S2 Ep86: Unsolved Murder of Sister Cathy [Uniting for Survivors]

Maryland Press Conference === [00:00:00] [00:00:31] Hello, friend. Today, Gemma was part of a press conference in Maryland along with Survivor, Donna and Snap, the survivor's network of those abused by priests. Here, take a listen. [00:00:46] We're here today to discuss the need for transparency and access to the Maryland Attorney General's report about sexual abuses conducted by the priests in the Baltimore Archdiocese.[00:01:00] [00:01:00] Following brief introductions of our team and our clients today, Barbara. We'll discuss the goals we hope to achieve, and we will then ask our client survivors an advocate to talk for a few minutes each. After that, we'll have a question and answer period, and then let you get on your way first. Barbara Hart is the head of Grant Eisenhower's civil rights group and represents sexual abuse survivors in litigation and before legisla. [00:01:32] Suzanne Sangre is senior counsel at Granton Eisenhower and is a resident of Baltimore City In a former life, Suzanne worked for the city of Baltimore Department of Law for 12 years. Beth Grant, Is also a Baltimore resident leads the complex litigation department at Grant Eisenhower out of its Wilmington office, litigating complex and coordinated cases nationally. [00:01:57] A significant portion of best [00:02:00] practice involves representing survivors of sexual assault and retaliation claims. Katie Kerner, my law partner, concentrates her practice in representing survivors of sexual and emotional. People, entities and physicians of power over their victims representing clients both here in Maryland and nationwide. [00:02:22] David Lorez serves as the Maryland Director for the Non-Profit Corporation Survivors Network of those sexually abused by priests snap. That is the most active support group nationally and internationally for women and men. Wounded by religious and institutional a. Gemma Hoskins was a student at Baltimore's Archbishop in Keo High School where the abuse was rampant, and where she was inspired by the late sister Kathy Sussick to become a teacher Because of Kathy's influence, Gemma had the [00:03:00] honor of being the 1992 Maryland Teacher of the Year. [00:03:04] Gemma is the central investigative figure in the keep. A Netflix documentary about the murder and coverup of Sister Says Next Step in 1969, and is a published author on her life Experience lead. And finally, Donna Amanda Bush, similarly is a survivor of the horrors of Archbishop Keo. Featured in The Keepers. [00:03:28] Donna believes that the healing process begins with openness and transparency of all. She shared her story publicly in the pages of the Baltimore Summit. [00:03:41] As all of you here and are now aware, the Maryland Attorney General conducted a massive investigation banning some four years on sexual abuse crimes submitted by clergy members in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. This investigation in which our clients cooperated [00:04:00] culminated in a 456 page. The report is what we are here to address today. [00:04:08] Inspired by the Netflix documentary, the Keepers, the Maryland's attorney General embarked on this in-depth review of priests and other clergy in Baltimore who either committed heinous crime of views or shielded sexual predators such that they could be moved from parish to parish survivors of these crimes, including Don. [00:04:32] And others cooperated with the ag and recounted the horrors of their path as a release of the 456 page investigation been considered by the courts. These grave individual, together with our client advocates now seek transparency. They want the report released for themselves and all survivors as part of their class, not only for accountability, but for some modicum of.[00:05:00] [00:05:00] The release of the report validates their story and legitimizes their claim. Only when this is out in the open can the healing truly begin. At Facebook Group that Gemma and others started as a place for KE alumni to discuss the abuse. And Sister Cathy SI's Unsolved death has grown to more than 145,000 members. [00:05:24] This is a testament to not only the breadth of the problem, but also the need for survivors to see, to seek answers and to find so, We anticipate that the report will contain new details about the events at Archbishop Ke High School in the late sixties and seventh. The Attorney General's office itself has asked the courts to allow the release of the grand jury investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore. [00:05:52] However, on November 21st, an anonymous group of people who were named in a report but not accused of [00:06:00] abuse, filed a request that the AJ's investigation not be. Our clients take a picture with that and seek to quote him. To that end, we will be filing our own papers in court today. State law requires that a judge approved the release of grand jury Maturity in general terms are filing today, seeks to assure the transparency of the report. [00:06:25] Our clients want a voice in that discussion. This past Friday, the Baltimore City Circuit Court judge ordered the case. Meaning hearings and motions about releasing the report will not be made public. Accordingly, we will speak about our anticipated filing in general terms only, but our request that our clients have a voice in this process is the effort of what we are here to advocate today. [00:06:54] In its motion to release the report the Maryland A's Office wrote, [00:07:00] because healing is not possible without accountability, and accountability is not possible without transparency, the state moves this court for permission to disclose certain information obtaining via Grand jury subpoena