As if determined to prove it has learned nothing from past sins, and those of its priests, the archdiocese is demanding that a new group claiming to be victims of clergy abuse should be compelled to abandon their pseudonyms and go public with their identities.
Only last June, Catholic Archbishop John Vlazny apologized for the burdens carried by "the victims of sexual abuse" and conceded, "By our reluctance to bring light to this great darkness, we as a people have sinned."
The time for penance and reconciliation, apparently, has ended. This legal maneuver is an exasperating move to bully these plaintiffs and intimidate future ones.
By WILLIAM McCALL The Associated Press
10/25/2007, 4:20 p.m. PDT
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Six months after a historic bankruptcy settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland and plaintiffs who said priests abused them, the legal battle has taken a new twist — whether a new plaintiff should be publicly identified.
The archdiocese has challenged a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by a man identified as "John Doe 120," arguing the release of copies of the complaint to journalists in advance of the filing undermines his argument for privacy.
"This calculated, public disclosure, timed to maximize its effectiveness in generating a news story before the Archdiocese could respond to a lawsuit filing, deprives plaintiff of any valid claim about a need for privacy," the archdiocese argued.
Lawsuit - The Portland archdiocese wants new accusers to reveal their names after alerting the media
A historic bankruptcy settlement reached six months ago did not end the bitterness between the Archdiocese of Portland and those who say they were the victims of clergy sexual abuse.
Federal court documents filed by the archdiocese say that a new group of priest accusers have no right to file lawsuits under pseudonyms after providing the media with advance copies of their claims to try to seek wide exposure of their accusations.
"This calculated, public disclosure, timed to maximize its effectiveness in generating a news story before the archdiocese could respond to a lawsuit filing, deprives plaintiff of any valid claim about a need for privacy," the papers say.
PORTLAND — More than 70 pastors and church leaders got a heavy dose of information about sex offenders in the church and faith community at a seven-hour advanced workshop on Oct. 25 at the Quality Inn & Suites in northeast Portland.
The main message they received from four featured speakers — a treatment specialist, lawyer, and police members of a child abuse team — was to simply report any incident of child sex abuse in a church or faith community, and let the professionals investigate and follow up.
The conference was organized and co-sponsored by Eric Bahme of Eastside Foursquare Church and Jim Cottrell of Freedom House, Noting that some 3,500 churches nationally have responded to allegations of sexual misconduct in programs involving children and youth the past 10 years, they said the conference sought to help reduce the rate of child victimization in the faith community.
Cory Jewell Jensen, co-director of the Center for Behavioral Intervention in Beaverton, treats adult sex offenders and provides training or consultation to the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse as well as law enforcement and advocacy groups.
She suggested a safety plan for churches regarding child sex offenders who may frequent their organization, such as treating everyone the same, training the pastor and staff, reviewing work contracts, checking a person’s history, requiring workers to sign a release, and encouraging offenders to keep up their training.
Churches have been too forgiving and gullible and need training, Jensen noted. Leaders should be informed of any sex offender in their midst, and share that information with other churches and within their denomination.
PORTLAND — A $25 million sex abuse lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America filed Wednesday alleges that child abuse has been widespread since the 1960s and little was done to prevent it.
The new lawsuit also claims the church and the Scouts “knew that assignments were being used by pedophiles to victimize children … “
Kelly Clark, the attorney who filed the complaint on behalf of six men now in their 40s, called it an “infestation of child abuse, stretching across the country, involving hundreds of predators and thousands of children.”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) A $25 million lawsuit against the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts alleges that child sex abuse has been widespread since the 1960s and little was done to prevent it.
Six men now in their 40s allege in their suit that the church and the Scouts "knew that assignments were being used by pedophiles to victimize children." Their attorney, Kelly Clark, calls it an "infestation of child abuse, stretching across the country, involving hundreds of predators and thousands of children." But an attorney for the Mormon church says only one individual was accused of abuse in the complaint the same man as in a previous lawsuit.
