PeoriaStory

Diocese pays $1.35 million, but opponents say it's not done yet

PEORIA -- The Journal Star on Aug. 13 ran a fascinating story from the Associated Press about how the Cathholic Diocese of Peoria will pay $1.35 million to settle a sexual abuse lawsuit.

SNAP, the group helping to expose this abuse, says there should be more to come.  Here is the news release issued Aug. 13.

For immediate release: August 13, 2013

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, [email protected])

Archbishop John Myers answers under oath are pathetic. He wants us to believe everyone and everything else is at fault, while he allegedly did nothing wrong.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/depo/2010_05_12_Myers_Deposition/

He blames allegedly bad files, therapists, underlings, canon law (p. 188) and even buildings (page 34 & 145).

His memory of how others didn't act properly seems very clear. But his memory about his own wrongdoing suddenly gets very murky. (On page 35, for example, he can’t recall whether he ordered his staff to report suspected child sex crimes to authorities. Later, he can’t even recall whether he was on a bishops’ sex abuse committee in the 1990s.)

Over and over again he keeps claiming he does not recall reports of abuse, suspicions of abuse, what he did, what he did not do, or what year anything happened. (But corrected an attorney on what year Cardinal Ratzinger took over the CDF.)

In several letters Myers thanks Msgr. Maloney (a credibly accused child molester), thanking Maloney for gifts including "your much-loved camera," a silver object so big "it could be tied around one's neck like the proverbial 'millstone,’" gold coins and a monetary gift, which Myers says he will use to gamble on the dog races in Florida. 

These gifts seem inappropriate and troubling. We hope Myers will explain why he took them.

We can’t help but wonder if Myers is still accepting expensive gifts from priests in New Jersey, including those who are admitted, proven or credibly accused child molesters. We hope Myers will explain whether he is indeed still taking expensive gifts. 

There's a lesson in all of this: Bishops still cannot be trusted to 'come clean' about clergy sex crimes and cover ups, even now, and even under oath.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 15,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, [email protected])

 

Here's an Aug. 14 follow up story by the Journal Star.

Abused Catholics demand rights

PEORIA -- About a dozen members of groups seeking redress from the Catholic Church for previous sexual abuse picketed OSF Saint Francis Medical Center on Jan. 10, to demand their grievances be heard.

Central to the picketing was Leona Deemie, 66, of Pekin, who tells of being repeatedly sexually assaulted by the now deceased Rev. George Cody, a Catholic chaplain, when she was a 12-year-old hospital patient.

Demmie, seated speaks with hospital critic Dr. John Carroll and while SNAP members picket OSF St. Francis Medical Center on a cold Jan. 10.

Demmie said OSF officials including the nuns will not even talk with her about what happened.  She was offered a $17,000 monetary settlement in return for a gag order, she said, meaning she could never speak of the abuse. She refused and it was withdrawn. 

"It happened at a time when you couldn't talk about it," Demmie said of the sexual abuse.

Now she wants a meeting with Catholic officials. "Talk to me," she said.

The group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, SNAPnetwork.org, released a letter to OSF officials stating the allegations involving Demmie, and asking for a meeting. "A simple meeting. How hard is that?" it states.

She needs a settlement of up to $100,000, the letter states.

The letter is signed by David Clohessy, executive director of SNAP in St. Louis, Mo.

A flier distributed by the picketers states: "...Cody sexually abused her and other children almost nightly. When 12-year-old Leona told two OSF nurses about the abuse...she was told to " keep quiet or the nurse could lose her job."  A nun nurse told her "when it happens she should think of Jesus' suffering."

It continues: "The greater abuse, however, is that Leona has asked for years for the hospital's help. They have refused. Both the OSF Third Order and the hospital refuse to listen to her story, refuse to meet with her, refuse to apologize and refuse to help her in any way."

Picketing against child sexual abuse at OSF Saint Francis Hospital, Jan. 10, 2011.

Letters have been sent to other Catholic officials, even the Pope, Demmie's supporters said. No one has responded.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 UPDATE 1/11/2011:  Dr. John Carroll has a good commentary on OSF. See it here.

 

 

 

 

Abuse victim calls for Jenky's resignation

PEORIA -- Another victim of child abuse by a priest spoke out on May 7, calling for Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky to change his ways or resign.

