National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC)

Widespread Sexual Abuse in Ireland

Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.   (862-368-2800)

The report of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, schools, and parishes in Ireland, released today, is both shocking and expected. I am a Catholic priest who spent nearly 25 years as an Irish Christian Brother, the same religious order that is slammed by the Irish Government Commission that investigated sexual abuse of children for nine years.

I was sexually groomed and abused from the day I entered the Irish Christian Brothers at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, and I also was a witness to the mishandling of numerous abusers in the Irish Christian Brothers. Five different Christian Brothers abused me while I was a young adult, and another Christian Brother sexually assaulted my first cousin, James Craig Hoatson, who committed suicide on October 10, 1978.

The Irish Christian Brothers, also know as the ICBs, have been correctly referred to by many former students and residents of their institutions as the “International Child Beaters.” For years, every brother was given a large leather strap as an “initiation” into teaching young boys or working in orphanages. The more violent and abusive a brother was, the more he was esteemed.

I presently have a lawsuit pending in State Supreme Court of New York against the Irish Christian Brothers, and I am available for interviews about my own abuse and the institutional cover-up and protection of dangerous predators by the Christian Brothers.

(Fr. Hoatson was ordained a priest in 1997 after having spent nearly 25 years as a member of the Irish Christian Brothers. He has found the same level of sexual dysfunction and abuse in the priesthood, especially among bishops and high-ranking clerics).

Robert Hoatson is a member of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition.

For immediate release: April 15, 2009
Contact:
Kristine Ward, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC)-OH (937-272-0308)
Bob Hoatson, NSAC-NJ (862-368-2800)

Press Release

Will It Be Just a Change of Face or An About Face In New York?

Survivor Advocates Call for Reform, Window Legislation for Sexual Abuse Victims in New York

To Do List for New Archbishop: Truth, Disclosure, Action, Compassion

New York, NY – The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSACoalition) knows the Archbishop of New York is no ordinary bishop.

By virtue of the prestige of New York, the heft of the Catholic population, the uniqueness of the City to the United States and the world, this is a diocese where a real difference can be made for the Church.

A new opportunity has presented itself. It must not be squandered. But a new face doesn’t necessarily mean change where it counts.

Timothy M. Dolan can have a major influence in curing the severe case of laryngitis in the Church’s moral voice. If he chooses not to, the sickness of sexual abuse in the Church could turn fatal.

We urge the new Archbishop to choose life for his diocese and the Church by stepping forward to put the clergy sexual abuse scandal front and center on his agenda as a life issue.

We urge the new Archbishop to lead as no other bishop in this United States has led in this crisis:

• with absolute truth
• with complete disclosure
• with overwhelming care for the survivors and the families of those who committed suicide, and the families of those who were murdered.

Specifically, we ask him to:

• release the names and locations of all credibly accused priests and post them on the archdiocesan website and in church bulletins
• back proposed legislation in New York to reform the statute of limitations on sexual abuse and a window to allow survivors for whom the current statute limitation has passed to have their day in court
• allow Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and Road to Recovery to advertise in the archdiocesan newspaper
• initiate search and rescue of ALL potential victims and survivors
• collaborate with lay organizations whose expertise has been directed towards providing pastoral care to survivors and victims

We challenge this Archbishop to teach with his actions.

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Contact: Paul Kellen, 781-395-3628

For Immediate Release

(December 28, 2008) Unprecedented legal action by a Roman Catholic bishop against a supporter of clergy abuse survivors has prompted a national coalition to form in solidarity with the advocate.

Bishop Richard J. Malone of the Diocese of Portland, Maine initiated a Criminal Trespass Notice with threat of arrest, and a Notice to Discontinue Harassment from the Portland Police Department to activist Paul Kendrick on December 23. The legal move forbade Kendrick’s attendance at Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. In addition, Malone is reportedly pursuing excommunication of Kendrick from the Catholic Church, effectively barring him access to the sacraments.

These harsh measures are being opposed by survivor advocates across the nation who formed a National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) to press their case. They are practicing Catholics alarmed at retaliatory action by a bishop that could set precedent elsewhere.

Kendrick has been a forceful presence, objecting to Malone’s lack of action to protect children: refusing to post on the diocesan website the names and locations of credibly accused priests, some of whom live unsupervised near children; refusing to meet with the mother of a victim of a Maine priest; the diocesan staff’s refusal to pay for psychiatric evaluation recommended by a counselor concerned about a potential suicide – t o name several concerns.

Kendrick’s advocacy has never disrupted any liturgy or prevented access to it. His holding signs and distribution of information about accused perpetrators has been within the law, so Malone’s response is beyond all proportion to the facts.

