Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
City of Angels moves to LA City Buzz Examiner for now...
Gotta make a living... Meanwhile: Contact the US Attorney in your area, send them copies of these stories. Email them by putting first name, dot, last name, @ u-s-d-o-j dot gov. Some addresses are at the end of this post.
Coverage of pedophile priest sex crimes will continue at LA City Buzz Examiner, linked at the top of the page, above. I may post something else here, probably - don't know yet...
But - I need to make a living... I don't like begging, and too few people 'got' the PayPal campaign, which could have kept City of Angels ongoing. So we have to move... No one can screw with my ads at Examiner Dot Com, or accuse me of trying to "cash in" on the "survivor movement" . . . weird.
Enjoy the new perspective with me, and whoever was working to beat me down, I think you blew it, because I just moved City of Angels, the writing, to a better more visible and leverage-able place.
The story will go onward ...
ke
CALIFORNIA
Thomas P. O'Brien
Ofc US Attorney
312 N Spring St #1100
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone Number (213) 894-2434
Fax Number (213) 894-6269
e-mail thomas.obrien@usdoj.gov
SAN DIEGO
Karen Peckham Hewitt
Ofc US Atty/Southern Dist
880 Front St Ste 6293
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone Number (619) 557-5690
Fax Number (619) 557-5782
e-mail: karen.hewitt@usdoj.gov
SAN FRANCISCO
Ofc US Attorney, Northern District of CA
PO Box 36055
450 Golden Gate Ave
San Francisco, CA 94102-3495
Phone Number: (415) 436-6968
Fax Number: (415) 436-7234
email: joseph.russoniello@usdoj.gov
MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON
Michael J. Sullivan
Moakley Federal Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Suite 9200
Boston, MA 02210
Phone: (617) 748-3100
michael.sullivan@usdoj.gov
IOWA
Matthew G. Whitaker
(appointed by Bush in 2004)
U.S. Courthouse Annex, Suite # 286
110 East Court Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50309-2053
(515) 473-9300 (515) 473-9288
email: matthew.whitaker@usdoj.gov
ILLINOIS
Patrick J. Fitzgerald
United States Attorney's Office
Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division
219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: (312) 353-5300
patrick.fitzgerald@usdoj.gov
ROCKFORD
John McKenzie
Attorney In Charge
United States Attorney's Office
308 W. States St., Ste 300
Rockford, IL 61101
Phone: (815) 987-4444
Fax: (815) 987-4236
john.mckenzie@usdoj.gov
If you want to ask for an investigation of the Catholic Church, send the US Attorney for your region copies of any of the stories here at City of Angels or new ones on the topic of pedophile priests which will go up at LA City Buzz Examiner. http://www.examiner.com/x-1960-LA-City-Buzz-Examiner .
For the price of a latte every few months, a High Five click, readers here could have kept City of Angels going. Now we have to try something else.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
City of Angels is sizzling
I'm pissed right now, because I get a lot of encouragement, everybody tells me to keep doing City of Angels, but only about five people ever click the PayPal button to help pay for it. I do this hungry a lot of times, people don't realize how broke I am.
Then I think, yeah, well a lot of people are going to learn what it's like to be poor soon, with all the markets falling, and me, I'm used to it and already building myself out of it. All I know is, I have certainly learned, it's poor people who help the poor. People donate to nonprofits and think that is helping, when truth is all they are getting is a tax deduction.
The nonprofits barely help people who they raise their money based on, and that is true in this so-called "survivor community" as well. In fact if the nonprofits we have were really helping survivors, I would have a grant, or at least some cash, some support, some encouragement. There really is no network, no support. It's a sham put up for advocates to see from outside, for us inside, the struggling survivors, there is nothing.
In fact, the two nonprofits we have in our world both have slapped me in the face and turned their back on me, in their own unique ways.
If survivors really had a national network of support, City of Angels would be thriving right now.
Here in LA, we don't really have anyone advocating for us, I'm it. City of Angels should be thriving right now. . .it's not.
And nobody seems to even care.
So I am totally not even motivated to cover the hearing March 5 where Donald Steier may win and the documents for the L.A. cases that paid out $660 million to 510 people, what so many claimed they wanted, the personnel records of pedophile priests, will probably remain sealed.
I'm not asking for thousands of dollars, I just want people to click with five or ten dollars now and then to keep me going, pay for things like bus fare to get to court, a sandwich if I get stuck there several hours. People will give thousands to nonprofits, and won't click me a high five...
I just don't get it. I truly don't get it, anything.
Like I said, I'll be there March 5 at Dept. 308, for this crucial hearing about the Documents from LA Clergy Cases 2007, but it sure does feel like nobody cares, especially in L.A. Of the few people who clicked
PayPal and helped me in the last year, I don't think One, not one, was from L.A.....
The guy who went to all the trouble to pull out a credit card and click the PayPal button for ONE PENNY was from Chicago, and I had just posted a long involved and difficult post about cases in Illinois, I thought it was good news. I worked really-really hard on it, and to be honest, expected some applause. There was one lovely lady from Geneva who emailed saying "good work" but no one else that I know of in Illinois had anything to say about it, except the guy who clicked me one penny, which I see as a way of telling me to go away.
Some of the meanest people I've ever met in my life are among other survivors, I have made friends with a few, but in general the experience has been quizzical, to say the least, especially in dealing with SNAP.
Something is wrong, we don't really have an organization or a Network or Support. And I can't do all I am doing with no help. Please, all those who have given several times in the past, this is not about you, and please don't give again. All I want is for everyone to put a five dollar click now and then so City of Angels would have a steady income. I don't see how all the survivors involved in this incredibly duplicitous crime can't see that.
...
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Monday, February 23, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Santa Barbara public nuisance case against Franciscans dismissed
Dated Feb. 17, 2009, the dismissal of a civil suit against the Franciscan Friars and Old Mission Santa Barbara is official. The Superior Court dismissed "entire action and all causes of action" on papers filed the 9th of February.
From Tim Hale: "By settling the nuisance case before the demurrer hearing, the Franciscans insured that the issue of whether the nuisance theory applies to the Franciscans (or other entity defendants) remains an undecided case of first impression, at least for now.
"It is worth noting that the Franciscans became interested in mediating the case only when we were a few weeks away from the court ruling on their demurrer.
"I definitely expect to test its viability in lawsuits filed this summer, and strongly believe the nuisance theory is the only way we will ever obtain the true transparency necessary to save today's children from current perpetrators.
"Numerous district attorney's have used the nuisance theory in a criminal context against gangs around the state. I very much hope a district attorney will put it to the same use against the Franciscans and other entities that protect and harbor perpetrators. If not, we will press forward with it in the civil lawsuits."
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CITY OF ANGELS
Needs to take a trip
to Santa Barbara
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We want to go to Santa Barbara, go document diving. The Franciscans have settled hundreds of cases there, plus the Jesuits, although most of those stories remain out of the media.
City of Angels will take the Sunset Limited train and stay at Motel 6 up near the Santa Barbara Mission, ride city buses, and go document diving downtown, no frills, just a search for the facts.
We Need Money to do it. If everyone just put five dollars on the PayPal button in the top left column here at City of Angels, we could take this trip to Santa Barbara next month.
If everyone who read this blog just put $5 now and then on the PayPal button, how much more we could do here at City of Angels... covering trials or interviewing people in other cities (by Amtrak / Motel 6 / not a con here). We could do so much more with editing software and a better camera...
IMAGINE
How much more we could uncover and produce here at City of Angels if we had a budget. Please click the PayPal donate button, just every now and then, so we can have resources and do more of this work.
ke
Friday, February 20, 2009
City of Angels needs to take a trip to Santa Barbara
We want to go to Santa Barbara, go document diving. The Franciscans have settled hundreds of cases there, plus the Jesuits, although most of those stories remain out of the media.
City of Angels will take the Sunset Limited train and stay at Motel 6 up near the Santa Barbara Mission, ride city buses, and go document diving downtown, no frills, just a search for the facts.
We Need Money to do it. If everyone just put five dollars on the PayPal button in the top left column here at City of Angels, we could take this trip to Santa Barbara next month.
If everyone who read this blog just put $5 now and then on the PayPal button, how much more we could do here at City of Angels... covering trials or interviewing people in other cities (by Amtrak / Motel 6 / not a con here). We could do so much more with editing software and a better camera...
IMAGINE
How much more we could uncover and produce here at City of Angels if we had a budget. Please click the PayPal donate button, just every now and then, so we can have resources and do more of this work.
ke
Thursday, February 19, 2009
By Tom Economus, an editorial from 11 years ago, but it could have been written today
(We are running this Winter 1998 editorial from the Linkup quarterly newsletter here at City of Angels, so we can all reflect on how little things have changed in eleven years, and that maybe doing the same thing over and over again is not making much difference. Also to revisit eloquent writings of Tom Economus, a founder of the pedophile priest survivor movement, whose premature death truly set all of us back. Read on.)