A man we will call Mike and his wife Trish, both teachers and the parents of three children, spoke at a news conference. Mike said he was abused as a child at a camp run by the Peoria diocese. (Mike's name and the name of his wife have been changed to protect their privacy.)

Th couple said Jenky is not following national protocols set up by the Catholic church to help abuse victims, including paying for counseling.

When the Peoria diocese suddenly stops the payments, despite promises to the contrary, the victims are abused again, they said.

That action also means that the diocese may not be living up to other pledges regarding abusive priests, they said. "Children are not safe if you're not following through in all areas," Trish said.

Mike said that the Peoria diocese is different from other dioceses that are providing support and counseling for victims. Unlike others, Peoria's sexual abuse committee is secret, and that committee refused to allow him to speak before it, even behind a screen to keep the identities confidential, he said.

He has sent letters to Jenky, who has never responded to him or spoken to him, he said.

Meanwhile he has had several conversations with Cardinal Francis George in Chicago as well as a representative of the pope, and they were responsive and compassionate, he said. "Other bishops talk to survivors."

Mike presented a long list of complaints against the Peoria diocese and Jenky, including its treatment of Dr. John Carroll and his Haitian Hearts program. Can all of these people be wrong? he asked.

He said perhaps 15 abuse victims have lost financial support from the diocese for their counseling. He said that's a relatively inexpensive way to help people heal, and an alternative to expensive lawsuits.

One of those victims, from Delavan, also attended the news conference and said payments stopped in February, and he now owes over $1,400 for therapy.

Professionals should determine when abuse victims can stop counseling, and not church officials, Mike said. They only want people to "pay, pray and obey," he said.

Instead they should be providing love and support in Peoria, so that victims can heal, he said.

Mike, a former seminary student, said he has become so disillusioned with the Catholic Church that he left it and is now a Lutheran.

-- Elaine Hopkins

The corruption of the Catholic church, in Peoria

PEORIA -- It's hardly news that the Roman Catholic church is wrong on many issues. That's been true throughout history and continues today. What's new is that its victims and whistleblowers are not keeping quiet, perhaps because they don't fear being burned at the stake or stoned to death in the good ole separation-of-church-and-state USA. The corruption they point to has taken a mostly modern twist: instead of denying Galileo, the church today has succumbed to the lure of power, money and sex, and the coverups required when this corruption is threatened with exposure. Here are two accusations of Catholic church corruption in Peoria, according to whistleblowers. Church officials have denied or ignored these accusations, which at their core involve the lure of power. SEX: The Survivor Network of Those Abused by Priests, SNAP -- ignored the snow and the 10 degree Fahrenheit temperature on Jan. 25 to leaflet Catholics leaving the main Madison Street Cathedral about sex abuses in the church. They released an open letter to Bishop Jenky, asking him to drop the expensive legal maneuvers and settle the legal case involving Jeff Jones and others sueing over sex abuses by priests. Jones appeared at an outdoor news conference. (See post from Jan. 5, 2009, below under 'religion.') Jones handed out this 1960s-era photo showing him as a child holding hands with Father Walter Breuning on the streets of Chicago. Note the cigarette in Breuning's hand. The letter states: "Catholics -- If you want to see justice done, truth exposed and healing happen, please join us in prodding Bishop Jenky to act like a caring shepherd (not a cold-hearted CEO) and let this case and others get resolved." MONEY: Dr. John Carrol, a former emergency department physician and activist for Haiti's children, has penned this statement about his former employer OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and its conflicts of interest. The Catholic diocese controls the hospital. I was in Memphis several days ago. I ran into a Memphis firefighter. They provide advanced life support (paramedic support) for the citizens of Memphis. The Memphis Fire Department has ambulances and transport patients to hospitals. I ran into another firefighter who works in a suburb of Memphis. His fire department is paramedic also but they do not transport the patient. When this firefighter arrives on the scene of an emergency he told me he provides advanced life support for the patient immediately and does not have to wait for the private ambulance company to arrive. The private ambulance company then transports the patient to the hospital. Things like this have not been in practice in Peoria until last summer when two Peoria Fire Stations were allowed to provide paramedic support. The PFD does not have an ambulance so obviously cannot transport patients like the Memphis Fire Department can. In this weeks New England Journal of Medicine, there is an article entitled: “Online Disclosure of Physician-Industry Relationships.” The first paragraph of the article: “The Cleveland Clinic and some of its leading physicians have been criticized for their financial associations with industry and the limited disclosure of these relationships to patients and the public. In response, the medical center has strengthened its policies and oversight with regard to conflicts of interest and required that all industry relationships be submitted for approval. Since December 2008, it has also disclosed on its Web site (www.clevelandclinic.org) some of the industry ties of its 2000 physicians and researchers and their immediate families.” I think that since OSF-SFMC Emergency Department Director Dr. George Hevesy has received a salary from Advanced Medical Transport in Peoria for many years, he should disclose this relationship on OSF’s website. Dr. Hevesy was Project Medical Director for all of EMS in central Illinois which included Advanced Medical Transport and the Peoria Fire Department. Advanced Medical Transport is a paramedic agency with ambulances and transportation capabilities that has been under the supervison of Drs. Hevesy and other OSF Emergency Department physicians for the past 15 years. Dr. Hevesy is also on the faculty at University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria and many medical schools across the United States require their faculty to disclose relationships they have with industry. The Journal article also states: “Online disclosure is the latest response to concern about financial conflicts of interest and the propriety of various associations between medicine and industry. Advantages of industry funding, such as the support of drug and device development and pivotal clinical trials, must be balanced against the disadvantages, such as the potential for influencing prescribing and use of medical devices and supplies, increasing the costs of care, fostering a mindset of entitlement among doctors, and undermining the independence and integrity of the profession." Peoria EMS system obviously works differently than Memphis. Memphis fire agencies provide quicker care. And there is a reason for that. People in Peoria deserve transparency regarding how our EMS system works and which medical leaders are paid by local industry. Website disclosure of Dr. Hevesy’s financial relationship with AMT would be a start. Sex, money, power -- we hope the Catholic diocese and its officials will choose transparency and do the right thing, but I won't be holding my breath, given the church's track record on other issues. -- Elaine Hopkins

