c. 2005 Religion News Service
New Jersey Diocese Settles Sex Abuse Lawsuit with 27 Victims
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson (N.J.) has quietly settled a clergy sex abuse lawsuit involving allegations from 27 victims _ most of them against one priest over a 14-year period.
One plaintiff who asked not to be named said the main lawyer for the victims told him the diocese agreed to pay about $5 million to be divided in different amounts among the litigants. The church also agreed to provide up to four years of counseling for each plaintiff.
Lawyers in the case and Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli declined to comment on the exact settlement amount.
Serratelli said only that “my understanding is that we’re moving toward a settlement, and that if there’s any announcement it’ll be made by the plaintiffs.”
A court document signed Feb. 1 by Judge Deanne Wilson and filed in Superior Court in Morristown, N.J., showed the case was settled.
Greg Gianforcaro, attorney for 26 of the 27 plaintiffs, declined to comment on the specifics of the case or to confirm the settlement. He also declined to comment on the amount, saying some plaintiffs did not want it public. He said he felt bound by their wishes.
A $5 million settlement would be the highest a New Jersey diocese has paid in a clergy sex abuse claim since the scandal began receiving heightened national attention three years ago.
Last year, the Newark Archdiocese settled for $1 million with 10 accusers. In 2003, the Metuchen Diocese settled for $800,000 with 10 accusers. Since 2002, the Camden Diocese has settled for $955,000 with more than 20 accusers.
The largest settlements nationally include an $85 million payout from the Boston Archdiocese to 552 people and a $25.7 million settlement from the Louisville (Ky.) Diocese to 243 accusers.
Of the 27 plaintiffs in the Paterson case, 21 lodged allegations against James Hanley, who was accused of sexually abusing boys between 1968 and 1982. The plaintiffs contended that negligence by the diocese and inaction by church officials, including former Bishop Frank Rodimer, facilitated the abuse.
One of the plaintiffs, Kevin Kingree, said the payouts were necessary so the diocese would improve its policies on sex abuse.
“It would be nearly impossible for me to say I was satisfied with how things turned out,” said Kingree, who said Hanley abused him when he was in the seventh grade at St. Joseph’s Church in Mendham, N.J. “At the end of the day, still it’s a bit unsettling.”
_ Jeff Diamant
Thousands of Congregations to Celebrate `Covenant Marriage’ Sunday
WASHINGTON (RNS) Evangelical Christian leaders expect more than 5,000 congregations to participate in the “Covenant Marriage Movement” Sunday (Feb. 13) by renewing their commitment to “preserve the concept of a committed, life-long marriage.”
A spokesman for the Forest, Va.-based Covenant Marriage Movement, which has partnered with Colorado-based Focus on the Family, said he hopes to have 100,000 couples “celebrate marriage as God intended it.”
“In a day when marriage is under attack, God is rallying his people to join him in upholding marriage as He has always purposed it to be, a covenant relationship,” Movement chairman Tim Clinton said on the association’s Web site. “Marriage has always been intended to be between one man and one woman.”
Participating congregations can pay a “suggested donation” of $150 to $500 to receive a “congregational kit” containing the materials, script, books and CD-ROMs for the event.
_ Andrea James
American Jewish Committee Appoints Liaison to Vatican
(RNS) The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has announced a new representative in Rome and liaison to the Vatican.
Lisa Palmieri-Billig began work Feb. 1 in the new position, which was created to address both Catholic-Jewish dialogue and the relationship between the Jewish community and the Italian government. Her position will build on the work of the AJC’s international interreligious affairs office.
“Not only is the Vatican the central address of the Catholic world, but Italy is a significant European country with global interests and a key player in the European Union, and the AJC has played a leading role on both fronts,” Palmieri-Billig said in a statement.
Palmieri-Billig, a onetime Rome correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, served as a representative in Italy for the Anti-Defamation League. She is a frequent lecturer on interreligious and intercultural issues.
The AJC was founded in 1906 with a mission to combat anti-Semitism worldwide and promote pluralism and shared civic values.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Basketball Star’s Mosque Named in Federal Probe
(RNS) A mosque founded, financed and run by former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon donated more than $80,000 to charitable organizations later determined to have ties to the terrorist organizations Hamas and al-Qaida.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday (Feb. 9) that Olajuwon himself is not being investigated, but the tax returns of his Islamic Da’Wah Center, located in Houston, revealed the contributions.
The probe identified two organizations, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Islamic African Relief Agency.
Olajuwon participated in a celebrity bowling tournament to raise money for the Holy Land Foundation in 1999, and the Islamic Da’Wah Center donated $2000 to the group in 2000. In 2001, the charity was shut down by the government amid accusations it sent money to Hamas.
Between 2000 and 2002, the mosque contributed more than $80,000 to the Islamic African Relief Agency after the group approached Olajuwon for donations to help the needy in Africa.
Last October, the U.S. government shut down the agency after it was discovered that the group provided funds and other support for al-Qaida.
Olajuwon expressed regret over what he said were well-intentioned donations that he did not know funded the terror groups.
“There is no way you can go back in time,” he told the AP. “After the fact, now they have the list of organizations that are banned by the government.”
Olajuwon and his mosque say they will be more careful with future charitable donations.
