$21 Million Paid to Abuse Victims, Says Diocese of Providence in Testimony

$21 Million Paid to Abuse Victims, Says Diocese of Providence in Testimony

The Diocese of Providence’s RI Catholic Conference in written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee disclosed that the church has made tens of millions in payments to sexual abuse victims over the past few decades.

The testimony was offered Tuesday in opposition to legislation being considered that would extend the statute of limitation of those who are sexually abused from the existing seven years to up to 35 years.

The disclosure of the payments may, in part, be an indicator as to the Diocese financial issues and why the church failed to make proper contributions to the pension fund of the now collapsed St. Joseph Health Services retirement fund -- the largest pension fund failure in Rhode Island history.

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“Reflecting [on] our commitment to justice, the Diocese of Providence has resolved over 130 claims and paid out over $21 million in legal settlements. Additionally, a pastoral outreach program has provided victims with nearly $2.3 million for the cost of counseling in order to facilitate healing and wholeness. There have been many long-standing and effective efforts towards prevention here,” said the Church in written testimony to the committee.

READ THE TESTIMONY BELOW

The Diocese is being sued for fraud in both federal and state court relating to financial misconduct.

The lawsuits brought by the receiver for the failed pension fund claims a number of acts of malfeasance by the Diocese and Bishop Thomas Tobin. The lawsuit is blunt as it alleges that, "Saint Joseph Health Services of RI, the Prospect Entities, and other Defendants violated ERISA, committed fraud, breached their contractual obligations, violated their duty of good faith and fair dealing, and otherwise acted wrongfully. As a result, they must be required to compensate losses to the Plan and remedy such violations, including returning all assets improperly diverted to the Plan, and to otherwise fully fund the plan."

The Church’s testimony goes on to attack the proposed legislation for validating repressed memory, “It is not only the fraudulent or spurious claim that is of concern here - it is also the imagined claim that is the product of faulty memory or other psychological problems. Rhode Island courts have struggled with the admissibility and reliability of recovered memory.”

The Diocese claims that the legislation is unfair as it “invites Courts to apply today's standards to yesterday's conduct.”

Specifically, “There is inherent unfairness and risk of error in asking a jury in 2019 to decide whether actions taken in 1957 or 1967 reflected a lack of due care (or for that matter asking a 2054 jury to assess today's behavior).”

In addition, the legislation is criticized for treating perpetrators and non-perpetrators equally. “Perpetrators exercise intentional, affirmative conduct against victims. Negligence is committed unintentionally. The Bill seeks to eviscerate that distinction, and equates vastly divergent responsibility levels. By doing so, it applies the criminal intent of an abuser on par with a party who may have committed negligence. “