so that the Attorney General 456 page report on clergy abuse in Ireland may be made. [00:07:25] Those words could not be more accurate. Like the ag survivors, their families and their advocates understand it. The Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center on behalf of two survivors has false or filed a motion asking for the full disclosure of the report with no redemption. On behalf of our clients, we support the request of the Maryland Ag and the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center. [00:07:53] Now I'll ask Barbara Harth, the head of Grant and Eisenhower civil rights group to speak for a few moments about our goals. [00:08:00] Thank you, Rob. Thank you for hosting us here today. Hello. Thank you for being in attendance and I echo Rob's sentiment in regard to praising the press coverage of this. It's important that we all amplify. [00:08:14] The balance that we're seeking in both privacy concerns, the legitimate concerns of the grand jury proceedings and the needs of survivors. And we appreciate the press, drawing attention and attending today, it's a tremendous privilege for me to be shoulder to shoulder with our clients. Longtime advocates for survivors sung themselves, survivors, Gemma, David, Michelle, and Don. [00:08:42] Thank you for your work. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for advocating for transparency and accountability. From my work in advocating for survivors for the period of time, since the statute of limitations was lifted in New York State and in other states [00:09:00] where it's been lifted, I have found that for my clients, for survivors issues related to secret, Coverups and lack of accountability are profoundly important to this group of trauma survivors. [00:09:17] These people were robbed of all sense of who to trust when they were very young children. The issue of secrecy that has reared its head in this situation, both vis-a-vis the proceedings and regarding the report has a lot of concerns for this population. My work in this area came about after decades of leading complex financial litigation when I was approached by friends and family related to abuse that some of them had suffered. [00:09:51] Unbeknownst to me, sadly, suicide is the ultimate price for some who cannot call themselves [00:10:00] survivors. Decades of carrying the trauma leads to fatigue and stress constantly on guard, compartmentalizing what happened to them as children in order to go along in life. The stories that I have heard are many. [00:10:20] One of them that echoes in my head is the call from the man who was weeping telling me how he had never told his late. He was in his seventies. She had died years before, and I was the first person he would ever tell. These kinds of stories are not uncommon amongst childhood sexual abuse survivors. It is something that they often keep locked down. [00:10:46] They believe they must carry shame for something that, of course was completely beyond their control. Everything we do in relation to these proceedings and these investigations and in our way of [00:11:00] healing our society in the face of this scandal must be informed by understanding the nature of this trauma. [00:11:08] It's a trauma that shatters trust. It's a trauma that disorients the child. Often they go to people that they love, people that they believe they were brought up to revere and look to and they complain or of confusion as to what's happened to them. And they are disbelieved. They are told to be quiet. [00:11:29] They are denied their. And they are children defenseless in this situation. We need to let that seep into the way in which we approach these proceedings and in the way in which we approach the release of the Jan Grand jury report, indeed, in other states before lifting the statute of limitations. The courts have run seminars for the judges in order to [00:12:00] allow them to do trauma informed presiding over the proceedings in allowing them to come to understand what is unique about childhood sexual abuse survivors and the way in which they may. [00:12:15] Their trauma or the way in which it would inform us understanding why these reports from decades ago need to be released publicly in order to regain trust or why the statute of limitations must be lifted in order to address a secret that has been buried for decades. [00:12:38] We encourage the court to consider the life experiences of these survivors from their childhood faced with denials and accusations, shamed themselves, betrayed by their faith and by the faith that they would be alienating their families from the do, [00:13:00] do not know who to trust. We implore the court and all of us to try to bring compassion to this process and strike a balance so that we can better assure that we will give them comfort and have the sense of being believed and being in a safe space to tell what happened to them. [00:13:21] Our society should no longer tolerate this being in darkness and this being kept a secret. Whose interests are served by such a process, A balance can be struck to assure that the ceiling is not perceived or facilitating a coverup. The survivor's day to be heard is soon to come, and the facts will see daylight. [00:13:50] Whatever balance between privacy, grand jury integrity, and the court's preg. Should be [00:14:00] countered by the survivor's interests and that balance must be sought. The survivor's decade long struggle to be heard is one of tremendous courage. They've worked to conform the law to their, to the heinous crime that robbed them of their childhood and that they've carried for decades through their. [00:14:22] We need to conform the law and the process to this experience that's unique to them, and we need to