John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army 59 victims in Springfield MA paid 4.5 Million by Diocese

www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com Benedict XVI Ratzinger God's Rottweiler shows all the details of the pope's power in covering up the most heinous crime against children in Church history.

www.jp2m.blogspot.com John Paul II Millstone shows details the role of John Paul II in his 26 years papacy as he did NOTHING to stop the priest-pedophilia under his papal watch. John Paul II's papacy was controlled by the Opus Dei and therefore they also controlled the thriving of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army!


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Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield pays $4.5 million to 59 clergy abuse victims

by The Republican Newsroom
From MassLive.com
Tuesday December 02, 2008, 12:28 PM

By STEPHANIE BARRY
sbarry@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced Tuesday it has paid $4.5 million to 59 clergy abuse victims after a lengthy arbitration process.

The settlements ranged from $5,000 to $200,000 and were paid Nov. 20, according to a statement released by the diocese. Victims who agreed to participate in arbitration were asked to fill out confidential questionnaires detailing their abuse and the impact on their lives.

The abuse claims date back to 1948, a diocesan spokesman said. Among the claims were 31 new ones against defrocked priest Richard R. Lavigne, who has been identified as a serial abuser during waves of lawsuits since the 1990s.


File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanA complaint against former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, shown in this photo from 2004, was among 59 settled by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Nov. 20.

Also, a new complaint was settled against former Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, who resigned abruptly in 2004 after the Republican questioned him about two men who previously accused him of sexual abuse during the 1970s.

Those men received payments after this negotiation, according to the diocese. Dupre personally contributed to a portion of those, diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont said.

The arbitration followed an $8 million settlement between the diocese and its insurance carriers, which had resisted covering millions of abuse claims.

More details in The Republican tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Abuse and Cover Up, Must Read, Friends and Partners, Church Culture, Finances and Ownership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.



COMMENT
Robert M. Kelly Says:

December 6, 2008 at 5:25 am
good people,

Barb Dorris has hit the nail on the had. The victims, by coming forward and sticking with it, have given us more than we know. We owe them a great debt.

Dupre’s legacy lives on in the Diocese.

The more that I study this case, the more I see that the basic direction and playbook of management has not changed since around July of 2002, when the claims began to overwhelm the diocesan system. Dupre was a canon lawyer by trade and a notorious hair-splitter as well as a master manipulator. He was never wrong, and complaints against clergy abuse were always someone else’s fault throughout his 9 years at the top - until the day he resigned.

Bishop McDonnell also plays hardball, but he has a better arsenal of pitches, learned no doubt during his baby bishop years in the Big Apple.

Denial and self-preservation among clergy are very strong here. Until the Diocese learns to act better, instead of being always watchful, wary and reactive, the laity here will continue to suffer.

But with such a noble example of redemptive suffering that the victims have given us, how can we give up now?

I’ve been following this story for a while, and indeed it is a tangled tale that goes back to the days of Bishop Weldon (1950-1977). In fact most accounts put the peak years of abuse at 1965-1975.
I invite you to join me at the web site below for more information.

The last link here is a post I made about 2 weeks ago, when there was a large blank space on the Diocesan web site - since then, information about the settlement was recently filled by a press release.

peace

the blog:http://westernmassachusettscatholics.blogspot.com

the diocesan press release: http://www.iobserve.org/rn1126a.html

the post about settlement:http://westernmassachusettscatholics.blogspot.com/2008/11/d42-settlement-day.html
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For immediate release, Tuesday, December 2
Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director for SNAP, 314-862-7688
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests


We commend these brave men and women who found the strength to speak up, expose predators, protect kids and finally secure some measure of justice. No settlement or money, of course, can repair their stolen childhoods and shattered lives. But we are grateful they were brave enough to come forward, wise enough to take legal action, and persistent enough to endure years of delay by Catholic officials. We hope they will feel some pride and comfort in this resolution.

Through this settlement, Dupre has essentially admitted his crimes. Sadly, like ten or twelve of his brother bishops who’ve molested kids, he remains on the payroll shrouded in secrecy.

Now, the burden is on Springfield Catholic officials to more aggressively reach out to others who were hurt by these predators and seriously monitor the predators. We urge them to post the names, photos and whereabouts of these dangerous men on the diocesan website, in parish bulletins and in the weekly diocesan newspapers. That’s the quickest, cheapest and most effective way to protect kids, warn parents and alert neighbors.

Contact

David Clohessy, National Director, 314-566-9790