By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

The Minnesota Senate unanimously passed The Child Victims Act on May 8, 2013.  The bill allows lawsuits to go forward against organizations and institutions such as schools and churches that covered up child sexual abuse decades ago.

The bill, which passed the House last week, passed the Senate by a vote of 66-0.  All indications are Governor Mark Dayton will sign the bill.

The Child Victims Act would drop the statute of limitations for civil suits involving child sexual abuse going forward, and will create a three-year window for past victims to file lawsuits against abusers and institutions that may have failed to protect them or covered up the abuse.

Under current state law, victims of child sexual abuse must have filed a lawsuit before reaching the age of 24.

Experts have repeatedly expressed that victims of child sexual abuse have a hard time coming forward to authorities and loved ones regarding the abuse they suffered.  In fact, more often victims keep abuse secret for years and decades.  Additionally, victims of child sexual abuse take years to realize that sleep disorders, intimacy issues, depression, drug addiction, anxiety and other damages may stem from childhood sexual abuse.

Once the Governor signs the bill into law, victims whose statute of limitations have run, will have three years to bring their cause of action.

Copyright 2013, b&a opinions.

–Michele M. Betti of the Law Offices of Betti & Associates is an advocate for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

Church personnel files, once again, show how the Catholic Church is guilty of covering up the names of predator priests who for decades systemically abused children.  Top officials in the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, including Cardinal Roger Mahony, criminally moved and shielded priests who they knew molested children for decades.

Some 30,000 pages were supposed to be made public.  The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to give the files to more than 500 victims of priest abuse in 2007 as part of a settlement over five years ago.  A judge recently ordered the church to release them without blacking out the names of church higher-ups.

The documents reveal what other Dioceses nationwide have shown — how church leaders for decades shuffled predator priests from parish to parish, covered up reports of abuse and never reported the abuse to the police.

The records disclose that retired Cardinal Roger Mahony was disturbed about the abuse and sent problem priests for treatment, but did not take steps to remove such priests from ministry.  Mahony received psychological reports on some priests that mentioned the possibility of many other victims, for example, but there is no indication that he or other church leaders investigated further.

What the release of the confidential files clearly show is that despite the Church’s knowledge that the allegations of child sexual abuse by its clergy were true, the Church did everything in its power to shame the victims, accuse them of lying about their abuse, and used unscrupulous tactics to get victims to run past the statute of limitations.

In 1987, Mahony wrote to the Rev. Michael Wempe who was a priest undergoing in-patient therapy at a New Mexico treatment center run by the Servants of the Paraclete.  “Each of you there at Jemez Springs is very much in my prayers and I call you to mind each day during my celebration of the Eucharist,” Mahony wrote to the priest, adding that he supported him in the experience.

The church’s sex abuse policy was to send priests out of state for psychological treatment because they revealed more when their therapists were not required to report child abuse to law enforcement as they were in California.

Top church officials in Missouri and Pennsylvania were criminally convicted last year for their roles in covering up abuse, more than a decade after the clergy sex abuse scandal began to unfold in Boston.

On September 6, 2012, Bishop Robert Finn, was the first American bishop to be criminally charged in the clergy sex abuse scandal and was found guilty of a misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

On June 22, 2012, Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn was found guilty of endangerment, making him the first U.S. church official ever convicted of covering up child sex abuse claims.  He and other top Church officials protected pedophiles.  They knew these priests were predators, but were much more concerned with the institution then the victims of sexual assault.

For 12 years, Mon. Lynn was responsible for investigating child sexual abuse allegations against priests in Philadelphia and recommending priest assignments.  Mon. Lynn protected pedophile priests when he transferred them from parish to parish.

Mon. Lynn compiled a secret list in 1994 of 35 priests accused of committing child sexual abuse including three diagnosed pedophiles.  A copy of the list was found in a safe in the Archdiocese headquarters, i.e., their secret files.

The files show how Mahony corresponded with abusive priests while they underwent treatment out of state and worked to keep them out of California to avoid criminal and civil trouble.

One case involved the Msgr. Peter Garcia, a molester who admitted raping an 11-year-old boy and later told a psychologist he molested 15 to 17 young boys.  “If Monsignor Garcia were to reappear here within the archdiocese, we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors,” Mahony wrote to the director of Garcia’s New Mexico treatment program.

The files also show how Mahony wrote about the “extremely grave and serious situation” when he sent Fr. Baker for psychological treatment after the priest told him in 1986 that he had molested two brothers over seven years.

But, Baker returned to ministry the next year with a doctor’s recommendation that he be defrocked immediately if he spent any time with minors.  Despite several documented instances of being alone with boys, the priest was not removed from ministry until 2000, some 14 years later — leaving him to have access to other children.

Church officials discussed announcing Baker’s abuse in churches where he had worked, but Mahony rejected the idea.  He wrote in an October 6, 2000 memo, “We could open up another firestorm — and it takes us years to recover from those.  Is there no alternative to public announcements at all the Masses in 15 parishes???  Wow — that really scares the daylights out of me!!”