consider how we can best address the unique experience that they've suffered. It is manifestly unjust that the identified persons in the report be able to keep their identity. It is unjust that they have the report as pressing counts. [00:14:47] Accounts inform us and that the survivors themselves are not permitted to see it. It is also manifestly unjust for the archdiocese to be making statements. Yet [00:15:00] the advocates are to be both deprived of the information and potentially gagged in commenting upon proceed. [00:15:08] We appreciate all of you being in attendance today. We are looking forward to allowing our guests and our clients to be heard and as part of this process. And to that end, I now invite you to speak and take the join. My name's David Lorenz and I'm the Maryland Director for s Survivors Network of those youth by. [00:15:35] This is my mutable statement that I state. I want to take you on a short, generalized experiential journey of what it's like for a child to be totally involved by clergy. The world for a child who is four, 10 or 16 is innocent and often filled with wonderment and product. You have implicit trust in your family, your friends, and especially your [00:16:00] parents. [00:16:01] And when those people review a priest of a cler, That trust is transferred to that priest and even amplified sexual assault, the rape of that child is severely damaging physically, spiritually, and psychologically. And that bond of trust is not just broken with the priests. It's also broken with the family and the friends and the parents who put trust in that. [00:16:31] The child grows and the world went from a place of wonderment to the place of danger. And as the child grow, those fears and senses betrayal, creep into every aspect of their lives. They also turn into drug and alcohol and risk behavior, and sometimes that leads to suicide and sometimes death by overdose, accidental death by overdose at some point during their growth because of all of you. [00:16:59] They come to [00:17:00] realize the deep priests act alone, they weren't enabled and protected by the institution. The young adults sense of betrayal and lack of trust broadens to even a larger group. It's now just not the priest, not the, it is the world. They fall into despair and they believe that there can be no judge, and when circumstances work against them victim, this victim has random acts, which occurs on a victim. [00:17:27] You just have a bad. That victim internalizes it and they feel even more alone and more isolated. They have learned the world is simply not just the Attorney general of Maryland launched an investigation into this coordinated criminal activity, and finally the victims start to feel that justice may actually occur. [00:17:50] They tentatively reveal what has happened to them to a complete stranger. [00:17:56] I want each of you to imagine your [00:18:00] deepest, darkest, most intermittent secret one that you're completely ashamed of, and then having to go tell that to a strangers because that's the right thing to do it. That's what victims have to go through. You do it because other victims have told you to go do it, and you're believing that. [00:18:21] Maybe the attorney general will bring some judges and you wait four long years. Every month you hope that maybe this is the month that the report will come out. And finally, you read that the attorney General has completed the report and some of the details being reported validate your experience and perhaps you believe that the world had some modicum of justice and that begins to grow in. [00:18:47] Then suddenly and inexplicably, that same institution that enabled the priest attempts to stop the relief without report in the most underhanded and devious ways. [00:19:00] All during this time, this same institution stands up at Sunday, bully pulps and makes proclamations of how transparent they are, how they eight victims, and how they treat them. [00:19:11] They claim to follow the God for Jesus of the. But they turn their backs on the lepers of the day, lepers that they infected. In my opinion, there can be no lower moral stance than the one being taken by the diocese of Baltimore. What would justice look like? It would look like the church taking total and complete responsibility for their crimes. [00:19:34] They simply don't do this. Their offers of financial support for health problems comes with significant strain and limit. The Bishop claims that he will meet with any victim in his office with all the clerical trappings on his flight around him. These people are afraid of those clerical trapping. How is this empathy? [00:19:58] The bishop should be standing [00:20:00] outside the residents of each victim begging to let him apologize to them. What organization do you know that says, yeah, we've committed a crime, we raped your kid. You can come to our office and we will apologize. There is no other organization that I can think of and I'm ashamed for the Diocese of Baltimore and for all the Catholic Senate. [00:20:21] Thank you all for being here and regardless of what media venue you represent, I'm going to assure you, I know people, right? So I'm gonna assure you that this press conference will go viral on all seven continents by midnight, okay? I'm here today because I am an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse. [00:20:44] You already know I have a big voice and I am honored today to use that voice, especially that for those who have not yet found their own. For the last four years, I have had the honor to [00:21:00] facilitate the contact between the Attorney General's criminal investigator and those individuals whose childhoods were stolen by clergy assigned to the archdiocese of B. [00:21:14] Most