Altoona attorney Richard Serbin said he applauds the steps the Altoona diocese intends to implement to protect children from sexual abuse, but rejects the idea the diocese is learning more than what it knew before.
\nSerbin\u2019s sentiments come on the heels of a statement made public by Bishop Joseph Adamec yesterday, one of two church leaders recently accused of allowing sexual molestation in the church to go-on unpunished. The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese is also named in the suit.
\n\u201cThere were comments that were made that they were learning more that they didn\u2019t know before,\u201d said Serbin from his office this morning, \u201cbut the sexual molestation of children has always been a criminal act in Pennsylvania. There is, nor was there ever, a learning curve. It was always wrong.
\n\u201cTo suggest that there\u2019s a learning curve here \u2013 I do reject that.\u201d
\nIn the bishop\u2019s three-page statement, Adamec states that he and retired Bishop James Hogan, the second man named in the suit, both made \u201cdecisions with the overall good of God\u2019s People in mind\u201d and the decisions were \u201cbased upon the best available data and professional advice available at those times.\u201d
\nThe statement continues: \u201cCurrent decisions are based upon the best available data and professional advice of today. As in other areas, this has changed over a period of time; and, not only for the Church but for society in general.\u201d
\nAlthough not named as defendants in the case, the two priests involved are Monsignor Francis McCaa of Holy Name Catholic Church in Ebensburg and Father Francis Luddy of St. Therese\u2019s Catholic Church.
\nAccording to the lawsuits filed last week on behalf of five victims of alleged child abuse, Father Luddy and Monsignor McCaa performed molestation acts on as many as five young men approximately 20 years ago. The lawsuit states the Diocese and its leaders, bishops Adamec and Hogan, concealed reports the boys were being abused.
\nIn Adamec\u2019s statement, he says; \u201cit is regrettable that sexual and physical abuse of minors has occurred and that there are individuals continuing to suffer as a result. It is deplorable that sexual abuse of minors has occurred at the hands of priests within the Roman Catholic Church.\u201d
\nHe said it is his intention to follow the charter adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the \u201cnorms\u201d approved by the Holy See. These \u201cnorms\u201d become effective this year.
\nAlso in his statement, Adamec addresses the complaint filed by Serbin. He said, given the facts and circumstances of the events, properly handled the cases.
\n\u201cFor the benefit of our faithful, religious and clergy in their having to experience another day in court, as well as for that of the general public, it is incumbent upon me to respond. Otherwise, the perception left would not be accurate,\u201d reads the complaint. \u201cThis is especially necessary in light of the number of inaccuracies in the mass media reports, as well as the legal complaints.
\n\u201cThe complaints accuse the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, along with former Diocesan Bishop Hogan and me, of not handling cases of alleged minor abuse by priests appropriately. I believe that each one of us did, given the facts and circumstances, properly handle such cases.\u201d
\nAttorney Serbin disagreed.
\nSerbin said he and his clients, for nearly a year, attempted to resolve the claims with the diocese without any success. He said it\u2019s now the Diocese obligation to respond to the complaint.
\n\u201cBishop Adamec said there were a number of inaccuracies set forth in my complaint,\u201d said Serbin. \u201cI\u2019m satisfied that the very specific facts set forth in the complaint can be proven in a court of law.
\n\u201cMany of the facts can be supported by prior testimony secured under oath. These specific allegations, I\u2019m satisfied, can be established.\u201d
\nSerbin said he hasn\u2019t spoken with his clients concerning the statement and said he wouldn\u2019t do so unless any of the clients wanted to talk about it.
\nWith the filing of the complaint on Feb. 7, the Diocese has 20 days to file a response, The deadline for that filing is Feb. 27. Afterwhich, both sides can seek discovery, or additional information concerning the matter, and work court motions and documents from there.
\nFather Joseph Orr, of St. Matthew\u2019s Catholic Church in Tyrone, took time this morning to speak with The Daily Herald concerning the situation.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting fact the first morning Bishop Adamec was here in our diocese, the doorbell rang, and it was someone with a subpoena,\u201d said Father Joseph Orr of St. Matthew\u2019s Catholic Church in Tyrone. \u201cWhat a way to be welcomed to the Church. It was just breaking loose when he got here, and he was put on the grill.
\n\u201cThe priests feel that why should our people pay for the errors of these priests. Our priests have encouraged the Bishop to fight this in particular for the injustices involved,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe have a great deal of compassion for the victims involved. This case is not about victims or justice for victims; this case is purely about how much money we can soak out of the Catholic Church.\u201d
\nThe release from the Bishop states that the diocesan policy was put into effect in 1987 of taking allegations against clergy seriously. The diocese would meet with the alleged victim and alleged perpetrator, while keeping confidentiality. Since 1995, clergy are required to report to authorities alleged abuse. However, at the time of the complaints in the current case, there was no obligation or law requiring clergy to do so.
\n\u201cThe fact that it\u2019s public is not a problem,\u201d said Father Orr. \u201cSome people are using it as a personal grudge against the Catholic Church. I was talking to a lady whose son was abused in another state by a non-Catholic youth minister. She went to the police, and they wouldn\u2019t prosecute. The district attorney said if was a priest we would prosecute. Nobody\u2019s interested in what other perpetuators are doing.\u201d
\nAdamec did not become the Bishop of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese until May 20, 1987.
\n In his statement, he said, \u201cThere is no way that I or any of my staff can have \u2018direct knowledge of the daily functioning of the various religious and recreation programs operating in each parish.\u2019\u201d
\nFather Orr said that child abuse needs to be prevented and the focus should be shifted to the safety of children.
\n \u201cWe need a lot more focus on child abuse prevention. For any of us who care about children, to deal with a child once he\u2019s been victimized is unacceptable. We need to deal with the problems to protect the children from molestation.\u201d
\nFor anyone who would like to review the whole statement of Bishop Adamec in its entirety, it can be found at www.diocesealtjtn.org\/news\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Altoona attorney Richard Serbin said he applauds the steps the Altoona diocese intends to implement to protect children from sexual abuse, but rejects the idea the diocese is learning more than what it knew before. Serbin\u2019s sentiments come on the heels of a statement made public by Bishop Joseph Adamec yesterday, one of two church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}