Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets the Civil Law

Fordham Urban Law Journal, Aug 2018

This article examines the sexual abuse scandal that has racked the Roman Catholic Church since 1984, focusing in particular on how the Church's authority structure has responded and how the American civil court system has been used by victims to seek redress. It gives an overview of the Church's legal system, Canon Law, and the way that system and the Church leadership have dealt (or failed to deal) with the problem of sexual abuse. Part II takes a "long look back" to the history of sexual abuse and Canon Law before 1984. Part III details how the Church has dealt with the exploding sexual abuse scandal since 1984, concluding that civil courts should take clericalism, or the religious fear of acting against church authority, into consideration when considering statutes of limitations on actions against abusive priests.

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Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets the Civil Law

FORDHAM URBAN LAW JOURNAL Fordham Urban Law Journal Thomas P. Doyle Stephen C. Rubinoy Catholic Priest yRoss & Rubino LLP Copyright c 2003 by the authors. Fordham Urban Law Journal is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj - 2003 Article 6 Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets the Civil Law THE CIVIL LAW OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM In 1984, the Roman Catholic Church began to experience the complex and highly embarrassing problem of clergy sexual misconduct in the United States. Within months of the first public case emerging in Lafayette, Louisiana, it was clear that this problem was not geographically isolated, nor a minuscule exception.' Instances of clergy sexual misconduct surfaced with increasing notoriety. Bishops, the leaders of the United States Catholic dioceses, were caught off guard. They were unsure of how to deal with specific cases, and appeared defensive when trying to control an expanding and uncontrollable problem. The secular press and electronic media exposed the Lafayette case, and within a year the priest-perpetrator, Gilbert Gauthe, pled guilty to thirty-nine counts of sexual battery, and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.2 In addition, the bishop and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction that had enabled Gauthe's predatory behavior were subsequently subjected to a civil suit for monetary damages. * Thomas Doyle is a Catholic priest with a Doctorate in Canon Law and Masters' degrees in Philosophy, Theology, Political Science, Administration, and Canon Law. He is also a certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor. He has been an expert witness and consultant for approximately 500 clergy sex abuse cases in the United States, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. ** Stephen C. Rubino is a partner in the firm Ross & Rubino LLP in Margate, New Jersey. Mr. Rubino graduated from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1974. For the last eleven years he has been Chair of the ATLA litigation group for Childhood Sexual Abuse. Mr. Rubino has either been counsel of record or co-counsel in excess of 400 cases of childhood sexual abuse in North America. He has been a consultant on numerous clergy sexual abuse matters in several European countries as well as Australia. 1. State v. Gauthe, 731 So. 2d 273 (La. 1998). Reports of alleged clergy abuse of minors surfaced in the Catholic dioceses of Lake Charles, LA; Boise, ID; Washington D.C.; and Arlington, VA. Also, seven other priests had been reported in the Lafayette diocese shortly after Gauthe had commenced. See JASON BERRY, LEAD Us NOT INTO TEMPTATION 143 (1992). 2. See BERRY, supra note 1, at 124. Gauthe's plea took place on October 14, 1985. Id. 3. See Gastal v. Hannan, 459 So. 2d 526 (La. 1984); see also BERRY, supra note 1, at 147-64. The sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic clerics has served as a catalyst for intensive inquiry into two basic aspects of church life: the sexual abuse of persons by members of a clergy obliged to celibacy, and the response by the authority structure of the Catholic Church. The scrutiny by the secular media has been relentless, and continues to increase in its fearlessness and intensity.4 This public exposure has strengthened the resolve of vast numbers of victims to disclose their abuse. After first approaching Church authorities for assistance and redress, most victims have found the Church's internal system unwilling or unable to provide the relief sought. Further, in many cases, the official Church reaction amounted to a re-victimization, whereby the victims were treated as an enemy force. This has resulted in the second, but equally vital area of scrutiny-the use of the American civil court system as a means by which victims of clergy sexual abuse seek redress. Although there are isolated instances of criminal and civil court actions prior to 1984, the Lafayette case appears to have opened a wide gate.6 Since that time there have been several hundred criminal prosecutions of Catholic clerics throughout the United States.7 Charges have varied from child endangerment to alienation of affection and aggravated rape.8 Sentences have varied from probation, to multiple life terms. 9 It is estimated that perhaps 250-300 4. See PHILIP JENKINS, INTRODUCTION TO PEDOPHILES AND PRIESTS: ANATOMY OF A CONTEMPORARY CRISIS 62 (1996). See generally THE INVESTIGATIVE STAFF OF THE BOSTON GLOBE, BETRAYAL: THE CRISIS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ix-263 (2002) [hereinafter BETRAYAL]. Both of these books describe the media attention to the issue. 5. Information obtained by the authors in the course of approximately 1500 interviews with clergy sex abuse victims. 6. See JENKINS, supra note 4, at 36. 7. Estimates are compiled from private reports by attorneys and from press reports. The Catholic Church has not published any official lists of civil trials, criminal trials, or monetary costs connected with the clergy sex abuse (...truncated)


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Thomas P. Doyle, Stephen C. Rubino. Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse Meets the Civil Law, Fordham Urban Law Journal, 2018, Volume 31, Issue 2,