MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014
For more info: David Clohessy ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com ), Barbara Dorris ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
Victim to appeal “bizarre” ruling
Catholic abuse case will move forward
Church not responsible for child sex crimes
The reason: abuse happened on private property
Missouri Supreme Court is expected to hear case this year
A man who says he was sexually assaulted as a child by a priest will soon ask the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that ended his civil lawsuit against Kansas City Catholic officials. Clergy sex abuse victims called the court decision “bizarre” and harshly criticized KC Bishop Robert Finn for his defense tactics in the case.
In November, a western Missouri appeal court tossed out a case called John Doe D.T. v. the Kansas City Catholic diocese and Fr. Michael Tierney. In it, the court ruled that Catholic officials could not be held responsible for the alleged child sex crimes of Fr. Tierney because they occurred on private property, not church property.
This week, another court declined to hear the case and the victim’s attorney pledged to appeal it to the Missouri Supreme Court.
“The blame here squarely lies with Bishop Finn. He could have fought this case on the merits. Instead, he’s fighting it on technicalities, and in fact, on the most absurd technicality: where Fr. Tierney and his victim were standing when Fr. Tierney sodomized the child,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, outreach director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“Imagine a painting company sending a known rapist on its payroll out to paint your mom’s house. He rapes her. Would the painter’s boss get ‘off the hook’ because the rape was not on company property?” asks David Clohessy of SNAP.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.