of the individuals who contacted me were terrified [00:21:18] with the criminal investigator, Richard Wolfe. We developed a process whereby I would loop them into an introduction with him and be part of an email. Once the contact was made with Richard, he would take over from there. He met with survivors by phone, virtually on Zoom at Panera Restaurant. He had survivors come to his office if that was convenient. [00:21:51] He also traveled hours in and out of Maryland to talk to survivors of clergy abuse. [00:22:00] Whose abuse happened in the Archdiocese of Baltimore? [00:22:05] Richard did his job and he did it well. We all put a lot of pressure on him. He was very gracious with us. What we thought was an intentional stall was him doing his job thoroughly. And comprehensively with ultimate confidentiality. [00:22:25] Now the, now those brave people who in spite of their fear, put their names and faces to their stories, they are faced with the reality that in the eyes of the archdiocese, they are once again less important than their perpetrators. Individuals were named by those survivors who reported to the Attorney General, not only as abusers, but those who were complicit in the abuse, who [00:23:00] turned away, remained silent, destroyed records, or who handed a 13 year old. [00:23:10] Teenage girl. A damn hall pass to go to see the devil in the chaplain's office. Now those cowards are being represented by lawyers hired by the archbishop who's paying the legal fees for the survivors. [00:23:33] I'm gonna ask you to think about that [00:23:38] those who were named excuse me. My lesson plan, I'm a teacher, . The First diocese in the United States is now responsible for almost 100 years of clergy abuse, but for the first time in history, the [00:24:00] world has come together in agreement that must, that we must stop the insa. There's been no event in history where more people have agreed on the same thing, not nine 11, not the Kennedy assassination, and for Pete's sake, not even global warming. [00:24:20] So right now there are hundreds of thousands of people waiting for me to post that this doc, that this press conference is gonna be available for them to watch. The Archdiocese never bargained on the hundreds of thousands of world citizens who viewed the keepers in 125 countries in 25 languages you would not believe number of survivors who came forward from every corner of the globe. [00:24:54] We are not a work of fiction as the archdiocese would like you to believe. We [00:25:00] are a tribe of truth tellers and warriors for justice. I'd like to conclude my remarks by addressing William Lori directly. You could have been a hero by exposing all the wrongdoings by clergy pedophiles who were assigned to the archdiocese of B. [00:25:23] You could have been a hero by addressing their friends, some in very high places, read between the lines and often in very low places that neither you or I would step foot in. But instead you turned away, you chose to fall silent, and you chose to protect your criminal. But the mighty army I represent here today is relentless. [00:25:50] We will not go away, sit down, or shut up. And most of us believe, sir, that you need to resign. Thank [00:26:00] you. Thank you gentlemen. Appreciate your comments. Go. I don't really have a statement to say, but I come today with my friends who died because of secret. From the diocese, from secrets from the Priest sending abusers, and I Wouldn have the, [00:26:23] that's all. [00:26:28] That I, you have questions or I just wanna be clear that we've done a lot of things. There was the energy needs to. And then you have there's another ruling that should be single. And then Arch DI says, we don't have a problem of his saying they need get me hired some lawyers. So what is it that you will ask for today? [00:26:53] As the court filing? We'll be filing a motion to intervene so that we'll become [00:27:00] parties to the proceedings. And then once granted, Standing within the proceedings, we are going to seek to have the report released. We want public disclosure of the report. What does that entail? That the public would get to see all of the materials within the report. [00:27:22] You all would get copies on that. It would be for public per. When you say we are filing the most important, yes. Everyone assembled here. So the advocacy groups and the actual clients have retained us and we will be filing at chambers today papers in support of the public release. First we have to file, it's lawyer stuff, but it's motion for intervention. [00:27:48] So that we are before the court. And then once before the court, if the court grants the intervention, we are then saying, based on the vested interests of the [00:28:00] group of clients we represent, we seek bold disclosure for reasons similar to those we've set forth here. But given the gag order that the court has issued, we will not be publicly releasing our papers. [00:28:14] Okay. It's separate from what? Between Wayne and there already filed, but the same kind motion to intervene? Yes. And why are you doing it separately? We were retained by our clients, and we believe that the more voices, the more strain we know we're stronger together. Many commerce you. We have, snap has retained us and Donna has retained us, and I have, has, Gemma has retained us. [00:28:49] Why Michelle Snap has retained us. So individuals in your own group, the organization, and an organization who are [00:29:00] standing up and filing this motion. That is not the totality of people that we are consulting with, but for today's purpose. Those are the people who are standing behind this motion. The Catholic church. [00:29:10] know, They say publicly that they're not gonna block