Ten more Catholic Church sexual abuse lawsuits have reportedly been filed against the Diocese of Brooklyn, bringing the total to 44 since New York passed the Child Victims Act.

The ten lawsuits were filed Sept. 9 in Kings County Supreme Court. A number of clergymen are accused of sexually abusing the plaintiffs when they ranged in age from 8 years old to 17 years old.

The assaults purportedly occurred between 1952 and 1982, and the accused include priests, brothers, and a Catholic school teacher. ABC News reports that seven of the eleven alleged perpetrators are presumed dead, and the whereabouts of the other four others remain a mystery.

The Brooklyn Diocese previously released the names of 112 “credibly accused” pedophiles. Four of the clergymen named in the ten new lawsuits were also on the Brooklyn diocese’s original list. A recent independent investigation identified 200 alleged Catholic Church sexual abuse perpetrators.

The state’s Child Victims Act provides a one-year look-back window, which is a grace period for anyone whose allegations of sexual assault expired due to the previous law’s statute of limitations, or because of the age of the victim. The look-back window opened its filing period on Aug. 14. Even after the expiration of the one-year look-back window, the law now provides child victims of sexual assault to file civil lawsuits until age 55. Previously, these victims only had until age 23 to do so.

Catholic Church Sexual Abuse No Longer a Secret

Victims of sexual abuse often harbor the secret for years because they fear retaliation, not being believed, having to relive the horrors in court or self-blame or denial. In the event the victim is a child, the predator is known to the victim 93 percent of the time, according to statistics provided by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

The damaging effects of child sexual abuse don’t end when the abuse ends because victims are four times more apt to abuse drugs and to experience PTSD than adult victims. Child victims also are three times more likely to suffer major depression compared to adult victims.

One victim, Tom D., now 61, said that when he was a child in the 1970s, he was abused by Monsignor Otto Garcia. Tom said he kept that secret to himself for more than 45 years because his parents were very active in the church, and he didn’t think he would be believed. Tom said he finally came forward after his parents died, but that the Brooklyn diocese dismissed his accusations. Tom has filed a lawsuit against the diocese.

In September 2018, The New York Times reported that the Brooklyn Diocese agreed to pay $27.5 million to settle sexual abuse allegations made by four men who claimed 67-year-old Angelo Serrano, a religion teacher at St. Lucy’s-St. Patrick’s Church in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, abused them between 2003 and 2009, when the boys ranged in age from 8 years old to 12 years old. According to the Times, Serrano abused the boys in various locations, including inside the church, Serrano’s apartment behind the church, and at a church-affiliated after-school program.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.