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Monday, August 13th, 2012

Alleged Victims Added to Montana Church Abuse Suit

Author:     MATT VOLZ
Source:     ABC News
Publication Date:     7-Aug-12
 Link: Alleged Victims Added to Montana Church Abuse Suit
Stephan:   This reminds me of the recent $166 million settlement by the Jesuits with another population of Native American children. It is sexually corrupt at an astonishing level. it is clear that vulnerable populations like these children were treated as essentially exploitable sex objects., and thousands of them were involved. I cannot get over a memory: Going to mass many years ago with a Catholic friend and having the collection basket be passed as a special request to finance several priests so they could go that summer to 'help Indian boys' at a school somewhere. Was the congregation underwriting the costs of sending their favored clerics on what amounted to a pedophile's dream vacation?

HELENA, MONT. — New claims of sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic clergy are coming from the Blackfeet Indian reservation, bringing to at least 280 the total number of plaintiffs in two lawsuits seeking damages from the diocese that oversees western Montana.

One lawsuit alone has 200 plaintiffs after eight more were added Monday. Many are Native Americans who claim they were abused as children at schools, in orphanages, in church or in their homes.

They say the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena knew or should have known about the abuse, but covered it up instead of stopping it. The lawsuit says 26 clergy members were involved in the abuse that stretches back to the 1940s.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Tim Kosnoff said more alleged victims may emerge from Blackfeet tribal members as he and his associates meet with people on the remote northwestern Montana reservation.

‘I think we’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg up in that community,’ he said.

Kosnoff and the diocese are pursuing a settlement, and both sides are now interviewing the alleged victims before they meet with a mediator in November.

Kosnoff said about 140 people have been interviewed so far, but he acknowledged the November timeline could be […]

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