Sexual Abuse Claims Blog

Here is some of the media coverage of Ron Martin's class action on behalf of persons who were sexually abused by priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.

Sex-abuse suit alleges conspiracy by Catholic Church: CBC News

Class-action suit filed against Roman Catholic diocese in N.S. over alleged abuse: The Canadian Press

Church facing class action (Suit alleges Catholic diocese failed to protect kids from abuse) : Chronicle Herald

N.S. Catholic bishop: Church open to helping sex abuse victims: Canadian Press

Class-action filed against N.S. Catholic diocese: Canwest News

N.S. Roman Catholic bishop says church open to helping sexual abuse victims: Canadian Press

Victims of priest abuse will get 'fair treatment,' diocese says: Chronicle Herald

Diocese named in sex abuse suit offers court alternative: CBC

Lawyer expects more sex abuse victims to join class action: Cape Breton Post

Plantiff says he wants to save Catholic Church: Cape Breton Post

An Interview with Ron Martin on CBC Mainstreet (Requires RealAudio player) Download file

Interview with lawyer for Antigonish Diocese on CBC radio (Requires RealAudio player) Download file

If you or a family member suffered sexual abuse by a priest that was part of the Antigonish Diocese you can contact me for further information through the contact form on this blog or by calling toll free 1-877-43-2050.

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Our firm has filed a class action against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish for compensation for victims of sexual abuse by priests from the Diocese.

The claim is the first class action in Nova Scotia filed under the new Class Proceedings Act.

The representative plaintiff is Ronald Martin. Ron's brother of David Martin committed suicide 6 years ago. David's suicide note revealed that he had been sexually abused by Father Hugh Vincent MacDonald, a former priest of the Antigonish Diocese.

A criminal investigation by the RCMP and the Cape Breton Regional Police lead to charges of rape, buggery and indecent assault against Hugh Vincent MacDonald involving more than 15 children in incidents spanning the 1960's and 1970's.

Several priests from the Antigonish Diocese have been previously convicted of sexually abusing children from the Diocese including Clair Richard, Claude Richard, and James Mombourquette.

Ronald Martin has written an open letter to other survivors of sexual abuse by priests from the Antigonish Diocese.

In the letter, Ron Martin explains why he was motivated to file the class action:

The only thing that I had asked for was an acceptance of responsibility for what happened to David, to us, and all the others who had been abused by a representative of the church.

The class action claims that the Roman Catholic Church, the Bishop of Antigonish and the R.C. Diocese of Antigonish sent priests from the Diocese for treatment for "sexual deviations". The class action claims that the Defendants, following the instructions of the Pope, kept the priests' sexual deviance secret and failed to warn or protect children within the Diocese.

If you or a family member have been a victim of sexual abuse by a priest from the Antigonish Diocese you can contact me for more information through this blog, or by calling toll free 1-877-423-2050.

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Vows of Silence is a new documentary by journalist Jason Berry, that explores Fr. Marciel Maciel Degollado, and the Catholic group, Legionaries of Christ.

The Vatican eventually found Maciel Degollado guilty of multiple acts of sexual abuse spanning decades. His punishment? His public ministry was restricted.

The documentary also examines the role of the last two Popes in covering up allegations of sexual abuse against Maciel Degollado and the extent to which the Vatican went to protect a serial predator.

You can read more stories about Maciel Degollado here.

The Catholic Church has been dealing with an epidemic of sexual abuse claims that have come to light over the past decade in the United states and here in Canada.

I have posted about research which suggests one reason why the Catholic Church has had such difficulty coming to terms with the reality of sexual abuse by it's priests: Do Myths About Child Abuse Explain The Church Sex Abuse Scandals?

Some pople have even suggested that the institutional structure of the Catholic Church may play a role in creating sexual abusers: Does the Catholic Church attract sexual abusers…or create them?

What do you think?

Continue reading "Documentary Explores Vatican Sexual Abuse Cover Up" »

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Episcopal Bishop Charles Bennison is on trial in ecclesiastical court facing accusations that he covered up sexual abuse by his brother, who is also a priest, on a 14 year old girl.

The Bishop is not facing criminal charges, nor is he being sued in civil court. The trial is taking place under the rules of canon (church) law. A panel of 5 bishops, 2 clergy and 2 lay members will decide whether Bennsion violated church rules Title IV of the Canons of the Episcopal Church by failing to disclose that his brother, John Bennison was having sexual relations with an underage female parishioner.

The Philidelphia Bulletin has reported that :

The bishop's younger brother John allegedly had illicit sex with a girl beginning in 1971 when she was a 14-year-old member of St. Mark's Church in Upland, Calif., and he was a 24-year-old seminary student. The sexual relationship lasted until 1974, the year she departed for college.

