OHIO
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Twenty-eight victims of the late Franciscan friar Stephen Baker, whose superiors face a criminal trial for allegedly failing to halt his years of sexual assaults on minors, reached a $900,000 settlement earlier this year with the Diocese of Youngstown and his religious order — settlements that some advocates now say were insultingly low.
The out-of-court settlements were reached in March after mediation between lawyers for all sides but only recently became public. In addition to the diocese, the settlement was reached with the Hollidaysburg, Pa.-based Immaculate Conception Province of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars.
News of the settlement comes as three former ministers provincial of the Franciscans are awaiting trial in Blair County on charges they endangered children by assigning Brother Baker to work in contact with them. Brother Baker committed suicide in 2013, soon after news became public of an earlier settlement with students he had molested while teaching at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio, which is affiliated with the Diocese of Youngstown. A later settlement involved students at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown, affiliated with the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.
The abuse involving the 28 victims in the recent settlement took place while Brother Baker taught at JFK from about 1985 to 1992, said their attorney, Mitchell Garabedian of Boston. Brother Baker taught at Bishop McCort from 1992 to 2000 and had other roles within the Altoona-Johnstown diocese in subsequent years.
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