Were You Abused?
If you were sexually abused as a child by a priest, deacon or any other member of the Catholic Church, you are not alone. We are here to help you. Please fill out our confidential online contact form or call Toll Free 1-866-777-2557 and a New Hampshire Sexual Abuse Lawyer will get back to you within 24 hours to discuss your possible case. Help is available nationwide. There is no cost to investigate and there are no legal fees unless you receive financial compensation. Making the call is sometimes the hardest step, but it is often a necessary step on the road to healing. Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyer New Hampshire
Reasons to call
Please call Toll Free 1-866-777-2557 or fill out our confidential contact form and a lawyer will get back to you within 24 hours to discuss your case. New Hampshire Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyer
Parishioners in New Hampshire Reminded of Past Sex Abuse Scandal
Newswires across the world are running stories about the grand jury report out of Pennsylvania that proved the widespread sexual abuse of children and the coverup by the Catholic Church. In August 2018, it was reported that over 1,000 children were subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of priests and clergy over a long period of time. Six dioceses in Pennsylvania were under investigation and the report stated 301 clergy were guilty of child molestation and rape. The numbers are staggering, but this isn’t something new within the Catholic Church. It dates back many, many years.
New Hampshire Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyer
New Hampshire is well aware of what the report in Pennsylvania was all about as they’ve had their own history with high level Catholics providing coverup. Prior to being name as Bishop of Manchester, NH, John B. McCormack was in charge of handling sexual molestation and abuse complaints in Boston under from 1977 until 1996. During an investigation by the Boston Globe in 2002, it was discovered that McCormack had been in charge of scores of priests that were known pedophiles and sexually abusive to children. His response to problems was to mislead victims and at one point he even misled a probation officer.
Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyer New Hampshire
Mass Coverup
McCormack would also send abusive priests to treatment centers that likely didn’t help them before sending them to other ministries which were poorly supervised. Although McCormack fielded numerous valid complaints, never once did he alert law enforcement. His involvement in the coverup didn’t end there. McCormack also planned ways to avoid or mislead reporters and did whatever he could in his power to not release any church documents to the courts. He always sided with the priests and was sympathetic to their plight while professing skepticism of the victims. McCormack also never alerted parishioners when there was a pedophile in their midst, even though his secretary begged him to. Lawyers and clergy eventually called for McCormack to resign, which he refused to do.
New Hampshire Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Lawyer
While in New Hampshire, McCormack agreed to create strict policies about how to handle child sexual abuse within the church and to allow audits by the state’s attorney general of the church’s records as long as prosecutors wouldn’t go forth with criminal indictments. After two years, not one audit had taken place. Without having ever faced legal action for his role in the mass coverup of abusive priests, McCormack retired in 2010.
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