The first day of the "trial" heard graphic testimony from the victim, who said:

...Bishop Bennison stumbled in on his brother John's sexual activity with her, "saw his erection", turned on his heel in the church office and walked away.

If Bishop Bennison is found guilty of violating Church rules, he will not face criminal charges, but the panel could remove him as Bishop of the Diocese.

The trial continues this week.

UPDATE JUNE 27, 2008

Bishop Bennison has been convicted of concealing his brother's sexual abuse.

This case is only the third time in 232 years that a Bishop has been put on trial by the Episcopal Church USA.

You can read more here.

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Paul Shanley the notorious defrocked priest and convicted sex abuser that was the center of the Boston priest sexual abuse scandal has appealed his conviction on charges of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s.

Shanley claims that his lawyer at his trial did not do a good enough job challenging the admissibility of the victim’s “repressed memories” of the childhood sexual abuse.

The District Attorney who prosecuted Shanley, Gerry Leone was quoted as saying:

"The concept of recovered memory by victims of abuse has been accepted by both the scientific and legal communities, as well as the jury who convicted Mr. Shanley after hearing the full evidence in this case," Leone said. "We remain confident in the jury's verdict."

Repressed Memory: What is it?

It is common for us to consciously repress unpleasant memories. In other words, we know what happened, but we chose not to think about it.

Repressed memory is the memory of a traumatic event that has been unconsciously repressed. In other words, the victim of a traumatic event has no conscious memory of a traumatic event because his or her subconscious has repressed the memory. Repressed memories can be recalled after being triggered, usually by another traumatic event.

Does Repressed Memory Exist?

There is mixed scientific opinion about whether repressed memory really exists. Some professionals deny the existence of repressed memories. Some are sceptical despite peer-reviewed studies and clinical studies that continue to document the phenomenon.

So What's the Answer?

The reality is that the validity of repressed memories may have a great to do with the way in which the memories were recovered. You can read an interesting examination of the issue from the University of Washington: The Reality of Repressed Memories.

I have been representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse for more than 15 years. I have no doubt that traumatic memories of something as horrifying as childhood sexual abuse can be repressed by the unconscious mind as a protection mechanism.

That is not to say that I think all repressed memories are true. But in my experience a careful examination of all the facts surrounding each particular case usually provides evidence to corroborate the accuracy of most victims’ repressed memories.

What do you think? Have you ever experienced the recovery of a repressed memory? Do you think repressed memories even exist?

Continue reading "Priest Sex Abuser Appeals Conviction: Denies Existence of Repressed Memory" »

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Le Soleil has reported that Denis Tremblay, a priest from Sainte-Martine accused of sexual abuse, has elected trial by judge and jury.

Tremblay was a priest at Sainte-Martine for more than 20 years. He is charged with sexual molestation, indecent exposure and indecency on a person over whom he had authority.

The acts allegedly took place over a 40-year-period, between 1968 and 2007.

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Perry Dunlop a former police officer who is currently serving a jail sentence for refusing to testify at the Cornwall Sexual Abuse inquiry he helped spark is appealing his contempt conviction, but still has no plans to give evidence at the sex-abuse probe.

The Canadian Press has reported that Dunlop has retained Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon to handle the appeal, which he initially filed himself as an inmate.

I have posted about Dunlop's refusal to cooperate with the inquiry before.

I can sympathize with Dunlop's frustration over the failure of the criminal investigations that he initiated. I can even admire his principled stance.

But I do think that the inquiry would be better served, and victims of abuse would be better served, by hearing from Dunlop.

What do you think?

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A jury has awarded a man who was sexually abused by Roman Catholic priest Rev. Edward Paquette $8.7 million dollars. The Burlington Free press has reported that the jury deliberated for almost five hours before returning with their verdict.

The jury verdict was for $950,000 in compensatory damages (what is typically referred to as compensation for "pain and suffering") and $7.75 million in punitive damages.

I posted about this case when the trial started last week, and last year when the Bishop of the Diocese of Vermont threatened to sue Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese for failing to disclose prior complaints of sexual abuse against Paquette.

The lawyer for the Plaintiff had actually asked the judge to declare a mistrial because of statements made by the Diocese's lawyer during closing arguments:

"It was like a hate speech, inflammatory and highly prejudicial in many respects."

The lawyer for the Diocese, Thomas McCormick, compared the victim's lawsuit to winning the lottery:

“This isn’t a state where lawsuits turn into lotteries. You represent the community. You know that’s an absurdity.”

I have represented hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse and sexual abuse by priests for more than 15 years. Unfortunately, the appalling statements expressed by the Diocese's lawyer in the Vermont case are all to common.

