THE DIOCESE of Clogher is to be sued in the US by clerical sex abuse
specialist, lawyer Jeff Anderson, in connection with allegations of
child sexual abuse in the early 1980s by a former Clogher priest.
Announcing
the formation of a new London-based law firm, set up in partnership
with solicitor Ann Olivarus, Mr Anderson said yesterday that the firm’s
first joint case would be taken in Minnesota against a retired priest
from the Diocese of Clogher.
The priest, now in his 80s, is
alleged to have been a serial abuser who molested children in Ireland in
the 1960s and 1970s and then in the US from the 1980s.
In the case in
question, taken in the US because the “John Doe plaintiff” is an
American citizen, Mr Anderson is likely to argue the Diocese of Clogher
is guilty of fraud because it sent the priest to a US diocese, despite
knowing of his extensive history of child molestation in Ireland.
In
the last 25 years, Jeff Anderson has filed thousands of suits against
clerical child abusers in the US, in the process winning millions of
dollars worth of damages in settlements.
In 2002, he estimated that he
had won $60 million dollars, a figure that has clearly increased since
then.
Speaking to
The Irish Times, Mr Anderson said he hoped to file
other British and/or Irish cases, similar to the Clogher one.
The
diocese of Clogher takes in Fermanagh, Tyrone, Monaghan and Donegal.
Mr Anderson did not rule out setting up a Dublin-based law firm to pursue further clerical sex abuse cases in Ireland.
The
lawyer generated international headlines last year when he alleged that
the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Pope
Benedict, then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in the late 1990s had blocked
canonical proceedings against Wisconsin priest Larry Murphy, accused of
molesting 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin.
Last
night, Mr Anderson repeated his belief that the “buck” stops in Rome, on
Pope Benedict’s desk, although he acknowledged it would be difficult to
circumvent the Holy See’s “foreign sovereign immunity” or diplomatic
status.
“I never planned to be an attorney who specialised in
representing the victims of clerical sex abuse but now I feel I have to
go where I am called, said Mr Anderson.
SIC: IT/IE