Papal Embargo Against Victims of Clergy Sexual Abuse: I would like to have started 1998 with a positive column on the healing of victims-survivors and how individuals are beginning to reclaim their lives and move forward. And then the Pope touched down in Cuba and embraced Fidel Castro.
As I watched in total dismay the Holy Father hugging Castro and his genocidal regime and begin his five-day campaign for human rights and dignity, I could not help but think about the thousands of children who have been sexually molested around the world by his priests. Nor could I ignore the embargo that has been initiated by the Vatican against victims in the Roman Catholic Church who seek the same social justice, human dignity that the Pope so eloquently spoke of on behalf of the Cuban people.
(And there was Nancy Pelosi kissing the Pope yesterday in the news.)
Once again we see this Pope, this religious leader of hundreds of millions of Catholics, embracing a dictator who is responsible for the pain and suffering of thousands upon thousands of his own people and the direct cause of human genocide. The same Pope, who in the past has embraced other such dictators and regimes, yet he has never embraced a victim or survivor of sexual abuse by his own priests.
(UPDATE: Since April 2008, the Pope has spoken personally to the four[?] who got what was it, 20 minutes of face time, during his tour through the USA.)
John Paul is famous for his fervent style in condemning abortionists and those who impede human rights. He passionately urges his bishops to expand the dialog process, demanding greater liberty while defending church teachings and embracing all who suffer. Except, that is, for the children who have suffered at the hands of his clergy.
He speaks out against communism, war, euthanasia. domestic violence, political imbalance, capital punishment but also against dissenting theologians and women as priests. He has intervened on behalf of a convicted murderess asking for clemency while appointing Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionnaires of Christ, to a special diplomatic position in Rome to the bishops and then praised him as an "efficacious guide to youth." This in the face of allegations of sexual abuse brought by nine men from Spain, Mexico and the US.
Deja Vu all over again.
This is a Pope who created World Youth Day, hugs and blesses children from all walks of life, sends out encyclicals on how we should conduct our lives and live a moral existence. He has become the self-proclaimed champion of the underprivileged and those less fortunate but remains silent on the issue of children victimized by his own regime.
Victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the global clergy abuse crisis have never been fully addressed by this Pope or Vatican officials. The only time time the Pope has spoken on the issue of clergy sexual abuse was in Denver in 1993 while attending World Youth Day.
He claimed at that time that the present lack of family values and morality of and by the American people had contributed, if not created the opportunity, for priests to make mistakes. A few weeks later, the Vatican released the statement that clergy sexual abuse was an American and Canadian problem only.
In August this past year, the Pope did speak out against child prostitution in Asia and the Philippines, blaming their governments, big business and poverty as the culprits. And he even called upon his priests in Belgium to take control of the child sexual abuse crisis there, when high-ranking officials were indicted.
As a result of the Pope and the Vatican's inaction and lack of moral leadership on this issue, American bishops have failed as well. Over 3,000 clergy have some form of sexual allegation against them, and yet we continue to wait for this church to step up and take responsibility.
It is clear that the current thought process in Rome suffers from the same belief the North American bishops once held that if they ignore it, the victims and the crisis will go away.
However, that has not happened.
If I had an opportunity to talk with the Holy Father, I would simply ask him: Have you ever looked into the angelic faces of the children abused by your priests and seen their pain? When you take a stand against human genocide, do you equate those atrocities with the damage done to children by your silence on this issue?
Is the murdering of innocent souls, souls that have been entrusted to your church and the scandal and the cover-up by your bishops, any different than the behavior of the dictators that you have so compassionately embraced? Is it easier to hug a murderer than a hurting child?
Is the guilt less felt when one speaks out against other regimes and faults not one's own? And finally, when will victims of sexual abuse by your priests, religious brothers and nuns be embraced by your church on the same Vatican steps as Castro was?
— Missing Link, Winter 1998
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Tom Economus would have been 53 years old on the last day of February. . .
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Here are quotes and commentary re January 9 Illinois state court decision. . .
*
City of Angels sees an opportunity here for a class action suit or some other public and civil, legal application of this decision. Even if you have filed and settled previously in Illinois, why don't a group of us join forces here to make the point that it takes decades to come forward about child sex abuse. Perpetrators should not be able to capitalize on the damages of their own crimes, with victims unable to come forward.
Here are sections of the decision that stimulate me to action: (Itals are my comments. We posted the Illinois state court decision, entire document, at City of Angels 11 .)
"Knowledge of the abuse does not constitute discovery of the injury or the causal relationship between any later-discovered injury and the abuse." (p.4)
In other words, this five years from the moment you realized nonsense is just that, nonsense. There is no SOL in child sex abuse cases.
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"The legislature intended the 2003 amendments to the Act to apply retroactively to all claims of childhood sexual abuse." (p.6)
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"A threshold matter is whether the 2003 amendments to the Act apply retroactively to Plaintiffs’ claims. In Clay v. Kuhl, 189 Ill. 2d 603, 609, 727 N.E.2d 217, 221 (2000) (p.6)
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City of Angels: !!!!!
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"We reject the dissent’s implication that under the supreme court’s decision in M.E.H. 'taking away the right to invoke the statute of repose as a defense to a cause of action is' in and of itself, 'constitutionally prohibited.' We find that the M.E.H. court reached its conclusion based on the existence of a vested right for the defendant.
"The M.E.H. court did not find a general constitutional prohibition against the legislature’s judgment to eliminate a statute of repose. The sole basis for the supreme court’s holding in M.E.H. was the existence of what was then a vested right."
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"Thus, the question is not whether defendants’ substantive right exists or is impacted. The questions is whether the legislature’s act in changing those rights offends due process. The United States Supreme Court has recognized, and our supreme court has agreed, that “Legislation has come to supply the dominant means of legal ordering, and circumspection has given way to greater deference to legislative judgments.”
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City of Angels: Here is the part where I think they were saying, come on, guys, if you need a statute of repose, it shows what criminals you are:
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"We must determine whether the defense has relied on this limitations defense in some way. While there might be cases in which a defendant truly takes actions in reliance upon a limitations period, in this factual context we are unable to conceive of such reliance-
"(The) Legislature's judgment that places this burden on defendants is an acceptable price to pay for tailoring procedural limitations to reflect the nature of the type of injury alleged. (p.14) .”
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"Relevant considerations include the legislature's motive in enacting the statutory change and whether the parties detrimentally relied on the prior version of the law.” (p.16)
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By Its Very Nature
Subject to long-repressed memories:
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"As to the legislature’s motive in enacting the statutory change, the court has already held that a problem inherent in the old version of the statute (including the statute of repose) was that it did not suit the nature of claim. In this case the nature of the claim is one which “by its very nature [is] subject to long-repressed memories.” (p. 16-17)
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QUOTE I made 22 point bold type in my notes:
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"Any statute of repose applicable to incidents of childhood sexual abuse inherently fails to recognize that the nature of the claim is subject to long-repressed memories. Applying the repeal of the statute of repose retroactively to allow plaintiffs to bring suit long after the alleged abuse occurred would correct that problem and bring the current application of the law into line with the nature of the claim." (p. 17)
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Again it sounds like the court is saying,
Okay, church, if as a defendant you have to keep the Statute of Repose, tell us exactly how you as a defendant rely on it for your constitutional right to a defense.
In other words, if you need an SOP it just proves you are a scumbag perpetrator and we need to prosecute you.
THE ONLY BAD EFFECT ON DEFENDANTS IS THEY CAN NOW BE PROSECUTED FOR HEINOUS CRIMES THEY COMMITTED IN THE PAST.
Again we get to the point I made about the LA Archdiocese investigation:
"You need creative lawyering, maybe even to invent new law that defines these crimes, because we are dealing with acts that no one has defined in law before, even believed happened before. A clergy person raping a child is assault on the body and mind/soul/spirit, or even ability to celebrate a religion. What right have we all been denied? It has not been defined. "
Something like that. . .
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It affects both plaintiff and defense equally, having to build a case on crimes committed years or decades ago:
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“In all litigation, the passage of time carries a potential for evidentiary problems. Memories fade. Records might be lost or destroyed. Witnesses might have moved away or died. While these issues with time affect both plaintiffs and defendants alike, we must determine whether the defense has relied on this limitations defense in some way.
"While there might be cases in which a defendant truly takes actions in reliance upon a limitations period, in this factual context we are unable to conceive of such reliance."
"Placing this burden on defendants is an acceptable price to pay for tailoring procedural limitations to reflect the nature of the type of injury alleged.”
"Both defendants and plaintiffs face similar evidentiary difficulties in this litigation."
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That's the expression I was looking for. Defendant and plaintiff both face the same "evidentiary difficulties" because of an SOL.
*****************
"The legislature has determined that it previously failed to recognize that allegations of this type are subject to repressed memories and may require significant time before a plaintiff brings a cause of action."
"Placing the burden on defendants to defend old claims of this type is generally an acceptable price to pay to allow victims of sexual abuse to seek redress."