the leases of good for, and they're paying fees of these anonymous folks. Do you feel like it's an uphill battle finally, church still in this endeavor as far as the transparency issue, no matter what you do as far as in legal sense to get this done, that maybe you're fighting something, an unwinnable battle. [00:29:30] Do you feel that at time? No. We don't fight. Feel that we're fighting an unwinnable battle. We're fighting a long battle, but it is not unwinnable and the characterization of what you just described in relation to the church taking a public position where it's leaning into its compassionate posture. [00:29:51] And the teachings that it espouse that many of us were raised with is definitely jarring when you experience how it is to [00:30:00] litigate against the church in individual cases or in regard to getting the statute of limitations lifted within the legislatures. We know many children cannot come to terms with speaking their truth about what they experience. [00:30:15] For decades, the law needs to recognize that truth and our, the statute of limitations. When you go to law school, you're taught statute of limitations is about certainty, and that entities can move on. So you put a time limit on things so defendants can move on. We need to strike a different balance in the reality that survivor. [00:30:39] Take a long time to come to terms often with speaking about this fifties, sixties, and seventies and older, I have clients who have never told anyone, and it's horrific what they've carried. So the contrast between the public position and the reality of what the [00:31:00] church often does is stark when you experience. [00:31:05] The reconciliation programs are an effort to keep things cordial and quiet. Often, [00:31:12] the people who are anonymous, the people who are remain anonymous, not be name anymore. What could be the purpose of that if they're not accused of being sexual? We could only speculate given the fact that we don't know their identities. So that's a concern, right? That's not the world in which we live. [00:31:37] We don't wanna throw out theories about it. What I was trying to suggest is that if you're a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and it's been in the shadows for decades, you have a basic distrust for secrecy and darkness. And we in the words of justice Brande sunshine is the greatest disinfectant. [00:31:58] And did I, but. I said it better. [00:32:00] Oh, okay. . There you go. In any event it could be that they facilitated, it could be they observed, it could be that it's a survivor who does not wanna be identified. We don't know. And we respect that some survivors won't wanna be identified. We're talking about striking a balance. [00:32:22] A balance that recognizes that the survivors distrust secrets. So this may, you all are just adding to the platform to release is document public. Just as your coverage of this issue amplifies the need for transparency, so does our filing. And if I could just add to that, the Attorney General's motion, as reported in the press, seeks to disclose its report [00:33:00] redacting the 13 names of the newly church official who are identical to the facilities in the Attorney General with report. [00:33:10] And so those names are redacted from what the Attorney General. To disclose to the public, and we support the attorney General in its motion to disclose with those redactions. And I would just note speaking on that theme of the hypocrisy of the position that Arch Lori has taken in statements to the press, He says he's, that archdiocese is paying for lawyers for some or all of these, 13 because they have been named, but they are not accused of sexual abuse. [00:33:48] The Attorney General's motion, as reported in the press states that they have been naming as perpetrators of sexual. Could I [00:34:00] also address the question that you had about the anonymous group? Just from my personal experience in talking to survivors who they think I'm like Dr. Lawyer, everything, and I'm not, I just know where to send them, right? [00:34:12] So they get in touch with me. Their stories included many people who were complicit or who facilitated the abuse. For or with, or about a perpetrator. I've talked to some of my friends and we said we could spend the next two hours naming all those people. It's not gonna be a surprise to me who they are. [00:34:33] I, my first reaction was, since they know who they are now, they probably headed on down to the airport and they're in the Caribbean, or they've gone somewhere, they're not gonna hang around and. Huge numbers, like lots and lots of people who knew about this and who facilitated or observed, could it be the alleged enablers that are seeking to maintain their [00:35:00] privacy and does it concern you at all that they wouldn't have had their day in court, so to speak? [00:35:06] To defend themselves? He could be. We don't know because the filings are secret. And so we don't know what their purpose is, but they have not, their, what the ag seeks to disclose in its report is not their needs. They have not been exonerated. They have been named as perpetrators. And we have also asked in our I was sticking to Midwest. [00:35:35] I'm sorry. Yeah enablers can be accessories to. And so they might be indictable as well. And we hope that we are asking the court also to refer the ag report back to the standing grand jury to investigate and make recommendations about what indictment should issue. So there's no statute of [00:36:00] limitations for the that remains to be seen. [00:36:04] We haven't seen the report, so we can't make that kind of analysis at this point, but that's something that the standing grand jury or the incoming attorney general or