Diocese press conference starts at 51:00 mark.
A report released by the Diocese of Bridgeport, prepared by retired Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg, details the cover-up handling of abuse by past leadership including former Bishop Edward Egan’s “unsympathetic, inadequate and inflammatory” response to victims.
From the report:
Bishop Egan’s response was profoundly unsympathetic, inadequate, and
inflammatory. He openly acknowledged to his staff, and signaled to the public
through his behavior, that he believed his principal responsibility was to preserve
the assets and reputation of the diocese rather than to work for the well-being of
survivors and secure justice for them. His indifference, if not outright hostility, to
the suffering of victims resulted in a host of operational failures, including, most
gravely, the reassignment of known abusive priests to locations and duties in
which their abusive behavior continued. He deliberately concealed the reasons for
those reassignments, failed to take seriously “red flags” of abuse, placed undue
reliance on psychological evaluations, rather than personnel action, to prevent
abuse, and showed more interest in whether offending priests were homosexual
than in their abusive behavior. He also followed a scorched-earth litigation policy
that re-victimized survivor plaintiffs, dissipated valuable diocesan assets in bad faith procedural maneuvers, and alienated large segments of the laity, the clergy,
and the wider public.
Read letter from Bishop Caggiano here.
Read Holzberg report here.
This is reason #1 why I stopped going to church years ago!!! I will not put $ in the envelope to pay for pedophiles lawsuits!!!! Bishop Egan, SHAME ON YOU!!!!
Nice job on the report. Dan Tepfer has done great reporting over all these years. Happy that JML is included in the report as he has been a never ending voice. Time has hopefully now been told on this issue!
No one can undo the harm, pain, and evil actions of some adult men, ordained as priests, who “broke many laws and rules” and then had superiors who covered for them, for reasons neither spiritual nor human. Life does not provide for do-overs!
Radically wrong predatory offenses against young people destroyed lives, prevented effective healing of the victims, and did not serve to deliver appropriate consequences in a timely manner to offenders.The actions of a few, reflected in altering the respect for men with collars. (Have you noticed that fewer Catholic priests wear their collar in public in the past 10-15 years?) And the battle to protect financially set healing back. And the authority of the Church became undermined.
Judge Holzberg got to see whatever he wished to see from the mountain of material. That was quite a vantage point in contrast to the situation those of us who joined as Voice of the Faithful in the Diocese of Bridgeport. Listening to adults who were young victims to the sexual predations of priests in 2003 converted me to action, learning and work 1) To support those who had been abused as youth sexually by clergy. 2.) To support priests of integrity who were few initially and important because of the secrets and unknown that was revealed by “Christian whistleblowers” and 3) To work for structural change in the Church as laypersons.
We have numbers and charts and with little new reports locally, Bishop Frank seems to have made a clean sweep although Holzberg did not drill the financial arrangements, including liability insurance, premiums, etc. as well as property sales that allowed $50 Million to move to settlements rather than to the needs of the poor, infirm, and needy. And finally, an experience on Main Street while demonstrating with SNAP and Bishop Accountability representatives at a video press release shows the inability to know the full range of clergy damage. I was holding the photo of Father Al Bietighofer when a senior man walking by, stopped and stared at the photo. I asked if he knew what we were doing, and he answered ” NO” but “That is the priest who abused me when I went to high school”. I asked if he was interested in telling me his story and he began. Twenty minutes later I knew what had occurred to and with him for almost 50 years. He was released after 17 years at Enfield prison, but drugs, alcohol, and other issues were part of his life and caused him to be separated from his family. He was residing at a half-way house in Stamford. Profound damage to a youth. He re-told his story to Dan Tepfer, who termed it “very credible”. We visited the State Attorney office but his situation was beyond any statutory deadlines for legal action and had lunch, but never responded to requests for followup. He is not the only “lost soul” out there I firmly believe. Pray for him (and when you are able, pray for all the predators who left the path that led them to ordination. Without some prayer for them, they are truly lost before a merciful Creator. Time will tell.
Ironic that Curtis &Egan hid everything to protect the assets & integrity of the Religion/church,but in reality,in the end,they were helping destroy it.Growing up,Sunday mass was a must,I carried that feeling into my adult life.Over the last few years however I find myself going less and less.