"It would be illogical, therefore, for us to hold that retroactive application of the statute of limitations offends due process."
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Okay here is the part that directly affecte my case, I think, along with the entire decision...:
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"The fact that the person abused discovers or through the use of reasonable diligence should discover that the act of childhood sexual abuse occurred is not, by itself, sufficient to start the discovery period under this subsection
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MY CASE, MY CASE: If I can just find another survivor of Father Thomas Barry Horne, or some other way to prove it really happened, THEN my ten years would start.
Mary Feeny, from Bartlett, 1950-53, where are you?
"Knowledge of the abuse does not constitute discovery of the injury or the causal relationship between any later-discovered injury and the abuse."
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THIS PART FOLLOWING IS IMPORTANT, as is all of it...
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"It is insufficient that plaintiffs knew or even suspected that defendants alleged misconduct was wrongful and that defendants’ wrongful conduct harmed them.
"The (Illinois State) legislature has clearly provided:
“The fact that the person abused discovers or through the use of reasonable diligence should discover that the act of childhood sexual abuse occurred is not, by itself, sufficient to start the discovery period."
"Knowledge of the abuse does not constitute discovery of the injury or the causal relationship between any later-discovered injury and the abuse."
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The injustice the court and the legislature wanat to correct here is the more damaged you are, the less likely you are to come forward with a claim in time to meet the Statutes. Those who are most damaged end up not getting to an attornery on time, like me.
If you recover a traumatic memory and go to an attorney right away, you can get justice. If you have a hard time reacting to the memory and it takes you ten years to realize how much the trauma affected you, it’s too late to file a claim, under the old reading of the statutes.
The more damaged you are by the crime, the less likely you are to get justice with current SOLs.
Also the more damaged you are the more likely you are to keep the memory submerged in your brain using weird behavioral and personality tricks to keep it down, for even more years, even decades.
And people think you're just crazy. . .
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Sorry, somewhere in there I stopped copying page numbers...
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Support and applaud the work at City of Angels by putting a high five or higher on the PayPal button at left...
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Sunday, February 15, 2009
Statute of repose in child sex crimes prevents justice, as these claims involve long-repressed memories, say 2 branches of Illinois state government
By Kay Ebeling
City of Angels
RE: ILLINOIS APPELLATE COURT DECISION JAN. 9, 2009
Whoa, I just read the recent Peoria decision, and from what I see, the Illinois Legislature removed the statute of repose in 2003, then last month the Illinois Appellate Court confirmed that act of the Legislature. Which means they may be about to eliminate the statute of repose in child sex crimes in Illinois, depending on what the state supreme court does next. The January 9, 2009, decision affects, specifically, cases that were filed in 2006, saying the Legislature’s decision overrules anything trial courts, or even circuit appeals courts try to say. We will publish the entire document in a matter of hours here at City of Angels 11
In 2003 the Illinois Legislature said: "The nature of the (child sex abuse) claim is subject to long-repressed memories," removing the statute of repose for child sex crimes. The January decision confirms the Legislature's lawmaking.
So come on, gang, let's take some action in Illinois.
"A problem inherent in the old version of the statute (including the statute of repose) was that it did not suit the nature of the claim," reads the January decision. "Any statute of repose applicable to incidents of childhood sexual abuse inherently fails to recognize that the nature of the claim is subject to long-repressed memories."
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"Any statute of repose applicable to incidents of childhood sexual abuse inherently fails to recognize that the nature of the claim is subject to long-repressed memories."
******************
"Applying the repeal of the statute of repose retroactively to allow plaintiffs to bring suit long after the alleged abuse occurred would correct that problem and bring the current application of the law into line with the nature of the claim."
The Court Found: “It is illogical, therefore, for us to hold that retroactive application of the statute of limitations offends due process.
(There is much discussion whether a defendant's right to due process is affected by eliminating the statute of repose. Both Legislature and Supreme Court seem to say that in cases of child sex abuse, it is just as difficult for the victim as it is for the defendant to build a case due to long periods of time. Plus, if the defendant wants to prove he needs the statute of repose in order to carry out a defense, doesn't that just prove what a sick criminal he is in the first place? Or words of that nature. . . . )
The Court in Illinois said: “Knowledge of the abuse does not constitute discovery of the injury or the causal relationship between any later-discovered injury.”
(So in cases like mine, a person might realize the abuse happened, but not realize the extent of the damage for several more years. How do you define the exact moment the victim knows the extent of the crime in these cases? You can't.)
The court says: the (Illinois) legislature intended the 2003 amendments to the Act to apply retroactively to all claims of childhood sexual abuse.
What was the 2003 State Legislature act?
In 2003, the Illinois legislature enacted, 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2, which extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse to 5 years from the date plaintiff discovers both (1) the act of childhood sexual abuse occurred and (2) that the injury was caused by the childhood sexual abuse.
The Legislature’s rulings overrule the trial court’s and even direct the actions of the State Supreme Court.
The Court finds the action of the Illinois State Legislature in 2003 accedes previous rulings on the Statutes of limitations and repose in Illinois in 1994, 1991, 19, the Illinois legislature enacted, 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2, which extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse to 5 years from the date plaintiff discovers both (1) the act of childhood sexual abuse occurred and (2) that the injury was caused by the childhood sexual abuse. . .
Does that all confuse you? Exactly. So the Illinois legislature and now the Supreme Court of the state has agreed - the statute of repose makes no sense in child sex abuse claims, which are often not realized for years and years and years, decades and decades, the very nature of the crime negates the statute of repose.
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The perps should not be able to use the nature of the crime as a way to get away with the crime.
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Nice logic.
Gotta call my lawyer in the morning about this...
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Hmm...
Defendants, in the cases from April 2006 that went to the State Supreme Court and produced this decision are:
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria, and
Bishop Daniel Jenky,
individually, and the defendants’ respective churches
WHY IS BISHOP JENKY out making press statements about pedophile priest issues, such as the much quoted letter in the news with pictures of Jenky last week, and he never mentioned he's a defendant in these cases? Don't these bishops have any ethics?
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We are copy and pasting the entire decision -
No. 3-07-0735, from the Illinois Appellate Court Third Division
Into a post at a different City of Angels location, to be announced shortly.
(Entire document to be posted tomorrow. )
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Remember
City of Angels has to generate income and for now a PayPal donate button is all we have. If everyone just sends a high $5 now and then, until we get a grant, we will be able to travel the country on Amtrak writing these stories, or at least buy shoes and a Metro pass to go to Dept. 308 and cover LA cases.
Please Click the PayPal Button
The Story Goes Onward. . .
Saturday, February 14, 2009
SB 238 defeated. Maryland Judiciary Committee, state senate, votes no on SOL window late Thursday night
This just in: Maryland's Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee voted down SB238 in a vote late Thursday night. This means the Senate bill is dead for another year.
Activists are now turning their attention to a House bill in Maryland with "a ferociously dedicated bill sponsor in Delegate Sue Hecht."
"So while we lost the first round of battle, the war wages on," reads a recent email.
Focus now is on the House Judiciary Committee leaders in Maryland, to gauge their interest in bringing forward Delegate Hecht’s bill in its current form or to revise the bill.
"We still have House Bill 556," said Frank Dingle of Maryland's Child's Victim's Voice.
More on HB 556:
<http://mlis.state.md.us/2009rs/bills/hb/hb0556f.pdf
Sponsored for the State of Maryland by:
Delegates Hecht, Anderson, Beidle, Bromwell, Bronrott, Carr, G. Clagett, Frush, Howard, McHale, Rosenberg, Schuh, and Weldon
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You Rock, Maryland, don't stop.
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P.S. To Everyone, the only way City of Angels has to generate income for now is the PayPal donate button. If everyone just sends a high $5 now and then, until we get a grant, we can travel the country writing these stories.
Please Click the PayPal Button
-ke
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thomas P. O'Brien
Ofc US Attorney
312 N Spring St #1100
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone Number (213) 894-2434
Fax Number (213) 894-6269
e-mail thomas.obrien@usdoj.gov
SAN DIEGO
Karen Peckham Hewitt
Ofc US Atty/Southern Dist
880 Front St Ste 6293
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone Number (619) 557-5690
Fax Number (619) 557-5782
e-mail: karen.hewitt@usdoj.gov
SAN FRANCISCO
Ofc US Attorney, Northern District of CA
PO Box 36055
450 Golden Gate Ave
San Francisco, CA 94102-3495
Phone Number: (415) 436-6968
Fax Number: (415) 436-7234
email: joseph.russoniello@usdoj.gov
MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON
Michael J. Sullivan
Moakley Federal Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Suite 9200
Boston, MA 02210
Phone: (617) 748-3100
michael.sullivan@usdoj.gov
IOWA
Matthew G. Whitaker
(appointed by Bush in 2004)
U.S. Courthouse Annex, Suite # 286
110 East Court Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50309-2053
(515) 473-9300 (515) 473-9288
email: matthew.whitaker@usdoj.gov
ILLINOIS
Patrick J. Fitzgerald
United States Attorney's Office
Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division
219 S. Dearborn St., 5th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: (312) 353-5300
patrick.fitzgerald@usdoj.gov
ROCKFORD
John McKenzie
Attorney In Charge
United States Attorney's Office
308 W. States St., Ste 300
Rockford, IL 61101
Phone: (815) 987-4444
Fax: (815) 987-4236
john.mckenzie@usdoj.gov
All kinds of sex abuse litigation got through Marland last year, but they don’t have the Catholic Church coming in and testifying against them
By Kay Ebeling
As I watched Barney Frank grill one of the bank CEOs who were in front of the US Senate this week, I thought I heard him grilling a bishop someday in the future. "What made you think the rape of children, repeated and systematic rape of children, was not a crime that should be handled by law enforcement? Even as far back as the 1950s and 1960s, how could you ever think rape of children was not a problem that should be worked on immediately, first priority, above all others?"
