கத்தோலிக்க கிறிஸ்துவ பாதிரியார்களால் பாலுறவு பலாத்காரம் செய்யப்பட்ட மூன்று சகோதரர்கள்

கத்தோலிக்க சர்ச்சுக்கு வேலை செய்துவந்த ஒரு பெண்மணியின் குழந்தைகளான மூன்று சகோதரர்களை அந்த சர்ச்சின் பாதிரியார் தொடர்ந்து பாலுறவு பலாத்காரம் செய்துவந்திருப்பதை அந்த சகோதரர்கள் கோர்ட்டில் தெரிவித்தார்கள்.

இவர்கள் தங்கள் குற்றச்சாட்டுகளை கூற வரும்போதெல்லாம் இந்த சிறுவர்களை அச்சுருத்தி இவர்களது வாயை மூடவைத்தது கத்தோலிக்க சர்ச் அமைப்பு என்றும் இவர்கள் கூறியுள்ளார்கள்

Three Brothers Claim Priest Abused Them
Three Separate Lawsuits Allege Molestation Of Boys At Rectory In 1970s, Threats To Keep Them Silent
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON | Courant Staff Writer
November 14, 2007

Three brothers whose mother worked for a Catholic church in the late 1970s were all molested by a priest who threatened her job if they reported the abuse, a series of lawsuits against the Hartford Archdiocese contends.

Richard, Paul and Niles Mallory allege in separate lawsuits that Ivan Ferguson, who died in 2002 at age 68, got to know them individually when they accompanied their mother to St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church in the Tariffville section of Simsbury in 1977 and 1978.

Ferguson, the priest in charge of youth activities and altar boys at St. Bernard's, expressed an interest in their hobbies, then took the boys up to his second-floor bedroom in the rectory at different times and molested them, the lawsuits say. In order to keep the abuse a secret, the lawsuits allege, Ferguson told each of the brothers he would have their mother fired from her job as director of religious education if they told anyone.




He also is alleged to have told Richard Mallory he would go to hell if he reported the abuse and saying, "The devil is waiting for you, sooner than you'd expect, if any word gets out."

Their lawyer, Thomas McNamara, said the abuse ranged from improper touching to sodomy. All three lawsuits were filed in New Haven Superior Court.

"The family was very poor and Ferguson knew it," McNamara said.

The prospect of their mother losing her job worried the Mallory boys, McNamara said. One of the boys, who had asthma, worried that if he told on Ferguson his family would lose health insurance and he wouldn't be able to get his asthma medicine.

Jacquelyn Mallory, who did not learn of the alleged abuse until her sons were adults, issued a statement Tuesday.

"Short of losing a child, I can't think of anything more devastating than learning that your child has been harmed for life," the statement says. "What happened to our family has profoundly changed our lives, our faith and our relationships. It was difficult to learn about the abuse and manipulation by Ivan Ferguson and it is most painful to deal with it at this time."

The brothers, who lived in New Milford at the time of the alleged abuse, now live in Florida. The most recent lawsuits were brought by Richard and Paul Mallory, who were 15 and 12 respectively, when they met Ferguson. Their older brother, Niles, who was 16, sued the church in September.

McNamara said that Ferguson "had a way of making you think he was interested in you."

In the case of Paul Mallory, who was 12 in the summer of 1978, the priest expressed an interest in baseball, which was Paul's favorite sport. Richard Mallory's hobby was astronomy, McNamara said, so Ferguson took him upstairs to his bedroom to use his telescope.

The lawsuit says the archdiocese failed to adequately supervise, monitor and investigate Ferguson. McNamara said a priest living in the rectory with Ferguson knew he was taking boys up to his bedroom and should have reported it. Another priest who was told about Ferguson's behavior with young boys by a different victim during the same time period also failed to report the abuse, McNamara said.

All three Mallory brothers have suffered serious emotional damage, as well as spiritual damage, as a result of the abuse, the lawsuits say.

Ferguson has been a subject of previous litigation against the church. The first lawsuits concerning Ferguson were brought against the Hartford Archdiocese in 1993. Three men who were students at Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford claimed Ferguson sexually abused them between 1975 and 1978, when he was a chaplain and teacher at the school.

Two of those lawsuits were settled as part of a $22 million settlement by the Hartford Archdiocese in 2005, and one was withdrawn.

Ferguson, who was ordained in 1970, specialized in youth ministry at parishes in Derby, Bristol and Tariffville, until he joined the chaplaincy staff at Hartford Hospital in 1985. He worked in that job until 1993, when the archdiocese placed him on administrative leave and he moved to St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield.

The Rev. John Gatzak, a spokesman for the Hartford Archdiocese, said the church does not comment on active litigation.

But, he added, this lawsuit is "a reminder that we have to redouble our efforts so we don't repeat history."

Contact Elizabeth Hamilton at ehamilton@courant.com.

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63 கேரள கிறிஸ்துவ பாதிரியார்கள் மீது கிரிமினல் கேஸ்

இதுவரை கிறிஸ்துவ பாதிரியார்கள் போலீஸையும் பத்திரிக்கைகளையும் அமுக்கி, இந்த செய்திகளை வெளியே விடாமல் வைத்திருந்தனர்.

தற்போது, Right to Information act என்ற விபரம் அறியும் உண்மையை பயன்படுத்தி எத்தனை பாதிரியார்கள் கேரளாவில் கிரிமினல் கேஸ்களில் சிக்கியிருக்கிறார்கள் என்பதை வெளியே கொண்டுவந்திருக்கிறார்கள்.

