Victims’ advocates question Catholic report

Monday, Feb. 16, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

Advocates for victims are questioning the validity of a Roman Catholic report on the extent of sexual abuse of minors by priests in Nevada.

The report issued Friday shows the dioceses of Reno and Las Vegas paid out approximately $4.3 million for the actions of eight Catholic priests who were accused of sexually abusing 13 minors in Nevada between 1950 and 1995.

The dioceses of Reno and Las Vegas, which were combined until 1995, reported the numbers as part of an unprecedented, nationwide audit of priestly abuse by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, due out Feb. 27.

"The audit of all of the dioceses and the release of this study are just the beginning of the vigilant watch we have undertaken on behalf of the faithful," Bishop Joseph Pepe, head of the Diocese of Las Vegas, said in an issued statement.

Advocates for victims said, however, that there are still too many unanswered questions in the report.

"Some of the truth is going to come out but they are trying to use this as a (public relations) spin," John Manly, a lawyer from Costa Mesa, Calif., who was the co-counsel on a $5.2 million lawsuit against the Diocese of Orange County regarding a priest's sexual abuse of minors.

Manly said the church's report "gives people only part of the truth."

Advocates for victims said the number of victims reported for Nevada -- only 13 for eight priests between 1950 and 1995, or less than two victims per abuser -- is extremely low.

"By everyone's account, including the Catholic Church's psychologists and others who treat sexual abusers, they estimate that the average priest abuser has eight victims," said Richard Sipe, of La Jolla, Calif., author of "Celibacy in Crisis."

"I estimate that the average priest (abuser) has 10 victims, so certainly the number of victims is underreported or they have not come forward," Sipe said.

Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and priest, has studied this issue for 45 years and authored four books on the topic.

The Rev. Mark Roberts of Henderson, the only priest the report says has been accused of sexual abuse since the Nevada dioceses split in 1995, has had nine victims come forward.

Sipe and Manly also criticized the report because it was based on self-reported data and was based on the information in personnel reports, which may not be accurate. And it only counts those priests for whom Catholic authorities found the accusations to be credible.

"Who gets to determine what's credible and who's credible?" Manly said. "The answer is that the diocese gets to decide. It really is like asking the mafia to investigate themselves and (they) say, 'We only whacked 10 people.' "

The data is also completely anonymous -- it does not name the perpetrators, give time frames for when the abuse occurred or give any hint of the locations. This limits the ability of victims' advocacy groups to audit the report because they cannot tell who was and who was not counted in the report, Manly said.

"They've promised us to be transparent," Manly said. "If they are going to be transparent they need to release the names of the perpetrators."

Spokesmen for Reno and Las Vegas said confidentiality agreements prior to 1995 restrict the dioceses from releasing the names of perpetrators, which they also said would lead to the identity of the victims. Both dioceses banned churches from entering into future confidentiality agreements. That was one of many steps taken nationwide to try to prevent abuse by priests.

Advocates for victims also criticized the report for not saying whether any of the priests were reported to law enforcement officials or if they faced any criminal charges for abuse prior to 1995.

The dioceses instituted policies to report such abuse in 1995. Roberts, who pleaded guilty to molestation charges in January 2003, was turned over to law enforcement by the Diocese of Las Vegas.

Pepe's statement said that U.S. bishops "made a promise to the world" to acknowledge past mistakes and "accept responsibility for creating a safe environment for everyone in our ministries and other programs."

He said the report and its release "are just the beginning of the vigilant watch we have undertaken."

No one from the Diocese of Las Vegas was available to answer questions about the report. Diocese officials referred all questions to a local public relations firm.

Brother Matthew Cunningham, chancellor of the Diocese of Reno, said they reported every incident of abuse that the diocese had records of, and if there are more victims, they have not come forward.

"I'm not an expert in child abuse and all I can account for is those who have come forward and identified themselves," Cunningham said. "I can't guess that an individual priest has molested more individuals."

Cunningham also said it was possible some allegations of abuse never were recorded in the personnel files, but he said officials in the Diocese of Reno made ever attempt to provide as accurate data as possible to prevent future abuse.

"What benefit is there to the bishops to establish a study and then provide false information?" Cunningham said.

"Why would we not tell the truth?" Cunningham continued. "The truth is we want to know what created this situation, and how we got to where we are. The bishops want to bring this information out into the public, confront it and deal with it, which is what we are doing."

The Dioceses of Reno and Las Vegas jointly paid out $2.5 million in settlements, therapy and legal fees between 1950 to 1995, the report shows. Since 1995, when the combined dioceses split, Las Vegas has paid out an additional $1.8 million for incidents that occurred prior to the formation of the Southern Nevada diocese. The Diocese of Reno has also paid a minimal amount since 1995 for victim therapy, according to the report.

Eight of the nine priests were accused between 1950 and 1995, out of 521 total priests. Of those, three were priests in the joint Reno-Las Vegas Diocese and the other five were from other dioceses or members of other religious communities.

"None of the perpetrators are in active service in the church anywhere in the country," Cunningham said.

According to the report, Roberts is the only priest to be accused since 1995, although accusations surfaced in May 2002 against Monsignor Robert Bowling of Reno for incidents in Kentucky 40 years before. Bowling has since died.

Roberts, who officials have said is in the process of being defrocked, was sentenced to three years probation and treatment for his criminal charges. A civil suit filed against Roberts by attorney Albert Massi on behalf of the five men in the criminal case and four other alleged victims is scheduled to go to trial in October.

The civil complaint alleges that Roberts "sexually abused, assaulted and exploited" five teenagers and that the diocese, former Las Vegas Catholic Bishop Daniel Walsh and his successor, Bishop Pepe, were negligent because they knew or should have known about the abuse and stopped it.

The Nevada data will be included in the nationwide report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.