A goal of the upcoming Electronic Storm is to get the bishops up in front of Senators like the Bank CEO's are today. Meanwhile, here is more of the phone call from David Fortwengler, about his experience testifying in front of the Judiciary Committe of the Maryland State Senate last week:
DAVID: “Survivors who were there were testifying for SB 238 in Maryland were from everywhere, foster families, boys & girls club. survivors of rape by rabbis along with priest rape survivors. What bothers me is because of the Church lobbyists, whose job is to keep the Church from facing accountability, those victims of other institutionally enabled child rape will also never get justice.
**************
The only entity testifying against the law was the Roman Catholic Church
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"With all the other organizations represented by survivors at the Maryland SB238 hearings last week, the only entity testifying against the law was the Roman Catholic Church."
ME: So you're saying, all those other crime victims are looking for the same opportunity for justice, and the Catholic Church is blocking it for them, in order to keep its own assets covered. I don't know how they continue to get away with it, especially today with everyone understanding that it often takes years for child sex crimes to be reported.
“In Maryland there is no other offense that is three years from age of majority, except child sex crimes, because the Catholic Church keeps paying lobbyists to fight any change in the law.
“They think that giving a child sex abuse victim seven years to report is way out on a limb, because it was three before.
****************
To get them to go to the age of fifty is something.
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“So for now to get them to go to the age fifty is accomplishing something. I looked up bios of members of the committee. One was instrumental in getting Jessica’s Law through Maryland last year.
“All kinds of sex abuse litigation got through every year. But they don’t have the Catholic Church coming in and testifying against them.
“Would you want to have 25 percent of your base if you were a politician?
"They keep saying it’s impossible to investigate cases because the witnesses die. They said, ‘the victims die.’ Well, in 2002, my perp was convicted in court, he pled guilty to three counts, he was found guilty after 35 years. The victims didn't die, worst of all the memories didn't fade."
ME: With all the other states that have changed the statute of limitations for sex crimes, when crimes are deliberately concealed, the SOL should be irrelevant.
What a great scam for predator pedophiles, knowing your victims will likely not report because they won’t even recognize what was done to them for decades. Kids bury bad experiences.
What a great scam for the Catholic Church, which by its very secretive sex obsessed nature, harbors pedophiles in the role of priests.
Keep the SOL inoperable, by keeping it short, especially knowing so many times, the survivor if they make it too adulthood still often hesitates, and then waits too long, to handle litigation and criminal charges, the way SOL laws are written today.
The very nature of the crime victims’ experience allows the perpetrators to continue operating.
CEO of banks that took bailout money being questioned finally in front of the senators.
That's where we need to see the bishops soon.
I want to see Barney Frank say, what made you think it was not a crime to be reported to law enforcement back in the 1950s and 1960s, how could you ever think rape of children was not a problem that should be worked on immediately, first priority, above all others.
Stay tuned at City of Angels for more, maybe this weekend...
Lobbyists paid by Church claim soup kitchens run by Church would close if SOL opened...
(And Maryland State Senate listens to them. Here is a conversation with David Fortwengler about hearings last week on SB236 before the Maryland State Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would open the Statute of limitations on negligence in sex crimes. Related videos at City of Angels 6 )
“Sometimes when you hear the church arguments, I'm glad we don’t have a system like the British where you can get up and yell in parliament, because there’s a whole bunch of times survivors would like to stand up and yell bull----. One priest gets up every time and says, If this legislation passes all these things would close, his parish and the soup kitchen.”
ME: If an organization the size of the Catholic Church really cared about poverty, there would be no poverty.
“James Brochin, a Senator from Baltimore says, Well, Monsignor, you sound very familiar with this argument. Let me ask you, what are the approximate assets of the diocese and what would the amount of judgments have to be before you were bankrupted?
“The priest just sat there, how can they answer that. The point is for the church it is all about the money.”
ME: It has been ever since the beginning? My body was sacrificed in the name of protecting church assets. Wait, let me write that down.
MY BODY WAS SACRIFICED IN THE NAME OF PROTECTING CHURCH ASSETS
“Like the Peoria bishop he’s afraid to get up and reveal-
ME: Another stab wound on my soul. Gotta write that down. All the damage they did, they're doing it again with this PR campaign to belittle the sex crimes. That Matt Abbott column this morning made me so mad.
DAVID: You can see what they've degenerated to. All they want to do is limit being accountable in a court of law. The same arguments they've always had.
ME: Who?
“The people for the archdiocese including the Chancellor of the Washington diocese, they're a professional lobbying group. The Maryland Catholic Conference
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The Maryland Catholic Conference http://www.mdcathcon.org/
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“They have a whole website on their objections to this legislation because it’s anti-Catholic. Their argument is it’s just not fair.”
ME: Oh it’s not fair? WHAT was ever fair about anything they did concerning rapist priests they didn't turn into law enforcement? Tell me more, David.”
“They never talk about their negligent supervision
ME: (interrupting again) And Duplicity. What do these Catholic lobbyists look like?
“They're all professional, all employees of the Diocese, they have to say who they work for when they get up. Everybody who spoke up against was from Washington Diocese.
ME: Everyone?
“Yeah, no Episcopals, no one from the Boys and Girls Clubs, or daycare centers, all of those organizations would be affected by this bill. But they never show up to testify against it.”
****************
SB238 to open up the statute of limitations for child sex crimes has been before the Maryland State Senate six times now since 2003.
***********************
“Everybody in that room has been educated by now and accepts the fact that it takes time for a victim to come forward about child sex crimes.
“The issue is whether the church should be held accountable for their crimes. I'm talking about - that's the only reason the church is objecting to this bill.
ME: Tell me more.
“When victims do testify, they tend to get emotional, the church is testifying about not wanting to go bankrupt. You see them saying it’s not fair.”
ME: It’s not fair?! It’s not fair!?
“I sat there in that hearing. It’s like the way you have blown up on the past couple posts. When you sit there and hear those arguments your blood pressure goes up, your heart rate. Then all of a sudden you're on a microphone in front of those people and
“It’s not like I haven’t had therapy. But even ‘cleansing breaths’ can’t keep up with the absurdity of the church’s arguments.
ME: Who else spoke for survivors?
“Vicki Polin, she’s been there every year since 2003, she works in Awareness Center in Baltimore, Paul Livingston came all the way from California, Al Chesley who I met last year at the DC SOL Hearings, an amazing man, a Chicago Bulls football player, and survivor of a police man at a boys and girls club - his point is with SOL. Why should there be an exemption.”
ME: What is the bill exactly?
“To extend the civil SOL which currently is age 25 and take it to age 50 and includes the same provision
ME: Why fifty? Isn’t that still just an arbitrary number?
“In Maryland, there’s no SOL on criminal cases, remember I was able to see my perp go to prison. That's one of the church’s arguments. They say, you can always put the guy in jail, why sue. Well, you can only sue the abuser or an institution that was negligent.”
“My question always is, the word Catholic doesn't appear anywhere in the legislation, it only affects institutions that were negligent in supervision of children. So why is the Catholic Church even there?
Me: Isn’t that another reason for hearings in itself like on a federal level? Why is the Church going to such great lengths to prevent transparency? What kind of group of thugs won’t release files under subpoena?
**************
We take a break promising to talk more about the Bishop of Peoria. Recent Illinois court decisions “may make our legal situation even more difficult in the future.” For the Catholic Church,” said the bishop of Peoria in the news that week, agreeing, good, because the Church has had lopsided overweight justice on their side for too long.
I go make coffee too and in the kitchen experience spontaneous weeping again, loud sobs from deep in the throat carry out into the apartment patios, a language my neighbors understand - the universal language of the downtrodden who every step they try to make to pull themselves up, the very entity that trod on them in the first place is billowing over them trodding them down again.
