BishopAccountability.org
	Abuse Survivor Furious at San Francisco Archdiocese By Matt C. Abbott Renew America [San Francisco CA] December 1, 2006 http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/061201 In July 2006, a jury "found in favor of Joey Piscitelli, a former altar boy who was abused by the Rev. Stephen Whelan, a vice principal, when he was a freshman and sophomore at the high school from 1969 to 1971," according to a story in the Contra Costa Times. Piscitelli was awarded $600,000. More on the story can be found here. Piscitelli is furious at the San Francisco archdiocese and the Salesian order, to which Whelan belongs, for defending Whelan. Piscitelli recently sent the following letter to Bishop George Niederauer: Dear Bishop Niederauer, I have a letter from your office, written by Bishop John Wester, asking me to participate in letting your 'Investigative Review Board' reinvestigate my claim against your associate pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul, Father Stephen Whelan. Your review board found Whelan credible, and said that I was not. The letter was written before my court trial. This is the same review board that finds all of your priests credible, and the victims not. As you know, I won the court case against Whelan and the Salesian order of San Francisco in July of this year. A civil court Jury found Whelan and the Salesians responsible for molesting me as a child. That was an unbiased jury. Not a board handpicked by Bishop Levada. Since the court case in July, your pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul, Father Malloy, continues to bad mouth me publicly. The Salesians do also. The Salesians of San Francisco have not apologized and have not done anything remotely close to the 'Charter' concerning treatment of victims and their families after abuse has occurred. You have refused to pay for therapy for me or my family, which you have done for other victims of abuse in your archdiocese. It is obvious to all that you and the Salesians have treated me and my family as though we are not even human beings, and your priests have behaved not as men of God, but rather as vindictive, spiteful, angry and unremorseful cynics. Since your priests continue to call me a liar, and your staff continues to represent Whelan as some sort of martyr, and you do not acknowledge me as a victim of sexual abuse by one of your priests, I am accepting your offer to have your so called 'review board' interview me for your investigation. Although I already know the review board will find Whelan credible again, and myself not credible, perhaps we can go through the motions so that your staff can hear the sick, disturbing, un-Godly acts of perversion, sexual deviancy, and abuse your priest has brought upon me as a child. Perhaps this will end the war the archdiocese has declared on me and my innocent family, and you will finally acknowledge that me and my wife and children are at least people, and you may even treat us as people. Piscitelli also provided me with the following information: "When I filed suit in 2003, the Salesians and the archdiocese stated publicly that the Independant Review Board did an investigation into the allegations, and found Father Whelan credible. At that time, the head of the review board was Jim Jenkins. Almost 1.5 years later, after I had many battles with Bishop Levada, Bishop Wester, and the Salesian order, the San Francisco Weekly magazine did an article on the Salesians. "From San Francisco Weekly, Jan 5, 2006: 'Besides Whelan, Father Harold Danielson, another recent associate pastor at Saints Peter and Paul, and Brother Ernie Martinez, who until recently was listed as a member of the parish staff, and who lives at the provincial house, have also been accused in lawsuits of child sex abuse. They have all proclaimed their innocence. 'Purdy says the Whelan and Danielson allegations were also investigated in 2004 by the Independent Review Board set up by Levada for the Archdiocese of San Francisco and that it corroborated the Salesians' findings that the claims against the men were 'unsubstantiated.' 'But Jim Jenkins, a clinical psychologist and the former chairman of the review board, whose resignation from the board became effective in January 2005, disputes that claim. 'The Whelan and Danielson cases did not come before our board while I was there,' he says. 'Besides, you have to be careful with a term such as 'unsubstantiated.' It shouldn't be confused with a finding of guilt or innocence. In these [civil] cases, that will be something for the courts to decide.' "The archdiocese claimed it did a second review. When I accused them of lying to the public, they said they found Whelan credible again. They never interviewed me for any 'investigation,' and I have never talked to their 'review board.' I called them liars again, and shortly before I went to court, Bishop Wester sent a letter to me stating he wanted me to participate in an IRB investigation. This is after they publicly claimed they did two investigations. "After I won in a court jury trial, they released a statement saying the jury was unfair and that Whelan was innocent and a martyr. They have publicly bad-mouthed me since." Whelan denies the accusations. Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.