Wednesday, September 19, 2018

IN the NEWS - Brooklyn Diocese shells out $27,500,000

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Genesis 13:13
 
"The diocese of Brooklyn is paying out millions of parishioner dollars to settle additional claims of sex abuse.
 
On Tuesday, the diocese announced it had agreed to a $27.5 million settlement for complaints filed by four young men who allege that between 2003 and 2009, when they were between the ages of eight and 12, they were sexually assaulted by Angelo Serrano, a lay catechism teacher and summer camp volunteer at St. Lucy's-St. Patrick's Church in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Clinton Hill.

According to victims' attorneys, Serrano molested the victims inside the church and at his apartment, located next door in the former parish school building.
 
After one of the boys told his mother about the abuse, police launched an investigation, and in September 2009, Serrano pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual conduct. He is now serving a 15-year sentence at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York.
The abused filed suit against the diocese in 2013, seeking punitive damages; with the case set to go to trial, diocesan officials elected to settle on Tuesday.

The two pastors in residence at St. Lucy's-St. Patrick's at the time, Fr. Stephen P. Lynch and Fr. Frank Shannon, were named as co-defendants in the suit, accused of ignoring clear warning signs surrounding Serrano's behavior."
CatholicChurchMilitant