The Coalition stands behind Kendrick in his efforts to help survivors, and to remain a committed Catholic in good standing.

The full text of the letter follows.

December 28, 2008

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Bishop Richard Malone
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland

510 Ocean Avenue
Portland, Maine 04102

Dear Bishop Malone,

We are practicing Catholics who advocate for the protection of children from sexual abuse. We are located throughout the United States and are writing to you in response to your recent civil and canonical actions against Paul Kendrick.

For the past nine years, Paul has emerged as a passionate and persistent advocate for the protection of children, spending immeasurable time and effort helping those who were abused. Paul’s clear and forceful voice for truth, justice and healing for abuse victims extends far beyond the confines of Maine.

On Tuesday of last week, at your request, the Portland Police served Paul with legal papers: 1) Criminal Trespass Notice and 2) Notice to Cease Harassment. Four days later, you sent Paul a formal letter in which you threatened him with interdict (essentially excommunication) from the Catholic Church.

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. This feast day, as you well know, commemorates King Herod’s slaughter of thousands of children in an attempt to murder the child Jesus. Victims of clergy sexual abuse have suffered the murder of their souls, the death of all that is sacred. This day puts innocents in sharp relief against those who have not heeded Pope Benedict’s injunction to do everything possible to relieve their suffering.

Your refusal to meet one-on-one with the mother of a victim of clergy sex abuse is offensive to us and hurtful to the victim and the victim’s family. Have you no empathy or understanding of her pain and suffering? This mother wants to help you help others in her community. You have rebuffed her.

You could go to her aid and tell her community that no, she and her son are not the only reporters of abuse in her parish. Frankly, we understand, there are several more innocents abused by this one priest. Instead, your silence allows her to take the brunt of the anger of her community over the sexual abuse crisis. Where is your integrity and compassion Bishop Malone?

A week doesn’t go by, Bishop Malone, without an abuse victim calling one of us in search of relief from a bishop or other church official who is either bullying, ignoring or otherwise harming them. Two months ago, Paul and other Maine advocates intervened when your staff informed an abuse victim that the diocese would not pay for a psychiatric evaluation, even though the person was having thoughts of suicide and his counselor had prescribed it.

You make speeches and issue press statements, Bishop Malone, in which you claim you are doing all that you can to protect children. What you don’t say is that you have been pushed pulled or tugged every step of the way. For instance, in January 2007, you finally identified several more priests who abused children only because of the tension and pressure exerted by Paul and a small group of victims and supporters who stood on the sidewalk in front of the Cathedral each and every Sunday for an entire year.

Outside mass each Sunday, a small group held a huge sign calling upon you to identify and make known the whereabouts of all priests, religious and church workers who were credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

Further, Paul and the Maine Director of SNAP, Harvey Paul, stood on consecutive Sundays in front of the Catholic Church in Biddeford because you refused to tell the community that child molester, Rev. Michael Plourde, was living on the next street from the church in an apartment building full of children. None of the neighbors knew of Plourde’s past history of child abuse. Paul Kendrick sent several emails to you and the principal of the Catholic School in Biddeford asking for your help to warn parents. Neither of you responded. Paul and Harvey then distributed leaflets in front of the Catholic School amidst misdirected criticism from the community.

Your statement last Friday on the Father Thomas Lee case only came about following weeks of questioning and probing by Paul and other advocates. You had received updated information in August that you didn’t see fit to share with the families of survivors. Isn’t five years enough of a wait to hear something, anything on the status of this case? How much longer would you have made them wait?

It is ironic, Bishop Malone, that at the same time you have been discrediting and disparaging Paul for his forceful advocacy on behalf of those who were abused, Paul has been standing in the cold, holding a sign and handing out leaflets trying to save children from being sexually assaulted in Biddeford and elsewhere.

Why won’t you publish the names and locations of priests who have been publicly accused of child sex abuse, on the diocesan web site? You would do more to protect children if you took this simple act. We urge you to do this.

It is also ironic, Bishop Malone, that although not one priest or bishop who sexually abused children has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church, you are threatening to deny Paul the sacraments, a man with whom you have never spoken nor held a meeting.

At every stop along the way during his trip to the U.S., Pope Benedict told his bishops to “…do everything possible so that this does not happen again” when referring to the assault on innocents, the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

We want you to know that we stand in communion with Paul Kendrick, a Catholic who takes seriously Christ’s commandments and Pope Benedict’s charge that we do everything possible to protect innocent children and help heal the wounded.

Bishop Malone, do you believe your actions measure up to the papal standard?