While the attitude of defendants in sexual abuse cases in Canada is much the same as the United States, the dollars involved are very different.

In one case where I represented a victim who had been raped by a priest, the lawyer for the Diocese said to me: "no amount of money is going to change what happened so why should we try to put a dollar value on it?"

In Canada punitive damages are rare, and when they are awarded seldom exceed $1 million dollars. Compensation for "pain and suffering" is capped at about $300 thousand dollars and the average award across Canada is now only $125 thousand dollars.

If McCormick had been raped as a child and had his life destroyed would he have considered himself lucky to have hit the jackpot for $125 thousand dollars?

I don't think so.

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A lawyer representing three men who say that since 1962 the Vatican orchestrated a coverup of priests sexually abusing children in the United States wants a court order allowing him to question the pope about what the Catholic Church knew about sex abuse allegations.

I posted about how the Church tried unsuccessfully to stop the lawsuit last year.

The lawsuit is based, in part, on instructions that the Vatican sent in 1962 to Bishops worldwide instructing them to keep allegations of priest sexual abuse confidential, at the risk of excommunication.

In a report from Louisville KY lawyer William McMurry, who represents the men, said:

The passage of time not only raises questions of Pope Benedict XVI's continued availability but also increases the likelihood that his memory of events dating back many years will grow less reliable,

McMurry says the Popes testimony is important because before he was pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith and oversaw reports of sexual abuse by priests. That office, along with its predecessor, the Congregation of the Holy Office, were directly involved with the investigation of sexual abuse by clerics.

In May 2001 then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) sent a letter to Bishops confirming that the 1962 code of secrecy remained in effect.

There have been several lawsuits that have tried unsuccessfully to sue the vatican or the Pope for their role in the pries sexual abuse scandals. So far they have all been struck out on the basis of sovereign immunity.

The Pope recently visited the United States where he issued an apology (sort of) for the priest abuse claims that have rocked North America. However, the Pope blamed the abuse on individual priests and failed to acknowlege the role he and the Church may have had in allowing the abuse to continue for decades.

"It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen," Benedict said. "It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission ... to these children."

One might also ask how those who knew about the abusive priests could have betrayed the children who were their victims.

In the unlikely event that the Pope is ordered to testify in McMurray's case, it will be interesting to see how the Pope explains his role in the priest sexual abuse crisis.

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A preliminary inquiry has started for Bernard Cloutier, a Roman Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting several young boys over a decade at various parishes in Northern Ontario.

It is alleged the incidents involving Bernard Cloutier began in 1974 and continued until April 1983. He has pleaded not guilty to the 22 charges he is facing.

The preliminary inquiry will determine if there is sufficient evidence for the charges to proceed to trial.

The North Bay Nugget reported:

Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, the spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, said Cloutier, like other priests facing or convicted of charges of sexual misconduct in the diocese, is now only allowed to say mass privately.

I first posted about the charges against Cloutier almost a year ago.

You can read more here and here.

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont has been sued over allegations that the Bishop ignored previous allegations of sexual abuse when the Diocese hired Rev. Edward Paquette.

In a trial that started this week, Monsignor John McSweeney, who was chancellor of the Vermont diocese and handled details of hiring priests for then-Bishop John Marshall in the 1970s, testified that he did not know about such allegations until he reviewed church documents recently.

The documents, which chronicle the steps the Vermont diocese took while considering whether to hire Paquette in 1972, include several mentions of the alleged misconduct in letters from out-of-state church officials to McSweeney.

"Wasn't that a red flag for you to say the diocese ought to take a look at this," plaintiff lawyer Jerome O'Neill asked McSweeney.

"In retrospect, yes," McSweeney said.

You can read more about the trial here.

I have mentioned this case before. In a stunning example of hypocrisy, the Diocese of Vermont had threatened to sue Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese for failing to disclose prior complaints of sexual abuse against Paquette. The response from Indiana was: "We told you so, and you hired him anyway."

Testimony this week apparently confirms that Paquette's history of sexual abuse allegations had been disclosed to the Diocese of Vermont when Paquette was hired.

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont has been sued over allegations that the Bishop ignored previous allegations of sexual abuse when the Diocese hired Rev. Edward Paquette.

In a trial that started this week, Monsignor John McSweeney, who was chancellor of the Vermont diocese and handled details of hiring priests for then-Bishop John Marshall in the 1970s, testified that he did not know about such allegations until he reviewed church documents recently.

The documents, which chronicle the steps the Vermont diocese took while considering whether to hire Paquette in 1972, include several mentions of the alleged misconduct in letters from out-of-state church officials to McSweeney.