Msgr. Richard Loomis, who was the Vicar for Clergy, said in a memo in 2001 to his successor that Baker’s attorney disclosed the priest had at least 10 other victims.  Msgr. Loomis wrote, “We’ve stepped back 20 years and are being driven by the need to cover-up and to keep the presbyteriate & public happily ignorant rather than the need to protect children.”

To view the documents go to http://www.bishopaccountability.org.

Copyright 2013, b&a opinions.

–Michele M. Betti of the Law Offices of Betti & Associates is an advocate for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

In the fifth century, Ireland was rid of snakes and saved by St. Patrick.  This past week, with the announcement from the Vatican, Ireland will be saved again from the child abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church for years.

Monsignor Eamon Martin will succeed Cardinal Sean Brady as head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.  Monsignor Martin is the “coadjutor” archbishop of Armagh, which means he will automatically succeed Cardinal Brady upon his retirement in 2014.  Armagh, located in Northern Ireland, is a significant diocese as the archbishop has the title “Primate of All Ireland” (senior church position on the divided island of Ireland).  This move by the Vatican allows Cardinal Brady to exit softly amidst all the allegations of sexual abuse over the years.  Monsignor Martin will take over running of the diocese immediately.

Monsignor Martin, 51, stated he is saddened that so many good Catholics have stopped practicing their faith over these abuse scandals and stated, “As a Church, we must continue in our efforts to bring healing to victims and ensure that young people are always protected, respected and nurtured.”

The Church in Ireland for centuries was embedded in the lives of the people and has been dealt a blow by a series of reports of child sexual abuse going back decades and the complicity of Church officials in the cover up.  The years of crisis over these allegations have included several damming government reports, a BBC documentary last year, the resignation of several Irish bishops and a papal letter to Catholics in Ireland.  In fact, last year Ireland closed its embassy to the Vatican.

The BBC television documentary riveted the Irish Catholics when it was reported that Cardinal Brady failed to warn parents of an abuser in 1975 after one of the abused victims went to him and he did nothing.  The abuser, Father Brendan Smyth, pleaded guilty to 74 charges of sexual abuse to boys and girls for more than 30 years.  Father Smyth was convicted to 12 years in prison and died in 1997 one month into his sentence.

The Vatican is hopeful that Monsignor Martin will start the healing process and avoid any shameful scandals in the future.  Monsignor Martin will become the new coadjutor archbishop in about 12 days and stated he was “shocked and humbled.”  He will become the youngest archbishop/bishop in Ireland’s history.  The new archbishop is a director of the National Board for Safeguarding Children (a body set up in the wake of widespread clerical abuse scandals in the Irish church).  He does not carry any baggage from his past and has a “clean pair of hands” after decades of abuse in Ireland.

These are challenging times for the Catholic Church in Ireland and he has been asked to lead.  Let’s hope he does.  Our prayers go with him.

Copyright 2013, b&a opinions.

–Michele M. Betti of the Law Offices of Betti & Associates is an advocate for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

The Oregon Supreme Court in a ruling on June 14, 2012 ordered the release of files dating back to 1965 detailing child abuse by the Boy Scouts of America volunteers and paid staff.

The 20,000 pages of abuse documents used in the trial as evidence will be made public. The ruling is based on a past Supreme Court case Nixon v. Warner Communications. The only caveat to the release of these secret documents is the redaction of victims’ names. Once completed, files from 1965 to 1985 will become public record.

The Oregon Supreme Court today gave advocates of child sexual abuse a significant win. By making these Boy Scouts of America’s secret “perversion files” public record the cover up by organizations becomes a reality to doubters of these types of lawsuits. The more we can make the public aware of such cover ups the more pressure we put on organizations and institutions to stop the silence of child sexual abuse by those in authority of children.

Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.

June 22, 2012:  $28 Million Awarded to Jehovah’s Witness Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

In the largest jury verdict for a single victim of religious child sexual abuse, Candace Conti finally got her day in court against the North Fremont Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The Northern California jury awarded Conti $28 million dollars – $21 million of which was in punitive damages.

The verdict sent a clear message to those who abuse children and the religious organizations that try to cover up and conceal sexual abuse.  Conti is now 26 years of age, but from the age of 9 and 10 she was repeatedly sexually abused by another member of the congregation at the North Fremont church.

Elders in the Jehovah’s Witness church were given orders to keep any and all sexual abuse accusations a secret.  Other religious organizations, like the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and the Presbyterian Church, are made up of a hierarchy of elders that set policy within their respective religious organization.

This hierarchy who set policies of secrecy and suppression makes it very difficult to root out clergy and congregants who abuse children.  The $21 million in punitive damages is a welcome declaration to the organizations and religious institutions that conceal such atrocities against our children.

You only get one childhood in this life. Candace Conti was robbed of that childhood. It is a welcome verdict and about time that jury’s catch sight of this reality.

Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.

November 21, 2012:  Premiere Of MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

On November 16, 2012, I was honored to attend the Premiere of MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD in Manhattan – the compelling and utterly heart-wrenching movie about four courageous deaf men – Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Arthur Budzinksi, and Bob Bolger – who set out to expose the priest who had abused them and sought to protect other children by making their voices heard.