I read more from the bishop of Peoria and dash out an angry City of Angels post. “Noting his duty to work as a “prudent steward” of diocesan finances, Bishop Jenky charged…” Yes bishops are CEOs first and foremost. Da-da-da-da-da-da then call Dave back and he says:
******************
Conversation with David continued:
“It’s the same timing as with the steroids. The crimes of the church are coming out in the same pattern as the steroids. It was known on the inside first, though everyone denied it, over the years information trickled out, and now Barry Bonds is being indicted. Now Bonds is on trial for lying to a Federal Grand Jury
“But put a bishop under oath and all they say is I don't know, I don't remember that.”
ME: Tell me more about the Catholic lobbyists in Maryland.
“Okay, so all of them are professionals on salary, none of them are ever nervous or having their blood pressure go up. At the end of the day they all went home proud of what they did, testifying against the Judiciary Committee protecting the church.
“I wish I had been as cool and collected. I was second to the last person on the list so I was at the end of the day, and after hearing all those arguments, church lobbyists talking on and on and on -
“Basically whining, Every one of their arguments is, ‘It’s not fair.’
“After sitting there hearing all that stuff, I didn't even read my testimony. Just got up there and said, Petrella was hired in 1964, in 1966 he admitted molesting boys and he was still molesting boys in 1967. So by 1977 I would have had no rights.
“I turned and looked at them and said, so you're right, that's fair, my rights expired
“In 1977 at age 21 - 3 years from age of majority, I would have had no idea that raping a priest wouldn't get you fired. They got away with it, you win, it wouldn't be fair for me to go back and sue them.
“But you know what else isn’t fair, from 1977 to 1989, he was still serving as a priest in Washington and still molesting kids, and I don't think that's fair either.
“Clearly the coverup is successful. I had no idea that he would just be transferred to another parish.
“Paul Livingston talked about his life in the nineties, his substance abuse and being homeless, and how he couldn't figure out why he could never complete any projects. Then when window opened in 2003 in California, he decided to tell, he got a settlement. His point was- Money is not the issue.
“But the money did help him change his circumstances, it is important. Livingston said, Obviously I would prefer to have my childhood back, that's what I would have preferred. It has been meaningful for me, it has made it possible for me to travel around and speak on child sex crimes and justice for survivors.
ME: How do you get to speak at public hearing?
“It’s not that hard, most are like Maryland I imagine. You have to be there at least an hour early, sign in and let them know who you are, identify yourself. Then sometimes it’s required, you submit written testimony and you have to have enough copies for all of them and turn it in an hour early.
ME: That's all you have to do?
“It’s your right as a citizen. In fact before this bill they were hearing testimony about the red light cameras that they put up
ME: Does it do any good to testify in hearings?
“It’s a factor and a show of, of something. The senators really do sit there and listen, lot of them are informed, they had Marci Hamilton’s book.
“On victims side at least are voters, citizens, people who aren’t getting paid to be there, just doing it for a sense of justice.
“A girl was there testifying about being raped by foster parents. She’s got an opportunity with the window opened, to finally take some kind of legal action against the families, and that may be denied her because of the Catholic Church’s overwhelming desire to keep their secrets.
“Survivors who were there were testifying for SB 238 in Maryland were from everywhere."
Foster families,
Boys & girls club
Survivors of rape by rabbis
Along with priest rape survivors
ME: All looking for the same justice, and now with everyone understanding that it often takes years for child sex crimes to be reported-
“The senators kept asking, why do you wait so long, looking for some sort of empirical evidence. You could tell the one’s who were opposed.
“In Maryland there is no other offense that is three years from age of majority, except child sex crimes, because the Catholic Church keeps paying lobbyists to fight any change in the law.”
*
To read Maryland SB238 go to: http://mlis.state.md.us/2009rs/bills/sb/sb0238f.pdf
Announcing the Photo Project
As part of our campaign to reach the new U.S. Department of Justice - Send City of Angels a photo of your face, as a child the age of the sex crimes by a priest, or as an adult in recovery.
We will post EVERY PHOTO on a City of Angels site (number to be decided) (maybe City of Angels 1 and I'll move my story all of it over to 2)
Because we have unlimited space on a blog, with electronic expansion, the site full of pictures will just keep growing and growing. All the photos will be in one entry, so a person can just scroll down and keep seeing more and more and more and more
Crime Victims
Of Pedophile Priests who were allowed to operate out of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
We will help the Justice Department get a grasp on just how many crimes took place, and how many lives were affected.
American lives. The people the Justice Department works for.
The Department of Justice works for us.the taxpayers...
Send photos as jpg or scanned in, etc. to cityofangelslady@yahoo.com or ask for the mailing adress of City of Angels headquarters in Hollywood, California.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Coming tonight, after six tries to change Maryland SOL, church lobbyists are always there to block it
The same church lobbyists with tailored suits and expense accounts show up every hearing, with the same arguments. Many of the same survivors show up for state senate hearings as well, paying their own way. Maryland state senators have heard the stories now six times, as SB 238 to bring their Statute of Limitations laws for child sex crimes into the 21st century has been through the Maryland State Senate now, in one form or another, six times. Related videos
Everyone acknowledges the bishops committed the crimes. How do we break the stranglehold the largest religious institution in the western world has on our judicial and legislative system?
Through the Executive branch, children, study your civics books and stay tuned for a post here tonight for more information about -
The Electronic Storm on the Horizon.
- Kay Ebeling
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Raping children is a felony. Gay priests are a joke. Hardly equal in terms of justice.
by Kay Ebeling
(I know this sounds overtly angry. It is truly how these articles in what seems to be a PR campaign to belittle the pedophile priest felonies, makes one of the crime victims feel.) How dare you, Matt Abbott, equate homosexual priests with predator pedophiles, as part of the never ending Catholic effort to explain away and belittle these felonies? Today it's the Abbott column, with an excerpt from Philip Lawler's new book, and apparently Abbott agrees with it:
"Their sins, loathsome as they were, are still understandable," writes Lawler about the pedophile priests. "Anyone who accepts the Christian understanding of Original Sin realizes that all of us are capable of the most degrading." WHAT?
How dare you misrepresent every human being, saying all humans are capable of these acts. I'm not. I never would rape a child. Most humans are repulsed at the thought. No wonder my family quit being Catholic, with such a wimpy, tunnel vision response to horrific crimes committed against children.
Lawler then writes and apparently Abbot agrees: "The second scandal is the prevalence of homosexuality.”
Hey, gay priests are NO SCANDAL, they are a fact of life, even if you dirty little scoundrels want to pretend it can't be true, a large number of men are gay.
A lot of gay men have found a great place to live their gay lives among all the other gay priests in the church.
THAT'S A JOKE.
Rape of children is more than a scandal and in no way weighs anywhere near in the balance of justice with gay priests.
Gay priests offend a few Catholics.
Rape of Children shocks most humans
Only thing gay priests are doing wrong is lying about being gay.
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Every human on Earth should be insulted that Philip Lawler thinks every human being is capable of raping and sodomizing children?
No. Most humans, I hope even some who are still Catholic, draw a line somewhere. That simpering, I forgive everything and we're all human excuse DOES NOT WORK here. I can forgive a hungry person for stealing my food, I can even forgive a greedy bank for stealing my money.
THEY ALLOWED CHILDREN TO BE RAPED
Get that through your head
and stop belittling it.
The Catholic Church MESSED WITH THE LIVES permanently of children who the Catholic Church allowed to be raped and then discarded. And any normal person would be horrified and hollering like Nancy Grace.
Not finding ways to explain it away.
There's more: “Every Catholic moralist knows the principle, Corruptio optimi pessima est: the corruption of the best is the worst of all..”
How dare you denigrate my soul, saying all humans are capable of these acts.
Some of us don’t rely on priests and bishops and big thick small print books for our understanding of the spirit. We do what Jesus said on the Mount, one of the few direct quotes from Jesus in the Bible, he said, Look to the sky and call out, Our Father.
He was talking about how people need to stay away from corrupt religions and bishops and ridiculous man-man rituals, aka Sacraments.
Don't believe these bishops.
THEY ALLOWED CHILDREN TO BE RAPED
Get that through your head
and stop belittling it.
"The third scandal is the abdication of authority — or worse, the complicity — of American bishops when they were first confronted with the evidence of clerical abuse."
Nope you're wrong again, Lawler and ergo Abbott. This third scandal is the number one scandal, in fact it is THE scandal summed up. The bishops are criminals and you guys are afraid to look at the fact that the secrecy inherent in your Church is what allowed this corruption to fester.
You nitwits instead of admitting your bishops are criminals and taking action prefer to spread this pap in bishop approved Catholic published books and try to explain away the felonies.
FELONIES
Being a gay priest is not a felony
Are these authors trying to write their way to heaven?
Are they afraid to admitting these crimes took place and their church needs a major overhaul because they will lose their place in Heaven sometime down the line for criticizing the Church?
Why else do they keep trying to explain away an epidemic of pedophiles in the Catholic priesthood?
****************
It must be talking points week.
The godfather bishop must have sent out an alert to all Catholic journalists to start finding ways to apologize away these 50-plus years of felonious behavior, allowing children to be raped, with this spate of stories, like the one yesterday from CNA about the Bishop of Peoria?