63 பாதிரியார்கள் கற்பழிப்பு, கொலை, சிறுவர் பாலியல் பலாத்காரம், திருட்டு என்று கிரிமினல் பீனல் கோடில் இருக்கும் எல்லா குற்றங்களிலும் சிக்கியுள்ளது தெரியவந்துள்ளது.

தமிழ் சினிமாவில் காட்டும் அன்பே உருவான பாதிரியார் என்பது பெரும் மோசடி, ஏமாற்றுவேலை என்றும் தெரியவந்துள்ளது.

63 priests in Kerala face criminal charges
Don Sebastian
Friday, October 19, 2007 04:33 IST

Offences include murder, rape, molestation, assault, abduction, theft and cheating

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forget the sheep, the Church has a tough task ahead in reclaiming its lost shepherds. If the data released by the Kerala Police is any indication, the weeds have spread among the wheat.

As many as 63 Christian priests in the state face criminal charges pending against them, reveals documents yielded as per the Right to Information Act.

Murder, attempt to murder, rape, molestation, assault, abduction, theft, break-in, cheating…almost every offence under the Indian Penal Code —and of course, the Ten Commandments — has been committed by the deviant priests. Worse, the biblical whitewashed tombs are still at the helm of affairs in parishes.

Going by the crime records of the past seven years, two priests have been accused of murder while ten are charged with attempt to murder. Yet another is booked for aiding in a murder. Joseph Antony and Maria Lal Manjali are accused of homicide.

Babu Chirakkavur, Mathew Jacob, ET Johnson, KP Mathai, Joy T Varghese, Jiju Varghese, Reji are accused of attempt to murder in cases registered in different police stations. Giving them company is Paul Payyappilly, parish priest of Pavaratti St Joseph’s Church, held under Explosives Act.

Priests also excel in crimes of passion. Five of them are rape accused. Jose Thadathil and TJ Joy, a CSI parish priest, are just two. Jose works in the Divine Retreat Centre, a pilgrim centre near Thrissur facing criminal inquiry ordered by the Kerala High Court. Sisters Viola and Nirmala are also involved in the case.

Father Joseph in Kollam is caught in an immoral traffic case. Ernakulam Infant Jesus Church vicar Thomas is an accused in a molestation case while Father Paul Vilangumpara is accused of molestation and abduction.

Yet another priest in coastal Thiruvananthapuram is accused of rape. Most of the priests have incurred cheating charges against them as part of their managerial functions.

Thomas Pothanamuzhi, Fr Thomas Kizhakkedath and Fr Ouseph — the principal, manager and former principal of St Aloysius College, Edathuva — have been accused of breach of trust.

A similar case has been charged in 2005 against Andrews Thekkekkandam, a vicar in Thamarasseri, the nerve centre of the Catholic Church’s present tirade against the Left government.

As many as five priests are accused of theft and break-in, taking the total number of the seeds on rocky ground to 63. This list excludes the suspects in the sensational murder of a nun in Kottayam in 1992.

Earlier, the CBI had taken two priests and two nuns to undergo truth serum tests in connection with the death of Sister Abhaya, who was found dead in a well on the premises of Pius X Convent, Kottayam.

கத்தோலிக்க பாதிரியார்கள் செய்த 42 சிறுவர் வல்லுறவு குற்றங்கள் மேல் வழக்குக்கு அனுமதி

கத்தோலிக்க பாதிரியார்கள் செய்த 42 சிறுவர் வல்லுறவு குற்றங்கள் மேல் வழக்குக்கு அனுமதி வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.


42 San Diego sex abuse cases ordered to trial
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 25, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ruled Friday that 42 lawsuits filed by people alleging sexual abuse by Catholic priests here can go to trial, which could goad the Catholic Diocese of San Diego into settling those and other suits.

Andrea Leavitt, lawyer for a group of claimants, called the ruling by Judge Louise De Carl Adler a victory for victims of sexual abuse, many of whom have spent years seeking damage payments from the diocese.

"The victims are very encouraged," Leavitt said. "And they are very grateful that the court has the wisdom to grasp the gamesmanship the victims have been subjected to for years by the diocese."

Adler, in her ruling, said she will decide at a hearing Sept. 6 whether to throw out the diocese's bankruptcy lawsuit.

In February, as the first of the suits was about to go to trial, the San Diego diocese, with 1 million Catholics, became the largest in the nation to seek protection in Bankruptcy Court.

The Bankruptcy Court blocked the suits from going to trial. But Adler has been increasingly skeptical of the diocese's assertions that it could become insolvent if it had to pay damages to the 150-plus claimants. She has also criticized the diocese's financial record-keeping as being designed to mask the diocese's true worth.

Diocese attorneys have offered a $95-million settlement with 150-plus people who have filed claims. But Adler noted in her ruling that this is "far below the historic statewide average" of payments when abuse victims sue in state court.

The judge suggested that the diocese was "forum shopping," hoping that a settlement reached as part of a bankruptcy filing would cost less than one reached in a trial court.

The 42 lawsuits represent 58 claimants. In all, the diocese faces 127 lawsuits.

Diocese lawyers argued that Adler does not have the authority to send the 42 lawsuits back to the Superior Court for trial. Adler said there is a compelling public interest in settling claims involving the sexual abuse of children.

Claimant attorneys have said the diocese filed for bankruptcy to stop the suits from going to trial and spare Bishop Robert Brom from having to testify.

Brom and his lawyer did not return calls Friday.

tony.perry@latimes.com