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  5 Clergy Abuse Victims Get Cash from Diocese
Mediation Program Has 25 Pending Cases As Filing Deadline Nears

By Michele Morgan Bolton
Albany Times Union [Albany NY]
February 5, 2005

ALBANY -- Five victims of clergy sexual abuse have each been paid tens of thousands of dollars to settle claims against the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese, the first to be compensated through an independent mediation program.

"I think the victims are satisfied and I think the diocese is satisfied," said Howard Levine, the retired Court of Appeals associate judge who oversees the program created last fall.

Even as these settlements are announced, another 25 claims are being investigated and a victims advocacy group is seeking to extend a Feb. 20 deadline to apply for the program.

Levine declined to release the names of the five priests involved in these cases, but said none are in active ministry. He also declined to discuss specific settlement amounts, but noted that several were "substantial."

A $5.2 million fund is available to pay victims. The money has come from the diocese's self-insurance fund, private donations and $225,000 from Mary Jo White, the former federal prosecutor who cleared Bishop Howard Hubbard last June of sexual misconduct allegations.

In December 2003, Hubbard asked Levine to develop an independent program after the diocese was criticized for its handling of abuse allegations. Levine met a number of victims before he unveiled the program in September. "It made me convinced we had to do something," Levine said. "That what we had before wasn't working."

Previously, the diocese's method of addressing abuse allegations was "full of mistrust and built-in delays," he said. "This is a much better process. I think it's a big improvement."

Diocesan spokesman Ken Goldfarb said church officials are also pleased with the program's success: "They have done an excellent job and we're very grateful to Judge Levine."

The program, which provides counseling, vocational training and other services, is investigating 25 other claims of abuse.

Mark Lyman, a co-director of the local chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the program has some merit, but is not flawless.

"Victims are put between a rock and a hard place," Lyman said. "We have no legislation in New York to pursue justice civilly. So now we have this Trojan Horse, a program perceived to be a way to seek help, but at the same time the church has all the private information that could hurt victims if things change and they can pursue this legally."

"On its face it's better than nothing," he acknowledged. "But the diocese has basically pushed us into a corner. It's take it or leave it."

Victims have until Feb. 20 to apply for the program, but Lyman said he will ask Levine to extend the deadline.

The Albany Diocese has not been immune from the clergy abuse scandal that erupted nationally in 2002. In the last 54 years, 145 individuals who claimed they were sexually abused as minors have raised allegations against 76 priests in the Albany Diocese.

Twenty priests have been removed from ministry and nine are under investigation, including two in active ministry, Goldfarb said.

In addition, two of the 20 priests the diocese found had probably sexually abused children have never been publicly identified because both suffer dementia and can't defend themselves. Names of another two clergymen who faced credible allegations after they died will also remain secret, church officials have said. Those four had already retired or died when the zero-tolerance policy went into effect in 2002.

An independent report released late last year said the 14-county Albany Diocese is complying with a national church program aimed at combating sex abuse and has "established clear and well-publicized standards of ministerial behavior."

The diocese is defending two sex abuse lawsuits brought by attorney John Aretakis and a third he filed seeking the personnel files of a Schenectady priest who made an ethical complaint against him.

Status of a fourth lawsuit Aretakis filed in Boston is pending as a judge considers the lawyer's request for reinstatement. Morgan Bolton can be reached at 434-2403 or by e-mail at

 
 

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