THEY ALLOWED CHILDREN TO BE RAPED
Get that through your head
and stop belittling it.
And if you hate gays that much, you are probably really gay yourself. Pastor Haggard's all of you.
Nyah, nyah, nyah
Don't Buy Lawler's Book
The excerpt in Abbott's column will be enough. Lawler does spend long paragraphs explaining that all kinds of corruption has gone on all through Catholic Church history.
Again, stand on a hill and look up to God and Say, Our Father who art in heaven.
And let the bishops go bankrupt. They deserve it.
Cut paragraphs:
I am so sick of leftover Catholics sitting in the pews coming up with new ways to forgive and forget these sins.
AND
It is so much smarter to pray and talk to God, and ignore these idiots on Earth who think they have a better way, and still think priests are entitled to special indulgence.
.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Support SB 238: Civil Actions - Child Sexual Abuse - Statute of Limitations
By: Child Victims Voice of Maryland
FACT SHEET ABOUT MARYLAND’S BILL: Child Sex Abuse – Statute of Limitations and Limitation of Damages:
Most Survivors of childhood sexual abuse are faced with lifelong effects from the criminal acts committed against them. Statistically just under 50 percent of those who were sexually victimized were abused in the home, which makes it even more difficult to come to a place where one is ready to file a civil suit against their offenders.
The majority of Survivors of child sexual abuse are not able to connect how the criminals act(s) committed against them affected their lives until they are in their forties or fifties. Especially since their offenders are often family members. Those who were abused outside the home also are usually doing what they can to suppress their memories and do whatever it takes to attempt to have a normal life. When thinking of the stages in one’s life it makes sense since the forties and fifties is a time of self-reflection. It is a time in which the outside demands of a survivor’s life have lessened.
Child Victims Voice of Maryland believes that we must:
(1) Abolish the statute of limitations within which a victim/survivor of child sexual abuse may bring a civil claim; and
(2) Create a window of time within which victims/survivors may bring a civil claim where the statute of limitations has already expired. We believe the window should be at least a two year period of time.
CHILDHOOD SEX ABUSE BACKGROUND:
One of the major reasons why we must raise the limit to 50 years of age, with an open one year window is because it takes most survivors many years to be in a place where they are ready and willing to enter into counseling and begin to deal with the horror of their childhood. It’s also known in the clinical world that there are certain times that a survivor is more likely to go for help. These times include:
· Right after the abuse happened if they tell their parents and or have other support,
· When the survivor is old enough and capable of leaving home,
· Around the time the survivor is thinking about marriage or get married,
· When the survivor or their spouse is pregnant or right after their child is born,
· When the survivors own children reach the age they were when they themselves were abused,
· But most common is when they are in their forties or fifties. This is an age that most adults can focus on themselves, they start reflecting on their lives and have the time to deal with things they never resolved.
STEP ONE:
THE STATE OF MARYLAND NEEDS TO INCREASES THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS WITHIN WHICH VICTIMS/SURVIVORS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE MAY BRING A CIVIL CLAIM FROM SEVEN YEARS TO ONE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE AGE OF MAJORITY.
* Awareness of Causation of Injuries:
Under the current law, victims/survivors of childhood sexual abuse must bring a civil case against their perpetrator within seven years of turning 18. Maryland must abolish its statute of limitations [SOL] because many victims/survivors of childhood sexual abuse are not emotionally or psychologically in a position to deal with their victimization of the incidents until they are in their forties, fifties or beyond. Most are unable to make the connection between the sexual criminal acts committed against them as children and how it affected the rest of their lives.
* Maryland does not apply its “discovery” rule to victims of childhood sexual abuse:
Unfortunately, while Maryland applies the “discovery” rule [which tolls the running of the statute of limitations until the victim/survivor discovers his/her injury] in other civil cases, the courts have refused to apply this rule to claims of childhood sexual abuse.
* Many other states do apply the “discovery” rule, or something similar to it to victims of childhood sexual abuse:
The following 20 states recognize the delayed discovery/realization rule in some form for victims of childhood sexual abuse: Alaska; Colorado; Florida; Idaho; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Missouri; Nevada; Oklahoma; Oregon; Rhode Island, South Carolina; South Dakota; Texas; Utah; Vermont; Virginia; Washington; Wyoming.
* Several states have gone further than recognizing the “discovery” rule and simply have NO SOL or have longer SOLs than Maryland:
There is No SOL in Alaska, Delaware and Maine for victims bringing civil actions of childhood sexual abuse, and Wisconsin is currently considering eliminating its SOL
The following states have an SOL of greater than seven years after the age of majority for these victims/survivors: Connecticut [30 years], Ohio [12 years]; Pennsylvania [12 years]; [Wisconsin 14 years].
* A longer SOL serves to deter future sexual predators.
In addition to helping victims/survivors who have already been abused, a longer statute of limitations will deter sexual predators who contemplate using their power to commit criminal sexual acts on children. There is a much greater likelihood that claims will be brought if victims/survivors have the time to remember and fully understand the injuries they have suffered. Knowing that Maryland has these protections may deter sexual predators from using their power over children to criminally sexually manipulate them.
STEP TWO:
CREATE A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR VICTIM/SURVIVORS WHOSE CLAIMS ARE TIME-BARRED.
Because there are many victim/survivors for whom the SOL has already expired, extending the statute of limitations is not enough. For these victims, the state of Maryland needs to give them an opportunity, after meeting stringent requirements, to have their day in court by creating at least one hundred years after the age of majority time frame within they may bring their claim.
* In order to qualify to bring a claim under the window of opportunity section of HB 848, victims have to meet the vigorous requirements of providing a certificate of merit which must include:
(a) A statement by an attorney finding that he has consulted with a licensed mental health provider who has found that there is a reasonable and meritorious cause for filing the action; and
(b) A statement by a licensed mental health provider who is not treating the victim/survivor and concludes that there is reasonable basis to believe that the victim/survivor has been subjected to sexual abuse as a minor.
* Other states have already successfully implemented similar laws creating a window of opportunity for victim/survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring a civil action against his/her predator where the SOL has expired.
Delaware: On July 10, 2007, Delaware repealed its SOL for victims of childhood sexual abuse and created a two year window within which victims can bring civil cases otherwise time-barred. The victims are not required to meet any greater standards than other civil plaintiffs in order to bring their case.
California: During the 1997-1998 legislative session, California passed a bill allowing a one-year window of time within which victims could file claims which had previously been time-barred. The law is very similar to HB ___in that is also requires a certificate of merit to be filed by the victim.
* Wisconsin is currently considering a three-year window of opportunity for victims to bring civil claims.
* Finally, it is important to note there needs to be no caps on the amount of damages that a victim/survivor may be awarded for claims brought during this window of opportunity.
Bishop of Peoria admits Finance is main concern of Catholic Church, not reconciliation or justice for raped children
By Kay Ebeling
"It was better to cover up crimes against my six year old body than to let the church suffer possible scandal and financial loss."
The bishop of Peoria says, the Catholic Church “No longer enjoys equal justice under the law,” and I'm yelling, more like Justice is finally waking up, and treating the Church like any other possible criminal organization, instead of the silk gloves approach the Church has enjoyed the last 8 years.
I was taking a sick day. Then I read, "Abuse lawsuit ruling endangers Church’s equality under law, bishop says," released today by the Catholic News Agency, and found myself banging on the keyboard, the anger generating from my soul to my fingers slamming the flu right out of my body.
"Noting his duty to work as a 'prudent steward' of diocesan finances, Bishop Jenky charged. . .”
Yes!
He's so dumb he doesn't even realize how criminal he looks saying that.
Bishops are CEOs first
Not stewards of their diocese members’ souls, spirits, or even charity.
"The saddest part of his ministry has been dealing with 'our part of the immense societal issue of sexual misconduct with minors,'" reports CNA.
And I HOWL out so loud, my neighbors come running out their doors. I don't remember any other societal group allowed to operate in America where they harbored five thousand pedophiles and turned them loose freely on children. . .
It’s hard to read this article in CNA without getting sick. Or maybe it’s from the hours I spent in a Free Clinic waiting room yesterday to pick up more Lyrica.
More from Jenky:
"In the face of the media's intense hatred for our Catholic Faith, I am increasingly concerned that our Church in effect no longer enjoys equal justice under the law."
LET ME SET THIS STRAIGHT
Systematic rape of children is not a religion.
No one is criticizing people for having faith, you, Bishop Jerky, are totally on the opposite side of right again, sir.
Systematic rape of children defended by overstuffed little bishops like you is what we hate.
People who pray to God and live a reverent life are not the ones survivors scream internally at day after day.
It is not the faith that fills the media and people like me with contempt for the Church.
It is statements like yours, Bishop Jenky, where you barefaced admit that protecting assets of the church is the real reason the real purpose of everything the church is doing now. The Church won’t open its files to law enforcement and allow oversight in the future, they put up some window dressing, initiated a few programs, and
The Priests are Still Allowed to Live in Secrecy and Lies
If there was ever proof that the Catholic Church is a criminal organization it is in its handling of the pedophile crisis, and in its legal maneuverings to keep the truth about the crimes from ever reaching the public.
