The Catholic Church is the world's largest child abuse organization.

Hartford Archdiocese identifies 48 priests accused of sexual abuse

Dave Altimari, Jesse Leavenworth and David Owens, The Hartford Courant on Jan 22, 2019

Published in Religious News

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Archdiocese of Hartford Tuesday released the names of 48 priests "credibly accused" of sexual abuse, leading to the archdiocese paying out $50.6 million to settle more than 140 claims.

The archdiocese also announced it would hire a retired state judge to review priest personnel files in an effort, according to Archbishop Leonard Blair, to remove the "dark cloud" that still hangs over the Catholic Church.

"I have been a bishop now for almost 20 years and most of them have been overshadowed by the sin and scandal of sexual abuse and its devastating effect on the victims survivors and their families, on the morale of our priests and on the faith and even the practice of the faith among the Catholic people," Blair said in a statement released on the church website.

"The lingering unhealed wounds from past abuse continue to cry out for further actions and answers," Blair said.

The priests identified Tuesday include:

Gregory Altermatt, Joseph Buckley, Stephen Bzdyra, Herbert Clarkin, Stephen Crowley, Robert Doyle, Ivan Ferguson, Stephen Foley, Thomas Glynn, Paul Gotta, John Graham, Philip Hussey, Edward Hyland, Joseph Lacy, Robert Ladamus, Felix Maguire, Terry Manspeaker, Richard McGann, Daniel McSheffery, Peter Mitchell, Edward Muha, Howard Nash, John T. O'Connor, Raymond Paul, Louis Paturzo, Arthur Perrault, William Przybylo, George Raffaeta, Edward Reardon, Adolph Renkiewicz, Joseph Rozint, Robert E. Shea, Kenneth Shiner, Edward Tissera, Felix Werpechowski and Peter Zizka.

Twelve others were identified from other religious orders or other dioceses related to allegations that happened in the Hartford Archdiocese. The six from other dioceses are Roman Kramek, Lucien Meunier, Edward Franklin, Bruno Primavera, John B. Ramsay and Jose Rivera. The six priests from other religious orders that were on assignment in Hartford are William Izquierdo, Michael Miller, Robert Leo Pelkington, John Pryor, John Rudy and John Szantyr.

Blair said the archdiocese has hired former state Judge Antonio Robaina to do a complete review of all the churches files going back to 1953 when the diocese was formed. There was no timetable for when Robaina's report would be completed.

"It is a cause of profound sorrow and of soul-searching for me that we bishops, the Church's pastors, have often failed to grasp the spiritual and moral devastation that results from sexual abuse, either in a misguided attempt to 'save' an abuser's vocation or to shield the Church from scandal," Blair said.

Among the findings released Tuesday:

-- Of the 36 priests from the Hartford archdiocese, 23 are now dead. None are currently priests. The most recently ordained priest to be accused was Gotta, who was ordained in 2006. He was accused of second-degree and fourth-degree sexual assault in November 2013 but the charges were reduced. He later plead guilty in federal court to a felony charge of willfully distributing explosive material to a person younger than 21. Gotta admitted to purchasing 2 pounds of black powder from Riverview Gun Sales of East Windsor and providing it to a 17-year-old. The teen was subsequently found to be in possession of materials to make pipe bombs.

-- Of the 48 priests named who have either had civil lawsuits filed against them or have been the subject of claims that archdiocese officials deemed credible are six priests from other dioceses who allegedly abused a child while assigned to Hartford and six priests from other religious orders. Almost all of the claims were for abuses that occurred before 1990, and $35 million was paid out to victims who were abused in the 1970s but didn't file lawsuits until years later.

-- The average settlement was just more than $356,000. While nearly all of the abuse allegations occurred before 1990, nearly all of the settlements weren't resolved until after 2000. The highest settlement paid was $1.6 million.

-- Slightly more than half of the $50.6 million was paid by the church's insurance carrier and that the rest came from the general reserve fund. Of the 142 claims that were settled, about 84 percent involved allegations against nine priests. One priest had 20 credible abuse claims against him that were settled for $10.7 million.

-- Blair said that there are no current priests in the archdiocese who have had credible accusations of sexual abuse made against them. However, the archdiocese is paying about $1,900 a month to two priests who have been sentenced to a life of prayer and penance and the same amount to two others who have been removed from the ministry.

In the past three years five priests have been laicized, or permanently stripped of their priest powers. Those priests are Bzdyra, Foley, Hyland, Shiner and Tissera, also known as Edward Warnakulasuriya, who plead guilty to a misdemeanor sexual assault for touching an 18-year-old man's pubic area while administering confession. The archdiocese identified him Tuesday also as Wamakulasuriya.

Bzdyra has been sued multiple times and Foley was the state police chaplain who used his position to lure kids into his car. There were at least 11 claims made against Foley.

There is one priest currently being sued in Waterbury Superior Court who is not on the list, Walter Vichas, who was a priest for 30 years at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Waterbury. The lawsuit filed by Kevin DiStasio alleges that Vichas sexually assaulted him in 1980 inside the church. The case is pending.

An archdiocese spokesman said that there is an "investigation in process and it has not yet been determined to be a "credible claim."

David Clohessy, the former director if a national network of priest abuse survivors called SNAP, said Hartford's decision to release the names is similar to what other diocese's are doing across the country.

"It's horribly irresponsible to keep secret for years or decades about potential dangers to our most vulnerable people. Clearly this is happening now for the same reason that virtually every baby step of the church hierarchy happened regarding abuse and that is intense public pressure on bishops," said Clohessy. "The first bishops did this in 2002. Literally dozens of Hartford church officials should have pushed for and done this, again, years and years ago."

The push for Catholic bishops to release the names of priest sexual abusers comes after the 1,400-page grand jury report by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro named at least 300 priests accused of child sex abuse by more than 1,000 victims throughout the state going back about 30 years. Shapiro called it a "systematic cover-up by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and at the Vatican."

"Though long overdue, this is a positive step but just a baby step in the larger picture. Nowhere is it mentioned that there are efforts to study the reasons why those with sexual desire for children or adolescents are attracted to the all-boys club of Catholic clerical culture. Why does the Roman Catholic Church attract men and women (nuns) with such a disturbed sense of sexuality?" New Haven attorney Thomas McNamara said. He has filed several lawsuits against the Hartford diocese including one against Ivan Ferguson in which a jury awarded the victim $1 million.

The settlement figures for the Hartford Archdiocese are similar to what the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport announced a few months ago. Bridgeport officials said they had paid $52.5 million to settle 156 allegations of priest sexual abuse of children since 1953.

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