MONTANA
NBC Montana
By Jacqueline Gedeon, KTVM Butte Reporter, jgedeon@ktvm.com
BUTTE, Mont. –
We’re digging into a story that has some claiming an information line set up to help Catholic sex abuse victims is actually victimizing them all over again.
Here’s some background.
The Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy protection in January.
The move comes after a proposed $15 million settlement from claims clergy members abused more than 300 children over five decades.
Victims have until August 11th to join the suit.
When we started digging deeper, we uncovered a possible problem that’s making it tough on victims.
Look at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena’s website and it’s not difficult for victims to find more information on filing sexual abuse claims.
A box in the corner takes you to claim forms, deadline information, and gives you two phone numbers to call with questions.
And that’s where some tell us the problems start.
“It’s so very, very difficult for most victims to talk about what happened to them,” said a survivor Jeb Barrett. He said a Helena Diocese priest abused him.
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