« Ind. Decisions - "Cell-hopping for sex not an escape, judge rules" | Main | Law - "Public office ban proposed for city workers" »
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Ind. Courts - Documents show church knew of abuse, Indianapolis Star reports
The name "Harry Monroe" has appeared in a number of earlier ILB entries, including most recently this one from April 11, 2008, where a story from the Terre Haute Trib-Star reported:
An Indiana appeals court has given a green light to a civil lawsuit that alleges a former Catholic priest sexually abused a boy and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis covered up the priest’s prior history of sexual abuse.Today Robert King has a lengthy, front-page story in the Indianapolis Star headed "Documents: Church knew of abuse; Allegations were never reported, records show." The story is accompanied by five documents. Some quotes from the story:In a two-page order issued Monday, the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal by lawyers for the Indianapolis Archdiocese.
It gave no reason for the decision.
The defendant in the case is Harry E. Monroe, a former Catholic priest accused of molesting numerous boys between 1974 and 1984 at churches in Indianapolis, Terre Haute and Perry County in southern Indiana. * * *
Archdiocese attorneys claim that the alleged victim of Monroe waited too long to take legal action and that his case should be tossed out.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has admitted that one of its former priests, Harry Monroe, was a child molester.But church officials have never acknowledged they knew anything about the abuse while it was happening.
Now, a host of new documents obtained through a court petition by The Indianapolis Star reveal that church officials knew about allegations against Monroe by 1976 -- early in an era of sex abuse that lasted from 1974 to 1984.
The documents also make it clear that two former Indianapolis archbishops -- the Most Rev. George J. Biskup and the Most Rev. Edward T. O'Meara -- were aware of abuse allegations at the time, never reported them to police and continued to assign Monroe to new parish positions, where he preyed on other children.
The newly revealed records -- coupled with others already public -- show a church hierarchy that twice sought medical evaluations and care for Monroe through a clinic that treated abusive priests from across the country. * * *
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has denied any legal liability in the 13 lawsuits it now faces about Monroe. It says the deaths of key figures in the case -- both archbishops and Brokhage -- make it hard to see the context in paperwork.
Mercer, the archdiocesan attorney, said the records show church officials twice sought treatment for Monroe with the House of Affirmation, which they thought was a "state-of-the-art" facility at the time. Twice, he said, they put Monroe back into ministry after receiving assurances that he was not a threat to children.
Both times, however, that proved to be wrong. More abuse cases followed.
Mercer said it is unfair, on another level, to view people's actions -- or lack of action -- in the 1970s and early 1980s through the prism of today's attitudes about what should constitute a red flag that abuse is occurring. * * *
Even before Monroe returned from California in June 1982, O'Meara gave him his final assignment: as a co-pastor at three parishes in Perry County. Two years later, O'Meara would finally give up on Monroe. Allegations of abuse during this period would arise later.
But neither O'Meara nor any other officials in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis would ever go to police. The criminal statute of limitations expired before the victims came forward as adults. And Monroe was never prosecuted.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 25, 2009 09:04 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts