Monthly Archives: January 2006

Fugitive Priest Resigns Parish

Father Richard Emerson resigned from his Michigan City parish one year after being removed by Bishop Melczek after a credible allegation of child abuse. Of course, I informed the Diocese of Gary and Bishop Melczek six months prior to Emerson’s resignation that he was abusing boys while on loan to the Diocese of Orlando. At first, no one believed my client but as the investigation continued it became clear that Emerson was not the innocent, hard working priest he claimed to be. By the way, Emerson’s whereabouts are still unknown to everyone but the Diocese of Gary who refuse to disclose where he’s located. Meanwhile, the victim waits for some pastoral response from the Diocese. I guess we shouldn’t hold our breath.

Top Vatican Official Gives 7 Hour Deposition Testimony

Archbishop William Levada, formerly of San Francisco and Portand Oregon, was deposed about policies and procedures in the Diocese of Portland where he was bishop from 1986-1995. Before leaving for his new post as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in August 2005, Levada was slapped with a subpoena to testify about the church abuse scandal in Portland. Levada, the highest ranking American church figure in Rome, supervises the handling of clergy involved in sexual abuse of minors.
Despite the length of the deposition, the potentially damaging nature of the questioning was dramatically reduced by Judge Elizabeth Perris who gave an order on December 30 limiting the scope of the proceeding to Levada’s knowledge of church policies and procedures involving sexual abuse claims.
Prior to being ordained a bishop, Levada had worked in the same Congregation for the present Pope Benedict XVI.

NJ Governor Signs Bill Allowing Legal Action Against Sexual Predators and Their Employers

In a major victory for victims of sexual abuse, acting Governor Richard Codey has signed into law a bill that will allow sexual abuse victims to sue churches and private schools for hiring and harboring sexual predators. Prompted largely by the child sex abuse scandal in the Cahtolic Church, the bill applies across the board to private schools, churches, Scout troops, and Little Leagues. From now on sexual predators can’t be protected by antiquated charitable immunity laws in NJ. This is a cause for hope for all the victims and those who work with them.

NJ Governor Signs Bill Allowing Lawsuits Against Churches for Child Sexual Abuse

Acting Governor Richard Codey yesterday signed into law a measure that will allow lawsuits against churches, private schools and other non-profit institutions for past negligent hirings of employees who sexually abused children. Non-profit organizations such as churches have long had ironclad immunity against such lawsuits. NJ is the 48th state in the nation to pass such a law.
This is good news for victims of sexual abuse. Sexual predators should never be shielded by the law or the community, whether that community be a school or a church. A zero tolerance stance toward such heinous crimes is the only way to protect our children and bring healing to those who’ve suffered this violation.

Hope for Abuse Victims in NY?

Many states across the country are now considering revising their statute of limitations regarding the sexual abuse of minors. The terrible scandal in the Catholic Church has given rise to more victims coming forward and revealing their tragic abuse stories. There is a growing recognition that this type of trauma runs very deep and the road to recovery takes great courage as well as many years of therapy. It is very often the case that a minor victim of sexual abuse is not able to come forward until that minor becomes a full grown adult. Unfortunately, many of those adult victims have lead and continue to lead lives that bear the scars of that trauma. In NY state, the Court of Appeals will hear arguments this week to overturn the statute of limitations in abuse cases and allow these victims to proceed in their quest for justice. Let’s hope the court does the right thing and allows the victims to heal.

Legislatures Need to Monitor Taser Use

It seems that each day we hear stories of more people dying after being tasered by police. Across the United States and in several other countries, the use of Taser weaponry has come under scrutiny. Questions have been raised about whether Taser shock, up to 50,000 volts of electricity, represents particularly high risks for those on some medications, people with heart problems, and the elderly. Just last week, on Christmas Eve, police tasered a man four times after he began shouting that he was being attacked by bees. He died en route to a hospital when his heart stopped.
This is no small matter. In fact, it’s truly a matter of life and death. While it’s important to support our law enforcement officials, it’s just important they police have proper tools to do their jobs. If Tasers are promoted as non-lethal weapons, why are so many people dying? It’s time for the elected officials to step in and investigate.

NY Appeals Court to Hear Decades Old Priest Abuse Cases

The Court of Appeals, NY’s highest court, will hear arguments today for the very first time in priest abuse cases seeking to allow old claims against the church to proceed. The two cases before the court date back to the 1960’s and have been barred by the state statute of limitations. The victims will argue that church officials in the Brooklyn and Syracuse dioceses covered up the abuse and effectively prevented the victims from seeking justice in the courts before the statute of limitations expired. Of course, we now know that dioceses around the world were instructed in 1962 and again in 2001 to keep secret these abuse cases. The latest instruction came from then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is now Pope Benedict XVI.