“For future contributions, we are making sure we have all of the backup paperwork and that all of the organizations and any of the contributions are to groups that have been approved by the State Department,” his personal assistant, Pam Greaney, told the Houston Chronicle.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Black Army Chaplain Receives Revised Honorable Discharge
(RNS) A descendant of a black Army chaplain who served in the 19th century is cheering the military’s decision to declare his ancestor’s discharge an honorable one.
Henry Vinton Plummer, a former Maryland slave, was dishonorably discharged in 1894 for fraternizing with enlisted men on a Nebraska post, The Washington Post reported. On Wednesday (Feb. 9), the Army announced an unusual decision to revise Plummer’s discharge.
Excluded from activities with his fellow cavalry officers, all of whom were white, Plummer socialized one night with a group of black soldiers. The activity was declared conduct unbecoming an officer, and he was removed from the Army after a court-martial.
The Army has now changed his discharge to honorable in what it called “a matter of fairness” after receiving a request a year ago from several of his descendants.
“Here is a man who served his country with great pride,” said the Rev. L. Jerome Fowler, a minister in Capitol Heights, Md., and a great-great-nephew of Plummer’s.
“Other officers would not associate with him because of his color, but he still served his country. The fact is, (the Army has now) recognized his patriotism and his loyalty to his country.”
The Army Board for Correction of Military Records declined to remove the court-martial and conviction from Plummer’s record, rejecting the argument that his conduct would not lead to a court-martial in today’s Army.
“To equate society’s mores then with the current rules laid down by society is neither desirable nor possible,” said the board. “To do so would open the door to unlimited challenges and re-arguments based on changing values and viewpoints, with no decision ever being final.”
Plummer, who died 100 years ago, was once the Army’s only black chaplain, the Post reported.
NCC Leaders Say Peace in Mideast Possible, but Only With Swift Action
WASHINGTON (RNS) Leaders from the National Council of the Churches of Christ said peace in the Middle East is possible, but only if the peace process hastens immediately to take advantage of the recent Palestinian and Iraqi elections.
An 11-member delegation from the National Council traveled to Beirut, Lebanon; Cairo, Egypt; Israel; and Palestine from Jan. 21 to Feb. 4 to meet with Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders and ask: Is there a “new window of opportunity for peace”?
The delegation, representing 36 denominations and 45 million Christians, concluded from the visit: “A sliver of hope for peace does exist, but we feel strongly the moment must be seized now or the future will remain dim.”
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Tuesday (Feb. 8) a cease-fire agreement, to cheers on both sides.
Members of the Council are happy with the cease-fire and the outcome of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to the Holy Land, according to Tony Kireopoulos, a Council official.
“(Rice) is aware of the problems being faced by the Palestinian community,” Kireopoulos said. “We’re pleased with Secretary Rice’s insistence that it be a two-state viable solution.”
Members of the Council have asked President Bush to send a “special envoy” to aid negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
“We have hope that peace remains possible and a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine can be reached,” the Council said in a statement. “But for many of us, this was our saddest journey to the Holy Land.”
Delegation members were “dismayed” by the number of roadblocks and checkpoints in Israel, as well as the “Separation Barrier” wall built by the Israelis on Palestinian land, Kireopoulos said.
The Council said it would invite Sharon and Abbas to meet with ecumenical leaders during their next visit to the United States.
Council President Thomas Hoyt and General Secretary Robert Edgar led the delegation.
_ Andrea James
What If Prince Charles Wanted to Marry a Catholic Mistress?
LONDON (RNS) The announcement that Prince Charles is at last going to marry Camilla Parker Bowles, his mistress, has prompted Catholic Cardinal Keith O’Brien to make a renewed attack on the law that bars Roman Catholics from the British throne.
That law comes from the 1701 Act of Settlement, passed by the English parliament to ensure the Protestant succession once William of Orange had successfully deposed James II. It says anyone who is “reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the see or church of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist” is barred from the English throne.
Congratulating Charles and Parker Bowles on their forthcoming wedding, which will take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle on April 8, O’Brien, archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, went on to say:
“As the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, I am saddened to think that, were Mrs. Parker Bowles a Catholic, the Prince of Wales would by marrying her automatically lose his right to accede to the throne, as would his heirs.”
He suggested that, at a time when the Scottish Executive was “quite rightly” focusing attention on “eradicating the blight of sectarianism,” it might be opportune to assess “the impact of existing blatant anti-Catholic legislation and the extent to which its existence hinders progress in this effort.”
Following the civil ceremony on April 8, the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, will preside at a service of prayer and dedication for the couple.
Because Parker Bowles is a divorcee whose husband is still alive, the Church of England would not sanction a church wedding. But it has long been willing to conduct services of blessing following a civil ceremony for the remarriage of divorced people.
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Hyacinth Campbell, parent of Brooklyn, N.Y., Catholic school students
(RNS) “I was devastated. But what hurt me most to my heart is that my children started to cry. Where do you find children in any school anywhere crying about a school closing?”
_ Hyacinth Campbell, a retired communications worker who picked up her daughters Wednesday (Feb. 9) at St. Thomas Aquinas School, one of more than 20 Catholic elementary schools that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn will close in Brooklyn and Queens. She was quoted by The New York Times.
MO/PH RNS END
