In 1983, Jeff Anderson was just another lawyer working in St
Paul, Minnesota.
Then, by chance, the 35-year-old's career -- and life
-- changed forever when a man walked into his office saying he had been
abused by a priest.
Soon after taking on the case, Anderson
realised the problem was much greater than he had first imagined.
It
wasn't just a paedophile priest who was culpable, but also senior
bishops who had conspired to cover up the abuse. He promptly sued the
Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St Paul.
The
bishops responded with $1m to settle the matter out of court, but
Anderson's client refused.
And so began a landmark case which drew the
attention of the US media to clerical abuse for the first time. He
eventually won the case and the floodgates opened.
"Hundreds of
survivors of clerical abuse who had been afraid to come forward finally
spoke up," he says, speaking to Weekend Review from his office in St
Paul.
"Many thought they had been the only ones who had suffered abuse
at the hands of priests, and that case -- and subsequent cases -- showed
that it was much more common than they had thought."
Since that
first triumph, Anderson has been the Catholic Church's bête noir. His
growing practice focuses entirely on getting justice -- and compensation
--for the abused. He has pursued some of the most high-profile abusers
in the US, including several Irish priests based there.
He doesn't
like to talk about the money paid out in compensation, but suggested
back in 2002 that his victories had totalled $60m. That figure has
likely swelled significantly in the intervening years.
He has
filed more than 1,500 lawsuits against the Catholic Church in the US and
thousands more against individuals and organisations, including those
belonging to other Christian denominations.
Yet, he believes "the vow of
chastity" priests are obliged to take, coupled with "the suppression of
sexuality", makes Catholic clergy more likely to abuse.
Anderson has even tried to sue the Vatican, believing it to be ultimately responsible. "All roads lead to Rome,"
he says.
"The hierarchy of the Church has to take responsibility for
refusing to abide by civil law. Priests are told to accept Canon Law
above the law of their respective countries. Remember Canon Law has been
around for 2,000 years, and it's fundamental to the ethos of the
Church."
Anderson says the recently unearthed letter (on RTE's
Would You Believe?) sent by the Vatican to Irish bishops, seemingly
urging them to protect paedophile priests, proves his theory that the
problem begins at the top and permeates down.
"It's yet further evidence
that Canon Law assists in covering up abuse. If we are really going to
address the problems of clerical sexual abuse, we have to go directly to
the Vatican. It's as simple as that."
Only last month Anderson, in conjunction with the London-based
US lawyer Ann Olivarius, set up a practice in the UK and this week his
associates, headed by Georgina Calvert-Lee, attempted to forge
relationships with law firms here.
"Since opening the London office we have been inundated with queries from Ireland,
which is probably 10 years ahead of the UK when it comes to the
emotional aspects of dealing with clerical abuse," Calvert-Lee says.
During their Irish reconnaissance, Anderson's delegation met with
representatives of victims' groups, including Colm O'Gorman of One in
Four.
Ireland's grim record in exporting paedophile priests is
something Anderson became aware of early on in his career.
"Many of the
priests who have abused survivors I have helped in the United States
are from Ireland and were trained in dioceses there."
Last month,
Anderson filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of an alleged American victim
of an octogenarian Irish priest, who is accused of molesting the then
eight-year-old boy in Minnesota, almost 30 years ago.
The
suit was filed in a court in Minneapolis, and named as co-defendants an
Irish diocese, the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota and the Servants of
the Paraclete, an international Catholic congregation which aims to
treat paedophile priests.
"This priest had a history of abuse, but
the Church refused to defrock him. Instead, he was moved from parish to
parish, and from country to country. The level of the abuse he
perpetrated over decades is especially shocking. And in recent weeks,
other survivors of this priest have come forward to us, both here in the
US and in Ireland."
Anderson, a 63-year-old father of six, was
raised in the Lutheran faith and is anxious to point out that he "has
nothing against" the Catholic Church.
"My enemies say that I have a
desire to bring down the Church, but that is not the case at all. It is
the hierarchy of the Church and their response to the abuse of children
that I fight against. I have absolutely no problem with the theological
view. In fact, two of my children from my first marriage were brought up
in the Catholic faith."
He says he has a strong sense of spirituality which was fostered during a recovery programme to help his alcoholism.
"And I derive great strength from the courage of survivors of clerical
abuse. They are extraordinary people whose willingness to take on an
enormous, powerful institution is incredibly inspirational."
As a
high-profile, media-friendly lawyer, Anderson says he has long ruffled
feathers.
"They say I'm doing this for the money, for the fame" -- for
the record, he operates a no-win, no- fee policy and it is reported that
he takes between 25 and 40pc of settlement winnings -- "they throw all
kinds of accusations at me. I never set out to be an attorney who would
specialise in this area -- very few people imagined there was such an
endemic problem of clerical abuse within the Catholic Church back then
-- but now I feel it's my calling to represent people who have endured
sexual abuse."
Although some might question his desire to bring
the Vatican to book, believing it to be an exercise in futility,
Anderson refuses to back down.
"Nobody had sued a diocese before we did
it in 1983/84 and we were successful. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
claims to have sovereign immunity because he is a head of state and not
just head of the Catholic Church. But I believe he is a potential legal
witness."
Anderson contends that Benedict, in his former capacity as leader the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, refused to defrock the notorious Wisconsin
abuser Fr Laurence Murphy when the case came before him in the
mid-1990s. Murphy is alleged to have abused more than 200 boys in his
care between 1950 and 1975.
The Vatican has defended that
decision, saying the case reached Rome only in 1996, two years before
Murphy died.
Church officials also say Murphy had repented in a letter
to Ratzinger, and that the case's statute of limitations had run out.
They decry criticism over the case as an effort to smear the Pope.
If you have been a victim of clerical abuse, you can consult Anderson Olivarius at www.aoadvocates.com