Thank you, Bishop Jenky, for laying bare so blatantly and clearly everything that is wrong with the church, and we even get to see your chubby cherubin face to go along with the story.
MY BODY WAS SACRIFICED IN THE NAME OF PROTECTING CHURCH ASSETS
My Life Was an okay sacrifice to Cardinal Stritch in Chicago in 1953
It was better to cover up crimes against my six year old body than to let the church suffer possible scandal and financial loss back in 1953
Now when these bishops come right out and admit that it's all about money for them, and it has been all along, it is
Another stab wound on my soul
With all the damage they did, they insist on doing more.
*******************
ke
BUT THIS PART OF THE STORY MADE ME ALMOST AS ANGRY
The CNA story ends, "After the 10:30 am Mass at Peoria’s St. Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday, supporters of the group Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) handed out fliers to people leaving Mass encouraging them ask the Bishop to tone down his criticisms.
THAT'S ALL SNAP CAN COME UP WITH?
Three at least full time staff running our "survivor network," and the only response they can come up with to the Illinois Supreme Court's amazing decisions that open new avenues for survivors in Illinois is to leaflet outside a church?????
Go leaflet Law Enforcement, don’t waste your time in front of churches, go to law enforcement.
AAARRRRRGGGGHHHH
Every time we have a window of opportunity to do something significant and strong, SNAP shows up and leaflets at a church property and calls it action.
PAY ATTENTION!
When we leaflet outside Mass, it gives the bishops exactly what they want, proof that the pedophile priest rape survivors are a bunch of inconsiderate, unholy skags with no respect for a person's Sunday spiritual journey -
LEAVE THEM ALONE AT MASS
Leaflet Law Enforcement, not the Church.
Unless your real agenda is to make survivors look bad, stop leafleting at Mass. Stop doing it where children can pick up the leaflet. God, stop doing it at elementary schools, like SNAP did in LA in 2006, in case there were any active Catholics left who still felt pity for the crime victims, that probably turned them off for good.
Because I truly believe that when they approach someone coming out of a prayerful Sunday Mass and stick a leaflet about pedophiles in their faces -
SNAP makes survivors look like they are insensitive and cruel
Leafleting at Masses makes us look godless to the church goers.
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NEXT post about Illinois:
We analyze the Illinois Supreme Court recent decisions, logically, not in a way that assures more cocktails and caviar for the cardinals
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Cut paragraph: God’s not going to go easy on these guys, no matter what the bishops tell each other in their luxe suites over cream puff desserts. I mean look at the guy, Jenky, in picture at right. Would you trust your spiritual salvation to this man? That smile is fake-fake-fake, too big, too practiced, from years of covering up crimes.
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Don't forget the PayPal High Five Campaign. . .
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Sunday, February 08, 2009
Mom would drop us off with the priest for the weekend. He would get us drunk. He called it bug juice. Then he would start taking off his clothes
By Kay Ebeling
The affable priest convinced the mother of five it would be better to leave the children with him when she came to Ward, South Carolina, to visit her family, who were Methodists. The priest served a mix of Kool-Aid and alcohol he called “bug juice” and I know I’ve heard of that concoction before in other stories, maybe in New Orleans? Does anyone else remember?
“One thing my sisters and brother and I have all talked about is we know he had alcohol in there. We’d feel dizzy and kind of sick feeling, you know."
The person on the phone put a video on YouTube last month “Betrayed” captured here at City of Angels about sexual assault by Fr. James McCarthy of Ward, South Carolina. We contacted the person who produced the video, a single dad in a small town who at this time is not revealing his name, so he could tell his story here at City of Angels.
We've also with the help of some friends put together McCarthy’s assignment record as a priest, which is at the end of this post.
The survivor of James McCarthy agreed to “phone it in,” which is something we do here at City of Angels, taking advantage of the weird job skill I have. I can take down what people say almost as fast as they say it. Here is the rest of his story, as phoned in to City of Angels, of an incredibly horrific predator and the way he infiltrated this family.
IN HIS OWN WORDS:
My parents met James McCarthy (picture at left from obituary) at the church in Ward, when they would visit my mom’s parents. She was a Methodist who became Catholic when she met my dad. The rapes went all the way to sodomy
It started with him exposing himself, then graduated to him touching me and getting me to touch him then oral sex and finally into the full thing.
He would give us Kool-Aid mixed with alcohol, he called it bug juice.
I remember he would do this little strip tease and he used to wear this bikini underwear.
A lot of times I think we’d probably be passed out or he would get us to the point where we were of course - we’d go lay down and then he’d come get one of us.
CITY OF ANGELS: Where were you?
I can remember the inside of that rectory like it was yesterday. It was a small church and there was a pool, like a fish pond in between the church and the rectory. My brother and myself were supposed to sleep in sleeping bags, downstairs.
The town was Ward, South Carolina, name of church is St. Williams.
Mom would drop us off and then -
Depending on who it was, if it was all of us kids, or just myself and my brother. Sometimes it was just myself and sometimes one of my sisters so it depends on who was where doing what. One of the memories that my brother and I have is him giving us the bug juice, and then he put this music on, this strip tease music on.
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He would tell us that if we said anything we would go to hell, and our whole family would go to hell. He’d describe Hell. He would say what hell is like, people burning and in agony.
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We were scared to death. He would tell us that if we said anything we would go to hell, and our whole family would go to hell. He’d describe Hell. He would say what hell is like, people burning and in agony. It was a horrible picture that he painted so of course we didn't want to say anything.
He was someone that was close to god our parents had said to give him -
He would bring us upstairs to a living room where he had his television and couch, he had a little refrigerator in there with Bug Juice concoction already made up and he would get us started drinking that, and of course we're wiped out.
CITY OF ANGELS: What made you decide to put the video up on YouTube?
I’d done some other videos, but not about this. In addition to myself, my three sisters and my brother were also abused by this priest. I'm trying to kind of keep them out of it.
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I made the little video, because there’s articles about him on the web about how wonderful he was
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Up until very recently (with release of stories nationwide about pedophile priests) my sisters and brothers thought nobody else was involved. We all thought it was just our family.
That's what prompted me to contact an attorney and then there was just something inside me that I wanted to put out. So I made the little video, because there’s articles about him on the web about how wonderful he was
He showed up in our lives around 1961, and at that time his name was Father Leo. Then he changed his name to Father Jim McCarthy.
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(Janet Patterson reined me in telling City of Angels that in McCarthy’s religious order, it’s common for priests to change their names, not sure signs the guy was a criminal through and through as I immediately started thinking….)
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IN HIS OWN WORDS CONTINUED:
Leo McCarthy aka James McCarthy started with me about age seven up until 10 he left in 1971. He left then
CITY OF ANGELS: Where did he go?
He just vanished. He was one of my parents’ best friends. He would go everywhere we went, the beach with us. Then in 1971
City of Angels: So as one sibling got older, he would go onto the next (as happened in my family causing devastating sibling rivalry that prevented a normal relationship between me and my sisters, to this day, sixty years later.)
IN HIS OWN WORDS CONTINUED:
I have one brother and three sisters. We actually all still get along well, but me coming forward is causing some tension, because my mom didn't see what was going on. My dad was a very staunch Catholic.
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END OF PHONE IN
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Father James McCarthy died in San Diego last year. He had joined a different religious order that allows priests to marry, and his wedding to a former nun was in Hollywood, California (where I live now, funny coincidence).
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There are only about 20 people who transcription this
way. We all work in reality TV and because there are no scripts, our job is integral to putting together a reality program. It’s a great job I do from home. And a God thing that I have this skill so I can take down people’s stories.
So: Phone In Your Story to City of Angels (email me at cityofangelslady@yahoo.com ) and we will run it like this story phoned in about Father James (aka Leo) McCarthy of Ward South Carolina.
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James (Leo) McCarthy Names in the Directories:
1957-1966 Leo McCarthy
1967 Leo J. McCarthy in Charleston section; Leo McCarthy in index
1968-1972 James W. McCarthy
Assignments
1956-1957 St. William's, Ward SC in Charleston diocese [2/2]
1957-1958 St. Pius X, Norfolk VA in Richmond diocese [3/3]
1958-1960 Holy Redeemer, Eufaula AL in the Mobile-Birmingham diocese [2/2]
1958-1960 Holy Family, Eufaula AL (mission of Holy Redeemer)
1958-1960 St. Pius X, Union Springs AL (mission of Holy Redeemer)
1958-1960 St. Mary's on the Hill Retreat House, Union Springs AL (connected to Holy Redeemer)
1960-1961 St. Pius X, Norfolk VA in Richmond diocese [3/4]
1961-1962 Father Judge Mission Seminary, Silver Lake PA in Scranton diocese [7/7]
1962-1965 Immaculate Conception, Dublin GA in Savannah diocese [2/3]
1962-1965 V.A. Hospital Chapel, Dublin GA
1962-1965 St. Julianna, Ft. Valley GA (mission of Immaculate Conception)
1962-1965 St. William's, Sandersville GA (mission of Immaculate Conception)
1962-1965 Sacred Heart, Irwinton GA (mission of Immaculate Conception)
1962-1963 stations of Immaculate Conception in: Cochran GA
1962-1965 stations of Immaculate Conception in: Perry and Jeffersonville Missile Base GA
1965-1971 St. William's, Ward SC in Charleston diocese [1/1]
1969-1971 St. John of the Cross, Batesburg SC [administrator, 1/1]
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Don't forget the PayPal High Five Campaign, it keeps City of Angels in Metro fares and shoes...