Sincerely,

Kristine Ward, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC)-OH (937-272-0308)

Michael Sweatt, NSAC-ME (207-831-3791)

Marge Bean, NSAC-MA (617-851-6536)

Tom Byrne, NSAC-OH (216-337-4017)

Mike Coode, NSAC-TN (615-364-2334)

Carolyn Disco, NSAC-NH (603-424-3120)

Ed Friedl, NSAC-OH (330-289-8430)

Bob Hoatson, NSAC-NJ (862-368-2800)

Jim Jenkins, NSAC-CA (510-599-5173)

Paul Kellen, NSAC-MA (781-395-3628)

Lisa Kendzior, NSAC-TX (817-773-5907)

Chuck Miller, NSAC-DE (240-481-0003)

Judy Miller, NSAC-DE (302-234-1519)

Ruth Moore, NSAC-MA (781-925-3080)

Bob Schwiderski, NSAC-MN (952-471-3422)

Steve Sheehan, NSAC-MA (617-319-0477)

Sister Maureen Turlish, NSAC-DE (610-212-2770)

Frank Douglas, NSAC-AZ

cc: Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Papal Nuncio to the United States

January 3, 2009

Press Advisory

•Bishop Malone’s Police and Canonical Actions Against Advocate Sparks National Coalition to Check the Facts

•Portland Bishop’s Half Truths, Exaggerations, False Representations Revealed

•Catholics Urged to Seek the Truth

•Call to Catholics to Cast Off Inertia, Get the Facts

When:  Sunday, January 4 from 9:30 AM to 10:15 AM

Where:  Outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 307 Congress St., Portland, ME

Who:   National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC), including the advocate who is Bishop Malone’s target, with assistance from local survivors and family members

What:  Press Conference, 9:30 AM

Distribution of Fact Sheet to Mass goers 9:30 AM to 10:15 AM

Why:  To get out the truth. For society’s good, moral and spiritual leaders must be held accountable.

Bishop Richard J. Malone, Diocese of Portland, ME, filed a Notice of Criminal Trespass against survivor advocate Paul Kendrick to bar him from attending Christmas Midnight Mass at the Portland Cathedral. The bishop went further and took Church legal action against Kendrick that could keep him from receiving Communion.

Coalition members say Bishop Malone is using heavy handed civil and Church actions to silence victim advocates. The coalition says threatening to use the Sacrament which Catholics hold as the most sacred as a weapon against anyone who speaks out is a dangerous path for believers and harms the Church’s position as a moral voice in society.

The coalition urges Bishop Malone to stop, reflect, and hold reasonable discussions with survivors, family members and advocates.

In addition, the coalition is calling for the bishop to post the names of priests who have abused children on the diocesan website to provide knowledge for the protection of children.

Bishop Malone has the rank of high Church office, diocesan staff, a website, diocesan newspaper, parish bulletins at his disposal. This level of power requires an equal level of accountable responsibility.

National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) is distributing the fact sheet in an attempt to make sure false statements, half truths and exaggerations do not continue to exist. The coalition hopes to bring awareness to Catholics and urges them to get the facts about what happening in their Church.

Contacts for additional information:

Kristine Ward, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC)-OH (937-272-0308)

Michael Sweatt, NSAC-ME (207-831-3791)

Marge Bean, NSAC-MA (617-851-6536)

Tom Byrne, NSAC-OH (216-337-4017)

Mike Coode, NSAC-TN (615-364-2334)

Carolyn Disco, NSAC-NH (603-424-3120)

Ed Friedl, NSAC-OH (330-289-8430)

Bob Hoatson, NSAC-NJ (862-368-2800)

Jim Jenkins, NSAC-CA (510-599-5173)

Paul Kellen, NSAC-MA (781-395-3628)

Lisa Kendzior, NSAC-TX (817-773-5907)

Chuck Miller, NSAC-DE (240-481-0003)

Judy Miller, NSAC-DE (302-234-1519)

Ruth Moore, NSAC-MA (781-925-3080)

Bob Schwiderski, NSAC-MN (952-471-3422)

Steve Sheehan, NSAC-MA (617-319-0477)

Sister Maureen Turlish, NSAC-DE (610-212-2770)

Frank Douglas, NSAC-AZ

For Immediate Release

January 4, 2009

•Bishop Richard Malone’s Police and Canonical Actions Against Advocate Sparks National Coalition to Check the Facts

•Bishop Malone’s Half Truths, Exaggerations, False Representations Revealed

•Fact Sheet Has Point by Point Analysis of Recent Statements and Characterizations

•Call to Catholics to Cast Off Inertia, Get the Facts, Seek the Truth

Portland, ME – The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) pressed the case for getting to the truth about the actions of Bishop Richard J. Malone against a Maine survivor advocate by distributing a fact sheet outside the cathedral in Portland, ME today.

