Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Conducting what’s been described as “relentless legal campaigns,” the Catholic Church of Canada has countersued numerous victims of abuse by priests. One example cited by the Toronto Star focused on former altar boy John Caruso, whose abuser, Reverend James Kneale, was convicted more than a decade ago.
Caruso and his family filed an $8.6 million civil case against the local diocese for not taking actions sooner to prevent Kneale from molesting the plaintiff. Church officials responded by counter-suing Caruso’s mother and father, claiming the parents were negligent because they did not get counseling and medical help for their son, and that Caruso’s father regularly beat him. Caruso has reportedly tried to kill himself several times.
Although the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has repeatedly called for abuse victims to be treated with empathy, compassion and counseling, when it comes to paying out money, the Church’s attorneys often play hardball. According to Mary Ormsby, writing in the Star, the church “too often plays a game of courtroom chicken with stall tactics, hostile discovery sessions and intrusive psychological probes that unnerve vulnerable clients.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Sex Abuse Victims Say Church is Still Tenaciously Fighting Claims (by Mary Ormsby, Toronto Star)
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