"Wasn't that a red flag for you to say the diocese ought to take a look at this," plaintiff lawyer Jerome O'Neill asked McSweeney.

"In retrospect, yes," McSweeney said.

You can read more about the trial here.

I have mentioned this case before. In a stunning example of hypocrisy, the Diocese of Vermont had threatened to sue Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese for failing to disclose prior complaints of sexual abuse against Paquette. The response from Indiana was: "We told you so, and you hired him anyway."

Testimony this week apparently confirms that Paquette's history of sexual abuse allegations had been disclosed to the Diocese of Vermont when Paquette was hired.

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Perry Dunlop will be in court tomorrow for refusing to testify at the Cornwall Sexual Abuse Inquiry into allegations of systemic sexual abuse. Lawyers for the Inquiry want Dunlop to testify about his investigation that uncovered the Cornwall sexual abuse claims or be jailed for contempt of court.

Fifteen years ago, Dunlop's off-hours investigation of an alleged pedophile ring in which priests, politicians and business leaders in Cornwall, Ontario were accused of bizarre sexual rituals with young boys prompted a police probe dubbed Project Truth. In 1997, after four years of investigation, police laid 114 charges against 15 men. But only one person was every convicted of a sexual offence.

The Canadian Press has reported that lawyers for the Cornwall Inquiry want an example made of Dunlop for his refusal to testify.

"Mr. Dunlop has thumbed his nose at both the court and the commission. He has not merely disobeyed the order, but has done so in an open, continuous and flagrant manner," reads the commission's factum.

"Mr. Dunlop's blatant disregard for the work of the inquiry and refusal to participate diminishes public confidence in the work of the commission and should be punished accordingly."

You can read more about the charges against Perry Dunlop here.

Has too much time passed for the inquiry to ever find out what really happened in Cornwall? What do you think of Perry Dunlop's actions?

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Perry Dunlop a former Ontario police officer who uncovered allegations of a pedophile ring in Cornwall Ontario was arrested his home in Duncan, B.C. on a contempt of court charge for refusing to testify at the Cornwall public inquiry looking into how authorities dealt with the allegations of a pedophile ring in the Cornwall area.

Dunlop has been credited with uncovering dozens of allegations of historical sexual abuse in Cornwall. He had stated that he had no intention of returning to the inquiry because he had lost faith in the justice system.

Dunlop was a Cornwall police officer in 1993 when he came across documents showing one alleged sexual abuse victim had received a $32,000 payout from the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese. The fallout from that discovery would eventually lead to the Ontario Provincial Police launching Project Truth the largest sexual abuse investigation in it's history.

Project Truth was a four-year investigation that laid 114 criminal sex-related charges against 15 men between 1997 and 2001. The investigation resulted in just one conviction.

Is it fair that a man who dedicated himself to protecting the rights of victims of sexual abuse is arrested as a result of an inquiry into sexual abuse? Is the inquiry worthwhile or has too much time passed to ever sortout the truth? What do you think?

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The Roman Catholic Bishop of Vermont threatened to sue a catholic diocese in Indiana over sexual abuse by a priest, according to a report in The Burlington Free Press.

The story reports that Bishop Salvatore Matano threatened to sue Indiana's Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese for failing to disclose information about prior sexual misconduct by Rev. Edward Paquette. The Diocese of Vermont subsequently paid $965,000.00 to a man that Paquette sexually abused in Vermont.

According to church documents filed with the court, the diocese had evidence that Paquette had molested boys in Massachusetts and then Indiana before being hired by the Vermont diocese in 1972.

In response to the threat of litigation from the Bishop of Vermont, Bishop John N. D’Arcy, the Bishop of the Indiana diocese, replied bluntly:

“The diocese of Burlington was made aware of his (Paquette’s) history from this diocese, and from other sources as well.”

The exchange of correspondence between the Bishops is, to put it politely, ironic.

The catholic church's response, worldwide, to lawsuits involving allegations of sexual abuse has been to dogmatically deny any knowlege of priest's past sexual misconduct.

But when it comes to litigation within the church itself the response is: "We knew about it. We told you about it and you hired him anyway!"

Too bad the church doesn't extend this policy of full disclosure to it's parishoners and the victims of sexual abuse by it's priests.

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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin circulated legal advice to every bishop in Ireland to help the dioceses negotiate insurance policies to protect them from child sex abuse claims.

The Irish paper, Independent has reported:

The legal advice, obtained on behalf of Cardinal Connell's predecessor Archbishop Kevin McNamara, formed the basis for a dedicated clerical sex abuse insurance policy. Within two years, all dioceses in Ireland had insured themselves against abuse claims, despite later Church claims that they had no knowledge of the fact of, or extent of, errant priests.