These brave survivors of childhood sexual abuse did not take no for an answer and persevered over three decades to expose their abuser.  Their courage was not only to seek justice for themselves, but also to save future children from the horrors they had suffered as young boys.

Some have called these men courageous; some have called them resilient; I call them heroes.  Heroes, because in the wake of resistance from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and the antipathy from the Milwaukee Police Department; they never quit until their abuser was removed from ministry.

Their persistence exposes the abuse of power in the Catholic Church and the cover-up that winds its way from the row houses of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the churches of Ireland, all the way to the highest office of the Vatican.

Heroes each and every one of them.  For on that day that Father Lawrence Murphy, who abused more than 200 deaf children in a school under his control, was removed from ministry, they saved future children from his abuse.  Heroes for each of us to aspire to be.

Photo from left to right, Mary Caplan, New York City Outreach Director, SNAP, and Michele Betti of the Law Offices Of Betti & Associates–advocates for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.

June 18, 2012:  Oregon Supreme Court Rules Boy Scouts of America Must Release Confidential Sexual Abuse Files

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

Oregon Supreme Court Rules Boy Scouts of America Must Release Confidential Sexual Abuse Files

The Oregon Supreme Court in a ruling on June 14, 2012 ordered the release of files dating back to 1965 detailing child abuse by the Boy Scouts of America volunteers and paid staff.

The 20,000 pages of abuse documents used in the trial as evidence will be made public. The ruling is based on a past Supreme Court case Nixon v. Warner Communications. The only caveat to the release of these secret documents is the redaction of victims’ names. Once completed, files from 1965 to 1985 will become public record.

The Oregon Supreme Court today gave advocates of child sexual abuse a significant win. By making these Boy Scouts of America’s secret “perversion files” public record the cover up by organizations becomes a reality to doubters of these types of lawsuits. The more we can make the public aware of such cover ups the more pressure we put on organizations and institutions to stop the silence of child sexual abuse by those in authority of children.

Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.

June 22, 2012:  $28 Million Awarded to Jehovah’s Witness Child Sexual Abuse Survivor

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

In the largest jury verdict for a single victim of religious child sexual abuse, Candace Conti finally got her day in court against the North Fremont Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The Northern California jury awarded Conti $28 million dollars – $21 million of which was in punitive damages.

The verdict sent a clear message to those who abuse children and the religious organizations that try to cover up and conceal sexual abuse.  Conti is now 26 years of age, but from the age of 9 and 10 she was repeatedly sexually abused by another member of the congregation at the North Fremont church.

Elders in the Jehovah’s Witness church were given orders to keep any and all sexual abuse accusations a secret.  Other religious organizations, like the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and the Presbyterian Church, are made up of a hierarchy of elders that set policy within their respective religious organization.

This hierarchy who set policies of secrecy and suppression makes it very difficult to root out clergy and congregants who abuse children.  The $21 million in punitive damages is a welcome declaration to the organizations and religious institutions that conceal such atrocities against our children.

You only get one childhood in this life. Candace Conti was robbed of that childhood. It is a welcome verdict and about time that jury’s catch sight of this reality.

Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.

June 12, 2012:  Abuse Headlines Give Needed Exposure To Complex Child Sexual Abuse Laws

By MICHELE M. BETTI | b&a opinions

Increased media attention on the explosion of child sexual abuse allegations overtaking the Jewish Orthodox community is shedding tremendous light into the pedophilia crisis — Making clear that this is not just a Catholic issue as has long been contended by victims and advocates of child sexual abuse.

Proponents for victims of child sexual abuse are glad to see the amount of coverage and press time these Jewish cases are receiving. It only makes it easier to get the statute passed. I tell reporters over an over that today, we need as much publicity as possible to shed light into these devastating crimes against our children. The more we can have the media focus attention the better it is for our legislature and the Governor to finally pass a pro-child protection bill. By doing this, we stop cover-ups by institutions and expose child predators to the community.

New York Assemblywoman, Margaret Markey has introduced a bill that would put changes in the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse crimes in New York. Markey has had the support of her fellow assembly members, but the bill has always died in committee in the state Senate.

An on-line petition (www.nychildvictimsact.org) urges the Governor to support the law. The on-line petition is sponsored by the Coalition to Protect Children. It calls on New York citizens to ask Governor Andrew Cuomo to support the Child Victims Act of New York.

When California enacted a similar law, more than 300 undetected predators were identified; and 50 in Delaware, a much smaller state.

Assemblywoman Markey’s bill, the Child Victims Act of New York, would extend the criminal and civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes by five additional years, from age 23 to age 28. It would also create a one-year window that will completely suspend the civil statute of limitations for one to make it possible for older victims to get justice. The window will also expose pedophiles that have been hidden, protecting future generations of children. And will expose institutions that covered up the abuse for so many years allowing other children to be sexually abused. This legislation has been adopted four times by the NY State Assembly since 2006, but has not been able to get a vote in the State Senate.

Copyright 2012, b&a opinions.