On this first Sunday of the new year, the coalition called upon Catholics to resolve to cast off inertia and get the facts.

The fact sheet is a point by point in depth analysis of Bishop Malone’s and diocesan spokesperson Sue Bernard’s recent statements and characterizations regarding Paul Kendrick and other survivor supporters.

Mike Sweatt, a Maine member of the coalition said,  ”What we see Bishop Malone doing is dodging the real issues of confronting the clergy sexual abuse crisis and using heavy handed tactics against an advocate. It’s a shell game to turn attention away from the bishop’s lack of true response to victims and their families.”

Sweatt said the coalition members, survivors and family members came to the cathedral to distribute the fact sheet to try to counter balance the  weight of the communication outlets Bishop Malone has at his disposal.

“The bishop has diocesan staff, a newspaper, a website, parish bulletins and ready access to the news media as a leader of nearly 200,000 Catholics in Maine.” Sweatt said. “But we believe it is imperative to try get the facts out even if we are in a David and Goliath situation.”

Mr. Kendrick, of Freeport, ME, has been an outspoken advocate for survivors since 1999 and involved in justice issues for many years.

He reiterated today, “This is not about me. It’s about justice and compassion for the vulnerable, the weak and the innocent among us. It’s about protecting children. It’s about gospel values. When any of us doesn’t follow what we profess to believe in, including the bishop, Christian correction is needed and a call to fully follow the gospel must be made. We can’t afford to follow scandal upon scandal. And it is a scandal when bishops use words that sound holy but are not carried forth in actions.”

At the press conference, local members of the coalition called upon Bishop Malone to stop the over done legal approach, reflect on the current situation, inform the community of abusers, and hold meetings where reasonable discussions can take place among the bishop, survivors, family members and advocates.

The coalition, whose members are practicing Catholics from throughout the United States, called upon the bishop to post the names of priests who have abused minors on the diocesan website so that the community may have the knowledge to protect children.

Bishop Malone filed a police action of criminal trespass against Mr. Kendrick’s attendance at Midnight Mass Christmas Eve in the Portland cathedral. The bishop went further and took Church legal action against Mr. Kendrick that could keep him from receiving Communion.

“To use the holiest of our sacred rites, Communion, as a ploy to muzzle a survivor advocate combined with the implied warning to others who might speak up crosses the line of proper use of a bishop’s authority. It’s deplorable.” said Kristine Ward, of Dayton, OH, chair of the coalition.

“The Church already has laryngitis in its moral voice because of the scandal. To use these kinds of out of proportion tactics further endangers the recovery of moral leadership by not only Bishop Malone but his brother bishops”

Another coalition member, Jim Jenkins from Berkley, California said,“ We’ve seen the same tactics by bishops from coast to coast. The words are parsed, the information incomplete, the record intentionally left vague, pledges made and not kept yet believed because there is a bishop’s name attached to the statement. It’s not only time, it’s well past time, for the truth to surface.”

Jenkins served on the archdiocesan lay review board empanelled by Archbishop now Cardinal Levada. Jenkins resigned on principle when Levada refused to fully investigate the leads that came to the diocese and the review board regarding clergy and sexual abuse. Levada, Jenkins said, chose to protect clergy, including bishops, rather than investigate. Levada is now head of the Vatican congregation that reviews sexual abuse cases, the office Pope Benedict held prior to his election as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Contact:

Kristine Ward, National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC)-OH (937-272-0308)

Michael Sweatt, NSAC-ME (207-831-3791)

Marge Bean, NSAC-MA (617-851-6536)

Tom Byrne, NSAC-OH (216-337-4017)

Mike Coode, NSAC-TN (615-364-2334)

Carolyn Disco, NSAC-NH (603-424-3120)

Ed Friedl, NSAC-OH (330-289-8430)

Bob Hoatson, NSAC-NJ (862-368-2800)

Jim Jenkins, NSAC-CA (510-599-5173)

Paul Kellen, NSAC-MA (781-395-3628)

Lisa Kendzior, NSAC-TX (817-773-5907)

Chuck Miller, NSAC-DE (240-481-0003)

Judy Miller, NSAC-DE (302-234-1519)

Ruth Moore, NSAC-MA (781-925-3080)

Bob Schwiderski, NSAC-MN (952-471-3422)

Steve Sheehan, NSAC-MA (617-319-0477)

Sister Maureen Turlish, NSAC-DE (610-212-2770)

Frank Douglas, NSAC-AZ