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HUD funds Catholic Charities, not the Church. Lie Number gazillion
I have to laugh at the Church ploy: to say everywhere, we have to stop our charity work due to large lump sum payments to plaintiffs:
Check out for example how much TAXPAYER money goes to Catholic Charities so it can do its charity work in housing at the HUD website:
FY 2006 Continuum of Care and
FY 2007 Emergency Shelter Grants
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/budget/2006/
Here is an example:
Los Angeles Catholic Charities:
PROGRAM REVENUES (in thousands)
Government $ 18,903
Contributions 4,499
Foundations 2,334
Sales of Goods
& Services 2,046
$18 millionfrom HUD to Catholic Charities in LA alone in one year alone, then $4.5 million from people in the pews, not from some gallant effort on the part of the Vatican, like selling a frescoe or two and solving world hunger. They hit up foundations for another $2.3 million.
But MORE THAN HALF comes from Uncle Sam, Me and You, the plaintiffs give huge chunks of their settlements to the IRS and then through Housing and Urban Development grants it goes back to the Catholic Church....
Hey that's a good job for a pedophile priest the church has no idea what to do with, grant application writing.
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Saturday, February 07, 2009
Coming Sunday and next week at City of Angels
As bills come up in state after state, minions of attorneys and other execs show up at hearings, represesnting the Catholic Church, to testify against openings in the statute of limitations for child sex crimes. The Church puts efforts full steam into lobbying, at no small cost, to prevent openings in the SOL, such as the one in California in 2003 that exposed crimes of 250 priests in that one state in that one year.
Victims of child sex abuse - by priests or anyone else - rarely come forward before the statute of limitations runs out. Still the Catholic Church is allowed to go to great lengths, in public hearings before elected officials, to prevent justice for crime victims.
WHAT ELSE ARE THEY HIDING?
Reports at City of Angels tomorrow and this coming week on Catholic Church lobbying to slam bills in Maryland and New York
Also next week, Part 2, of Peter Dunne, Pedophile Priest Flagrante, who left victims from Philadelphia to Des Moines.
AND
NEXT FEATURE STORY
Sunday February 08, 2009
or soon after...
First published story on the crimes of Father James aka Leo McCarthy in and around South Carolina.
Friday, February 06, 2009
In the early 1990s the bishops did all they could to prepare for the onslaught of accusations of Pedophile Priests. The bishops knew there were at least five thousand perpetrators they had protected, and likely a hundred thousand victims. The bishops would stop at nothing to keep the growing survivor movement down. One thing the bishops could not predict in the early nineties was the Internet, Google, Blogspot, City of Angels - the power of the ether when it is in the hands of individuals.
Keep Reading. Pay Attention.
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IOWA
Janet Clark will coordinate
Letter Drop Day
from Des Moines, Iowa.
MICHIGAN
Kelly Matthews will coordinate Letter Drop Day from Marquette
http://www.marquettedioceseclergywatch.org/
Or email Kelly directly at;
marqdioceseclergywatch@hotmail.com
Contact City of Angels at cityofangelslady@yahoo.com to sign up to run this coordinated nationwide effort in your city. We are going to all deliver letters and docs to our local U.S. Justice Dept. reps in U.S. Attorneys offices around the country at the same time on the same day.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
ACTION ALERT: Nationwide, crime victims to deliver docs and evidence to U.S. Attorneys in different cities at same time
A U.S. Attorney does not allow a leak to the news media, such as we had in L.A. last month, without there being a reason. They know what they are doing. The US Attorney in L.A. I think let us know last month that the Department of Justice is investigating the pedophile epidemic in the U.S. Catholic Church, at least in this city, when two persons from "law enforcement" talked to the L.A. Times.
As crime victims, we know Pedophile Catholic Priests are a national problem, not just something to do with Cardinal Mahony in L.A. With news of a Federal Grand Jury in L.A., we have a wonderful window of opportunity to reach out to U. S. Attorneys all across the country. Not by standing outside in front with a sign, but by walking in with letters, all of us on the same day in several different cities, on a day coming up in the next two weeks.
Robert Costello in Boston has conjoined brains with me through City of Angels, pointing out in a recent phone call that standing in front of the Courthouse would really not reach a lot more than the 18 homeless men who live across the street.
So far press events in front of the Archdiocese just result in minions of corporate controlled media, who come out after reading a 3 paragraph press release for research, always stay within the ropes, then later run the same press report as every other media outlet, and go onto another story.
We need to do more.
Robert Costello says, let's hand deliver letters
Professional looking carefully written letters full of attribution
I say, dress up in business suits, look professional, this is serious business, not something that calls for walking on a sidewalk with signs:
Here is first note from Robert. Keep coming back to City of Angels for more:
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To coordinate a letter delivery to the U.S. Attorney effort in your city, contact Kay Ebeling, producer of City of Angels, at cityofangelslady@yahoo.com
or
in Boston
Robert Costello at RFCostello@verizon.net
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By Robert Costello
(Re going to the Federal courthouse:)
Dear Friends,
How old you make me feel. Back a few years ago when the Attorney General of Massachusetts spent 18 months investigating the Archdiocese of Boston he was not able to bring any charges against them.
At the end of giving his reporthe, the AG said that he still wanted everyone to know that he was still a good catholic!
I lost my cool, too say the least.
I believed he tainted the entire investigation by claiming allegiance to the organization he was charged to investigate.
Believing the report to be tainted with fraud and lies John Harris, Carmen Durso, and I went to the US District Attorney for MA, Michael Sullivan. The only thing we could do was deliver the letter requesting a federal investigation. We three with one other person were allowed into the court house to present the letter to a secretary, who promised to pass on our letter.
I will get Kay the letter in the next few days so she can post it on her blog
Use legal terms get a lawyer or law student to look over your letters.
Do not demonstrate outside a Federal Courthouse go inside and demand action.
There is a new man in the White House we must use that to our advantage. And by we, I mean we survivors. We should wait to see what the new director of the Justice Department does in the next few weeks, since things moved so fast in LA.
(ME: Hah! Things fizzled in L.A., and the "press" has moved on...)
But Letters proper in form should be ready to go the U.S. Attorneys in districts that represent as many diocese as possible.
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ALL ON THE SAME DAY
Deliver the Letters to the U. S. Attorneys around the country
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It would also be a good move to have all the letters brought to the federal courthouse all on the same day. That would give them a one two. All religious institutions welcome.
By the way in Boston the grand jury brought Bernie Law back from Rome twice in order to give testimony. However federal grand juries work with a shorter period of time than state grand juries. So if you know or know someone who knows of something that is of recent years or current please help them to report the abuse to the courts right away.
(ME: Yes shorter SOL's but an ability to create new law. We had our Civil Rights violated, for an example. I was denied my right to a normal life.)
Please feel free to contact me with questions. I also think nowadays you wouldn't be able to gather outside a federal courthouse.
Namaste,
Robert Costello
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(ME: AMEN: For decades signs and leaflets have had the image of people on the fringe. I do not feel comfortable - let alone effective - on the street with a sign or a leaflet, especially after signs and leaflets and press announcements reading prepared statements have all been done once or twice in L.A. - or in the case of SNAP in L.A., about seventy-five times, with little variation - ever under the eye of archdiocese security...
We are not delicate fragile survivors or wackos likely to go off any minute. We are Crime Victims demanding Justice, adult sane people, don't let them tell you different.
PTSD is not a mental illness, it is a reaction to something that was done to us
Even if we ARE damaged, we still deserve Justice.
We are adults who today have legitimate business with the Federal Department of Justice.
Our letters to take to the U.S. Attorneys could be for one or two paragraphs, a form letter.
But also each one of us could include
EVIDENCE
of crimes committed in the jurisdictions that each individual U.S. Attorney district represents.
So in your letter you not only are requesting an investigation, but delivering to them documents from your lawsuit against the church, or your story, with pictures and whatever evidence you might have.
We will be delivering EVIDENCE as well as our letters, to the Federal Department of Justice. . . in a coordinated effort, on the same day in different cities in the country -
Keep coming back to City of Angels as the Story Goes Onward. . . .
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in the next week or so, watch here for updates.
Meanwhile, I gotta get back to my job. ..
Kay
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