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Abuse Victim: “spotlight Continued Church Denial”

By Jay Behrke
Hudson Valley News Network
November 11, 2016

http://hudsonvalleynewsnetwork.com/2016/11/11/abuse-victim-spotlight-continued-church-denial/

In this extension of Thursday’s breaking story, Lex Filipowski – abused at the hands of his childhood priest at Holy Cross Church in South Centerville – goes into more detail on the issues troubling him since he was too young to fully comprehend them.

“I have been attempting to get justice for what happened to me from the Catholic Church for 25 years,” said Filipowski, 52, who says he was abused by Father George Boxelaar from 1971-1974. “And I’ve been dismissed for the last 25 years by some of the most arrogant and self-righteous people that have no care for what happened to me, or thousands and thousands of other children who were sexually abused by priests.”

Father Michael Kissane, Prior Provincial of the Carmelites in Middletown, acknowledged that there were several credible accusations of abuse against Boxelaar that were made public in the early 1980s; and that Boxelaar was “removed from ministry” at that time, moving back to his native country, the Netherlands, where he died in the early 1990s.

Allegations against three other priests were also made. In each case, the abuse allegedly occurred more than 40 years ago. Until now, none of the victims or their families have asked for money, aware that the statute of limitations for prosecution has long passed.

Filipowski takes offense at a compensation program which only pays victims of diocesan priests. “That’s crazy. The Church I attended was and still is part of the Archdiocese of New York.”

Joe Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, has previously defended the action, pointing out that priests of other religious orders do not answer directly to the Cardinal.

 

 

 

 

 




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