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The Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of covering up decades of systemic abuse and silencing survivors.
The Archdiocese of Vancouver class action lawsuit was filed by K.S., a woman who says she was the victim of assault at a Catholic elementary school in Vancouver when she was a child.
K.S. alleges that Father Michael Conaghan, the priest in charge of St. Francis of Assisi School, sexually assaulted her when she was an 11-year-old student at the school. The alleged assault was reportedly perpetrated in the 1980s and involved “painful vaginal intercourse.”
Conaghan subsequently intimidated her into staying silent about the assault, according to the Archdiocese of Vancouver class action lawsuit.
“Conaghan told the plaintiff not to tell anyone about the abuse, threatening to have her put into foster care if she did,” according to the class action lawsuit Canada.
Archdiocese “Fostered a Culture” of Misconduct
Tragically, her experience was allegedly not unique and was just one instance of alleged systemic abuse by clergy members, according to the Archdiocese of Vancouver class action lawsuit.
The sexual misconduct class action lawsuit Canada argues that the Archdiocese of Vancouver had known of allegations of systemic sexual, physical and psychological abuse for years. However, it allegedly “fostered a culture” of misconduct and sought to conceal complaints that had been raised against clergy members.
“The Archdiocese was aware of the abuse and allowed the abuse to continue,” the Archdiocese of Vancouver class action lawsuit alleges. “This was especially true in instances of sexual abuse.”
In 2019, the archdiocese released its own report into sexual abuse claims, and named nine clergymen who had been either criminally convicted of sexual abuse or settled civil lawsuits involving allegations of abuse. Conaghan was reportedly not included on the list.
The archdiocese confirmed that K.S. reported the abuse allegations to the office on Jan. 19, 2019 and staff reportedly recommended that she file a police report and seek counselling.
At the time K.S. reported the abuse, the diocese says that Conaghan was no longer active in the church, and that there had been no complaints ever lodged against him.
Lawyer Angela Bespflug says dozens of survivors may be entitled to payment from the Archdiocese of Vancouver if the class action lawsuit is successful.
K.S. alleges the Archdiocese of Vancouver followed the Vatican playbook on how to conceal abuse allegations. She says there was a “policy of silence and secrecy around sexual abuse claims” meant to protect clergy members from punishment.
Until the mid-1990s, anyone who made allegations of abuse against clergy in the Archdiocese of Vancouver were reportedly “required to take oaths of secrecy when making complaints to the Archdiocese.”
Clergy members who attempted to speak out about misconduct by priests were penalized and in some cases excommunicated from the church.
Report: Archdiocese Knew of Dozens of Sex Abuse Cases
In November, CBC News reported that the Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver knew of 36 instances of clergy sex abuse, including 26 cases that involved children, dating back to the 1950s.
CBC News reportedly obtained the results of an internal review of cases of clergy sexual abuse that had been commissioned in 2018 by Archbishop Michael Miller.
The review found that some accused priests were not reported to police but instead moved jurisdictions or sought treatment.
Some abuse victims were reportedly paid money and signed confidentiality agreements. Church officials reportedly were aware of credible abuse allegations against clergy, but failed to share that information with the community.
Vancouver’s Archbishop declined to release the results of the case review, but promised transparency. The review committee made 31 recommendations after reviewing the cases, including that the names of clergy who had been credibly accused of abuse be released to the public.
Catholic Church Plagued by Sex Abuse Allegations
Recently, the Diocese of Quebec was hit with a class action lawsuit on behalf of individuals who had been sexually assaulted by clergy members since 1940. There are potentially thousands of sexual abuse victims who may qualify as Class Members of this sexual assault class action lawsuit Canada, according to the lawyers representing the proposed Class.
Earlier this month, the Superior Court of Quebec authorized a class action lawsuit against Montreal’s Grey Nuns religious order, which included allegations of orphan abuse at the hands of the nuns in charge.
In June, five elderly members of the Catholic teaching order Clerics of St. Viator were arrested over allegations of child sexual abuse that occurred from 1961 to 1989.
On June 12, Quebec abolished the statute of limitations for abuse allegations, noting that it can take decades for victims to identify the trauma and come forward.
What do you think about the Archdiocese of Vancouver class action lawsuit and allegations of systemic abuse? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
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One thought on Archdiocese of Vancouver Class Action Lawsuit Claims Systemic Abuse
I think it’s a crying shame that the present people of Vancouver would have to pay for the misdeeds of someone, which misdeeds were perpetrated 30+ years ago. And make no mistake – it’s the folks in the present who will feel the burden, not the people (and dead archbishop) of that long-ago time.