Category: Uncategorized

Bankrupt Diocese Settles Priest Sexual Abuse Claims

by stemwebadmin

Yesterday the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego reached a settlement to compensate 144 victims of sexual abuse by priests within the Diocese.
The settlement will pay victims an average of 1.37 million dollars, slightly higher than the landmark $660 million settlement announced by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which will see average pay outs of 1.3 million dollars.
The settlement came after the San Diego Diocese declared bankruptcy to protect it’s assests from the lawsuits filed by abuse victims. The Judge monitoring the Diocese’s bankruptcy proceedings, Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler, was highly critical of the Diocese’s conduct during the proceedings, stating that the financial reports filed by the Church contained “irregularities” and undervalued Church assets. At one point, the Judge threatened to dimiss the bankruptcy altogether, ending the protection from victim’s lawsuits.
The settlement requires the Diocese to release internal documents proving the sexual abuse and the extent that Chuch officials were aware of the pedophile priests within the Diocese.
You can read more here.

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Posted in: Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Largest Class Action in Canadian History Moves Forward

by stemwebadmin

Kathy Shaw at bishop-accountability.org has posted a link to a story in the Anglican Journal about the Canadian Indian Residential Schools abuse claims settlement.
The article refers to the settlement as the largest class action settlement in Canadian history. It certainly is that. But more importantly it is the largest abuse claims settlement in the world. More than TWO BILLION dollars in compensation for loss of language and culture to 80,000 potential claimants . Plus a compensation program that will pay up to an additional $275,000.00 in compensation to victims of sexual abuse and serious physical abuse.
I have represented the Association for the Survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School for twelve years. I am proud to have been part of the team that negotiated what is sure to be an historic claims settlement.

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Posted in: Residential School Claims, Uncategorized

Nuns Pay for Priest Sexual Abuse

by stemwebadmin

In a move that is sure to generate sympathy for the Church, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has stated it’s intention to sell one of it’s convents to help raise money to meet it’s obligations under the $660 million abuse claims settlement.
It is unfortunate and unfair that the nuns who live in the convent will have to find another place to live because of the actions of pervert priests. But, it is important to remember who is responsible for this sad state of affairs. Not the victims of sexual abuse who had their lives destroyed. It is the predator priests who sexually abused children in their parishes and those in authority in the Church that knew about the abuse, covered it up, and allowed it to continue.
When is some journalist going to publish a story with the names of all the priests that covered up the sexual abuse for so many years? Then maybe the public can hold the proper people accountable.

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Posted in: Priest Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Sexual Abuse Settlements Empower Victims to Come Forward

by stemwebadmin

Frank Douglas has posted another interesting article about the Los Angeles priest abuse settlement on his Voice from the Desert blog.
He highlights an important part of the Los Angeles settlement (perhaps the most important part); the requirement for the Archdiocese to release to the public documents about it’s knowlege of the predatory habits of the Archdiocese’s sexually abusive priests.
Sexual abuse thrives on secrecy. Sexual predators manipulate their victims through shame and guilt. The article points out that:
when the predators’ names come out, other victims of the same perpetrator are often empowered to come forward.
Unfortunately, in some cases the names come out too late. In one case I am currently involved in David Martin took his own life because he could no longer deal with the pain of the sexual abuse he had suffered at the hands of Father Hugh Vincent MacDonald. His suicide note disclosing the abuse launched a police investigation that uncovered dozens of MacDonald’s sexual abuse victims, most of whom I now represent. Unfortunately MacDonald died before he could be tried and convicted, robbing his victims of the opportunity to hold him accountable.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Do Myths About Child Abuse Explain The Church Sex Abuse Scandals?

by stemwebadmin

I read an interesting story comparing myths and facts about child sexual abuse. The author points to research which suggests one reason why the Catholic Church has had such difficulty coming to terms with the reality of sexual abuse by it’s priests:
Males are less likely to believe victims complaints – particularly when sexual abuse is involved. Female respondents were more likely to believe victims who speak up. Males were more likely to believe children who made allegations of physical abuse. Men were not so likely to believe allegations of sexual abuse.
This is an interesting finding that needs more investigation. It could explain why it was so difficult to convince predominantly male law enforcement of the pervasive nature of this problem in our society and why it was so hard for the male leadership of the church to believe that their male colleagues were abusing children.
I have represented hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse and dozens of victims of priest sexual abuse. In most of those cases I was not convinced that the “male leadership of the church” did not believe the victim. On the contrary, the allegations were believed but the sexual offender was simply shuffled off to a different parish to continue his predations.
However I agree wholeheartedly with one of the authors conclusions:
None of us is immune to making assumptions. It is important to note, however, that these perceptions can and do influence treatment, investigations and community responses. Raising our awareness about these perceptions can help us be open to dealing with the situations that arise before us with integrity, compassion and empathy.
When we do that, we open the door to those who are suffering in our midst to speak up and tell us about their pain. That is the beginning of healing.
Take a look at the rest of the story here.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Clergy Sex Abuse Settlements Just the Tip of the Iceberg?

by stemwebadmin

Sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests has cost the Catholic Church 2.3 BILLION dollars in settlements since 1950. The Journalgazette.net has published a story listing more than a billion dollars in abuse claim pay outs in the last four years alone.
Since the Catholic Church commonly insists on confidentiality when they settle lawsuits, one has to ask if these figures are just the tip of the iceberg.

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Posted in: Priest Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Indian Residential Schools Settlement Finalized!

by stemwebadmin

The National Class action settlement to compensate up to 80,000 former residents of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools passed it’s final hurdle today.

The deadline for survivors to “opt out” of the settlement has passed and the deal is now final.

Our client, Nora Bernard was intrumental in achieving the deal, the largest class action settlement in Canada. You can read more about Nora Bernard, and the details of the settlement here and here.

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Posted in: Residential School Claims, Uncategorized

Jehovah’s Witness Sexual Abuse follow up

by stemwebadmin

Thanks to all those that have posted comments about this (and those that have emailed me directly).
I received some interesting documents from former J.W. members that I will be posting about shortly.
I would be interested in hearing more from J.W. members about this issue. You can email me directly by clicking on the “Contact John McKiggan” link at the top of this page or through my firm website.

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Posted in: Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Historic Abuse Claims Settlement Set to Pass Final Hurdle

by stemwebadmin

The Globe and Mail has reported that the largest abuse claims settlement in history is likely to pass it’s final hurdle today. Upwards of 80,000 former students of Church run Indian Residential schools are set to receive payments for sexual abuse, physical abuse and psychological abuse that they suffered in the schools.
Today is the deadline for former students to “opt out” of the class action settlement. If more than 5000 students drop out of the settlement, the court approval order considers the deal null and void. As of today, less than a hundred former students across the country have opted out and it is expected that the deal will be finalized today.
The class action settlement will pay out two billion dollars in compensation to students who were forced to attend the schools.
In addition, former students who were seriously physically abused, sexually abused or who suffered serious psychological effects from attending the schools will be entitled to apply for additional payments of up to $250,000.00 each. It is expected that these payments will total an additional one billion to two billion dollars.
I am proud to have represented hundreds of survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential Schools over the last dozen years. I wrote about the history of the claims negotiations here.
When the opt out deadline passes the Shubenacadie survivors, and 80,000 other former residential schools students, will have taken the final step towards receiving a recognition of the harm that they suffered as a result of Canada’s attempt at cultural assimilation to eliminate native people.
It’s about time.

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Posted in: Residential School Claims, Uncategorized
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