuit. He later was moved to a “private home for troubled boys” operating at that time in West Brighton, the filing states.

When he arrived at the home, a supervisor and an assistant were among workers who “forced Plaintiff to participate in a sexual initiation ritual,” according to the lawsuit.

The alleged perpetrators are not named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which does not provide any details about the ritual.

For about two years, the lawsuit alleges, “[supervisor] required that Plaintiff and the other children in the home both touch [supervisor’s] genitals” and “permit [supervisor] to fondle and grope Plaintiff’s genitals.”

It continues: “In addition, on more occasions that Plaintiff can recall, [supervisor] required Plaintiff to engage and receive oral sex.”

The supervisor allegedly physically assaulted the victim if the boy refused the supervisor’s sexual advances, according to the lawsuit.

“On one occasion, while visiting Mt. Loretto for a medical and spiritual examination before a doctor and a priest, Plaintiff disclosed to the doctor that the bruise on his face was the result of [supervisor’s] physical assault,” the lawsuit alleges. “No one at Mt. Loretto or at Charities took any action in response to this allegation.”

After two years of abuse, the plaintiff left the home and “proceeded to live on the streets, homeless,” the filing alleges.

The lawsuit alleges that as a result of the abuse, “Plaintiff sustained severe and permanent injuries, including but not limited to pain, suffering, emotional and psychological trauma and humiliation.”

The Archdiocese and Catholic Charities are accused in the lawsuit of negligence due to the alleged failure to prevent or stop the abuse, deficits in the hiring, supervision and retention of employees, and an omission to implement adequate child sex-abuse policies.

While the lawsuit includes a suspected name for the supervisor and a first name for the assistant, the Advance/SILive.com is declining to publish them at this time because Rice said the identities were based on the victim’s recollections as a boy decades ago and may not be correct. Rice said he is hoping to obtain more information about the alleged suspects during the discovery process with the Archdiocese.

“This happened when my client was 14,” Rice said. “He has not seen either of those men since the time he left the group home.”

The names of the doctor and the priest are not listed in the lawsuit.

“I can’t comment on that at his time,” Rice said when asked for their identities. “There still is a lot of investigation and discovery that is ongoing.

“I can say, though, that this is just another unfortunate example of what appears to be prevalent abuse either at Mt. Loretto or in organizations who were supervised by them,” Rice said. “This is not my first suit involving at case at Mt. Loretto and I know there are a number of other suits filed by other attorneys.”

Rice also represents a former resident who was placed in the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto more than 60 years ago and only stayed for a few months because he allegedly was abused multiple times by a priest and religious brother.

Joseph Zwilling, the communications director for the Archdiocese, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In past cases, however, he has told the Advance/SILive.com that while he cannot discuss specifics in pending litigation, “the Archdiocese of New York takes all allegations of sexual abuse seriously, and reacts with compassion, respect, and sensitivity.”