OHIO
Altoona Mirror
September 14, 2016
By Guy Vogrin , Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio)
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The co-founder of an advocacy group for sexual abuse victims said Tuesday the latest settlement of $900,000 paid by the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and an order of Franciscan Friars in Pennsylvania is not enough to compensate “for the agony these men are going through.”
The announcement Monday of the settlement of some 28 sexual abuse claims through mediation led two members of Road to Recovery Inc. to hold a news conference Tuesday morning across the street from St. Columba Cathedral, the diocese flagship church, to air their grievances.
The victims in the settlement claim they were abused by Franciscan Brother Stephen Baker in the 1980s and 1990s while he was a coach, athletic trainer and teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren. Baker, a member of the Third Order Regular, Franciscan Friars Province of the Immaculate Conception based in Hollidaysburg, committed suicide in 2013 at age 62 after the abuse allegations came to light.
Monsignor John Zuraw, chancellor of the diocese, said all the victims signed off on the process and agreed to the amount after three days of mediation in February. As a final point, Zuraw said the victims’ lawyer asked for the diocese to pay for therapeutic counseling.
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