Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Victims' Testimony Changes?

So the victims of abuse in the Milwaukee Archdiocese seem to have problems. Or do they?

Frank LoCoco, attorney for the archdiocese, argued that none of the victims had ever complained about the mediation process previously, and that Marquette law professor Eva Soeka, who designed the mediation process, testified that she'd never had complaints about it.

Hmmmmm.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dad, that was a very selective excerpt from the article. The process does seem.... deliberately complicated. so direct your 'hmmmm' toward the sensibility that hires high-fivin' lawyers who threaten victims, as well as bancruptcy filings timed to interdict depositions.

And I won't even begin to explore the mysteries of a now 100 million endowment for the six archdiocesan cemeteries. 47 mil just wasn't enough to maintain those pristine landscapes, apparently much more important than the church's 'mission'

Dad29 said...

Look.....I'm sympathetic to the victoms.

But I am NOT sympathetic to victims who have changed their story.

Nor am I sympathetic to those who assert--directly or not--that Big Money will make the victims all better.

Anonymous said...

dad, I agree with you about victims changing their story, bearing in mind the damage ranges from minimal to so traumatizing that some haven't and won't come forth (The last thing a victim needs is another 'healing prayer service where the Bishops moan 'we didn't understaaaaaand" But isn't the process the Archmil has set up sort of like a tax audit, wherein one doesn't 'change their story' as much as try to respond to an unclear process.

In some cases, $ is the only cudgel available to dislodge the Church's fault.

Meanwhile, looking forward to more revelations about what we in the pew have failed to grasp, such as who owns the Cousins Center. How foolish we are not to parse their imprecise communications....

Dad29 said...

Fortunately, I didn't have to go through 'the process' although I understand that Matt Flynn was a real A**hole.

As to the 'tax audit'....

You don't really expect the A'ce to simply write a check based on a couple of 1/2 hour interviews, do you? I would be extremely agitated to find that was the case--after all, they're stewards of the money (just like IRS, in a manner of speaking.)

And it's worth recalling that the victims were represented by attorneys whose sole objective was to maximize the reward (or "compensation" as the propaganda would have it.)

I am as angry and indignant at the IN-actions of the Bishop(s) (and the D.A. and cops) as anyone on this planet.

But that doesn't mean that we should dissolve the entire A'ce's finances and hum merrily about the Franciscan virtues of poverty.

Terrence Berres said...

Last I saw (Bishop Sklba's farewell interview in the Catholic Herald), our Archdiocese continues to stand by $450,000 paid on Paul Marcoux's claim. Who else has been or is being overpaid by comparison?