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
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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)