SALTLAKECITY - Several men have filed a $25 million lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claiming that they were sexually abused by a Sunday school teacher more than 20-years ago – and the church did nothing about it.
The suit is brought by six men in the Portland, Ore. Area who say the incidents of abuse happened between 1980 and 1985 – when they were adolescents. The accused is Timur Dykes, 51, who at the time taught Sunday school at a Portland ward, was an LDS home teacher and local Boy Scout leader. (more…)
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - A lawsuit filed against the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America expanded on Wednesday to include four more men charging the organizations with ignoring sex abuses committed decades ago by a man who served as a church teacher and a scout leader.
The six men, who filed a new lawsuit in Oregon state Circuit Court in MultnomahCounty, allege that Timur Dykes, a former spiritual leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and former scout leader, repeatedly abused them when they were boys.
Dykes, a convicted sex offender, is listed on MultnomahCounty’s registered sex offender Web page. He is not named as a defendant in this suit.
"Both the Mormon Church and Boy Scouts were well aware by at least the 1960s that they had a serious, institution-wide infestation of child abuse, stretching across the country," said the plaintiffs’ attorney Kelly Clark. "They did not clear it up."
The original two plaintiffs, two brothers in their early 30s, dropped the original lawsuit and refiled the case to add four more plaintiffs. The men filed the lawsuit under the names "Jack Doe."
The lawsuit asks for $25 million in damages.
Dykes was allowed to continue in positions of trust and continue to abuse boys for four or five years after he was first arrested or investigated as early as 1981, said Clark.
"We work very, very hard to protect children in the Boy Scouts," said Gregg Shields, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America, who declined to comment on the suit.
Portland attorney Stephen English, representing the Mormon Church, said the church is thoroughly investigating what happened. He also said Dykes was never a member of the Mormon clergy and has been excommunicated.
$25 million - The six allege a former troop leader and church teacher abused them
Thursday, October 04, 2007
PETER ZUCKERMAN
The Oregonian Staff
Six Portland men sued the Mormon church and the Boy Scouts of America on Wednesday, seeking more than $25 million for alleged sexual abuse by a church teacher and Scout leader more than 20 years ago.
The lawsuit contends that Timur Van Dykes, 51, molested Boy Scouts in Troop 719, which was supervised by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The lawsuit includes two brothers who dropped a previous complaint. It does not name Dykes as a defendant.
PORTLAND - Four more men filed suit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ("LDS" or "Mormon" Church) alleging child abuse at the hands of Timur Dykes.
Dykes was a Sunday School teacher, an elder in the Church and a Boy Scout Leader. Dykes was first convicted for childhood sexual abuse in the 1980s and has since been convicted several times for child abuse.
In February, two brothers files suit against the Mormon Church, claiming that the Church knew for several years about Dykes’ history.
The previous suit named the Boy Scouts of American and the Cascade Pacific Counsel of the Boys Scouts as well as the Mormon Church as defendants. The new suit, filed Wednesday, names both institutions as defendants.
The lawsuit claims both organizations knew the danger of having Timur Dykes, 51, as a scout leader and did not take steps to protect the boys. Dykes is a convicted child sex offender
By Christopher Landau
BBC News
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
The crisis over child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has cost the organisation both in terms of levels of public trust and compensation payouts.
When American bishops decided in 2002 to conduct an audit of the scale of the problem, their initiative was given a cautious welcome by survivors of sexual abuse.
But one part of the church was not part of the audit.
Nuns, officially known as "women religious", do not always fall under the authority of their local bishop.
This meant they stood outside the remit of the study, even though there are documented cases where Catholic nuns have committed child sexual abuse.
‘Resistance’
In Portland, Oregon, there are six new lawsuits against the Catholic Church. Two are in relation to accusations made against nuns.
Kelly Clark is a lawyer who specialises in sexual abuse cases in the state.
