BishopAccountability.org
 
  Abuse Victim: Laws Need to Protect Children, Not Abusers

By Dirk Lammers
Associated Press, carried in Duluth News Tribune [Sioux Falls SD]
November 2, 2005

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - A woman who settled a federal lawsuit that accused a Roman Catholic priest of sexual abuse and two dioceses of helping conceal it says she's speaking out to try to lift statutes of limitation that protect abusers instead of victims.

Judy DeLonga said she didn't recognize that she was abused until a few years ago and that it has taken her 40 years to begin to understand the ramifications of the abuse.

DeLonga did not a sign a confidentiality agreement but would not disclose the settlement amount. She said she doesn't want the focus to be on money but rather on changing the laws in South Dakota and other states to better protect children.

"This could take decades to unbury what is so deeply hidden," said DeLonga, speaking Wednesday during a news conference in front of the federal courthouse in Sioux Falls. "You can't put a set limit on when or where it will happen."

DeLonga, formerly of Pensacola, Fla., and now of Virginia, alleged in her lawsuit that the Rev. Bruce MacArthur abused her between 1965 and 1970 when she was a child living in Wisconsin and he was on leave from the Sioux Falls diocese. It accused the dioceses in both locations and its bishops of fraud, concealment and negligence.

The case originally listed three other defendants - Sioux Falls Bishop Robert Carlson, retired Bishop Paul Dudley and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's bishop - but U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol later dropped them from the suit.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed in May 2003, Carlson said the diocese had records of six abuse allegations against MacArthur, now in his 80s.

Jeremiah Murphy, attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, said Wednesday the diocese did not know MacArthur had abused DeLonga until receiving a letter from her in 2002. The diocese never challenged DeLonga's account of what happened, he said.

"We never said 'Are you sure?' We always accepted her version, and Father (MacArthur) confirmed that when he was confronted," Murphy said.

Murphy said the diocese was concerned about DeLonga's well-being, so Carlson took MacArthur to Florida so the priest could apologize.

At that meeting, according to DeLonga, MacArthur told her he was sorry and that it was a terrible thing he did.

DeLonga thinks another meeting might help bring some closure, so the settlement allows her to meet with MacArthur if it would be therapeutic for her, said her attorney, Stephanie Pochop of Gregory.

A call to MacArthur's attorney, Mike Luce of Sioux Falls, was not immediately returned Wednesday.

DeLonga said she first met MacArthur when he was a chaplain at a hospital where she was a patient. The abuse continued until she was 17, she said.

"My parents are devout Catholics and never would have suspected a priest to be a child molester," said DeLonga. "We were never warned by the diocese that he had a history of abusing children."

Barbara Blaine, president of the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the church had known for decades about MacArthur and should have done more.

"Rather than doing the right thing and turning Father MacArthur over to the law enforcement and to police, the church leaders instead decided to try to shield him from police and cover up his crimes," Blaine said at the news conference. "And they didn't warn Judy's parents or any of the other girls' parents or any of the teachers in those other schools."

Murphy said the diocese had a strong statute of limitations defense in the DeLonga case but felt a moral obligation to compensate her for the harm MacArthur caused. Murphy said the Sioux Falls diocese continues to seek anyone who needs victim abuse help.

The federal lawsuit was dismissed last week after Piersol received a motion and stipulation for judgment of dismissal electronically signed by the parties.

Attorneys for MacArthur and the dioceses said last week that a settlement had been reached, but Pochop at the time said it was not yet finalized. She said she had never given permission for anyone to sign her name to the document.

The settlement has since been finalized, Pochop said.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.