Pay up, Diocese told

PEORIA -- The dark underside of the Catholic Church saw light briefly on Jan. 5 when a half-dozen people, some victims of sexual abuse by priests, demanded that the Catholic Diocese of Peoria pay for victim counseling.

The group, SNAP or Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, held an outdoor news conference in the street at the new Spalding Pastoral Center on NE Madison. Spokesman Jeff Jones of Rockford said he has been warned in a letter not to set foot on Diocese property.

He said 17 male and female victims of priests of the Peoria Diocese have come forward. Some have filed lawsuits, and another lawsuit is about to be filed, he said.

Some of the lawsuits have been pending for six years. In a separate, mediated agreement, the Diocese agreed to pay counseling expenses for some of the victims, he said.

Many of the other victims need counseling, he said, but the Diocese has refused to pay for them. Together they have paid about $500,000 in fees and medication from their own pockets.

One woman, who needs daily counseling, is living in poverty so she can pay her therapist, he said. Three others need counseling but are afraid to seek it for fear they will be billed for it.

These people were subjected to very serious abuse, Jones said. Another 25-year-old man recently committed suicide apparently as a result of the abuse.

Jones said the group resorted to a news conference to pressure Diocese officials into paying for the counseling, as they agreed to do in the previous agreement.

The public needs to know about this situation, he said.

In addition, the statute of limitations governing these types of lawsuits needs to be liberalized, so that children who were abused can seek redress when they are adults and able to testify, a member of the group said.

The news conference attracted television coverage and a reporter from the Journal Star.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Here's a comment from John Carroll's blog.

Spiritual progressives

PEORIA -- Those who despair when they see the right wing bias and politics of religious groups now have an alternative, the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

This new group meets at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of the month at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Peoria, 3000 Richwoods Blvd.

The organization is promoting progressive values from a religious perspective, from single payer national health care to social responsibility and the creation of loving and caring relationships and families.

The Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun magazine chairs the national organization. Dave Weiman, former Peoria ACLU president, is the Peoria chapter coordinator.

Weiman can be reached via email or by phone at 309/264-3561.