the incoming city state's attorney is certainly well qualified to analyze and we hope that indictments will issue. So who would fill in on report? [00:36:24] Apparent. My understanding is that the attorney Jet's office, the court and the ADONs of Baltimore, and apparently these 13 anonymous. Some of whom have, are represented by Greg Bernstein and William Murphy and have filed a motion, a sealed motion. They at least know enough about the report to know that they are implicated in it. [00:36:55] So that they have filed a motion. We don't know if they've actually seen the report itself. Yes, [00:37:00] we agreed the juxtaposition of them having access to it and the survivor's not if I'm reading your face correctly. It's deeply troubling. So that is only up How is [00:37:13] you're asking us? That's precisely the question that we're asking the court to address are [00:37:24] and 13 people who are remain anonymous can see it. Correct. But the victims cannot. That is correct. Exactly. It doesn't make any sense at all. So you're giving the people, so they're giving the people who allegedly committed the crimes information so they can start defending themselves. Somebody asked a question earlier about that I feel like we were a losing battle against the [00:38:00] church. [00:38:00] And I have to say, based on what you just said, yes, that was my initial reaction. As I said, we've lost another one. That was, I just dropped in and that's what I wanted to say when I was reading from this. We dropped in and felt just okay, it's happening again. We're getting screwed one more time by the church. [00:38:17] They have the report. We don't, you don't even know how to fight it. And, but when the survivors are discouraged, then it's time for their lawyers to. Cheer them on. And that's what we, that's what we do. And the survivors are often discouraged because they have not been heard often since they were children. [00:38:37] The numbers of stories of little boys going into the confessional and confessing to the priest something he thought he should be ashamed of, and being thrown out of the confessional, being called a liar. Not once. This. These, this is so where did they turn? There are many discouraging days in this journey, but [00:39:00] failures not an option, as they say. [00:39:03] For all of us, our society cannot accept this. Would you also want to the archdiocese to stop paying these fees as well for these anonymous folks to give up? They say what they mean, that they don't, that they don't want to influence this process that they should have off completely. [00:39:20] Let's vote . We, I think there's a tension, obviously people are entitled to legal defense. I personally, I think we agree that the archdiocese should not be supporting it. On the one hand, when they're advocating, they're saying that they don't have a problem with public disclosure, but then they. [00:39:42] They're helping the people who are trying to prevent the public disclosure. Even though as Suzanne said, the Attorney General has afforded protections and made certain redactions, so that information is going to be, is not all the information will be public. What will be public are the names of [00:40:00] the individuals that the attorney general. [00:40:03] That there were credible allegations against and have named as perpetrators. So we don't believe that the archdiocese should be supporting any endeavor to further silence the survivors who cooperate in this investigation with a lot of personal pain. That was entailed and having to relive their memories and not having access now to the product. [00:40:27] That was the fruit of this investigation. While the archdiocese apparently has had it for weeks. It's just manifestly unjust and perhaps it goes without saying, but we paid for this. You all paid for this report. These are Maryland PET dollars, right? That, that came forward, that funded the people who did this investigation, who printed it, who copied it, who worked on it. [00:40:55] We are entitled to see it just as anybody else should be entitled to [00:41:00] see something that's publicly publicly funded, available with respect to you need to one report out to hold people accountable to your employment. Getting in on that, when you're thinking about where we are as a country, what the acceptance of like world concent Houston what is a victory for you all when it comes to changing in the arch? [00:41:24] I believe Baltimore going on with my city where you don't know what's happening right now, let alone the sixties. And thanks to a documentary on the Netflix, which I've. What does that, what does accountability look like moving forward to be proactive in preventing these things from happening and calm these people out and we transparent way. [00:41:44] Do you wanna speak to that? How much time do we have ? That's a big one. All you gotta do is wind me up. You guys know that. Can I wanna say something to that. We live in a new society. We want everyone. To be healing [00:42:00] everyone to come forward and receive help. That needs help, and that's why I am here today. [00:42:08] Now what we need to happen as you asked. We need a lot of education. We need parents to have really tough conversations with their little children about being alone with adults they don't know or that they're not comfortable with. And I'm a teacher, so that's a priority for me. We need to make sure that reporting process is well in place. [00:42:30] I tell people, do not call the archdiocese. You call the Attorney General's office. You call 9 1 1. You get yourself an attorney and a therapist. We need indictments that's gonna speak volumes because some of the, some of these people are still living these perpetrators. There are 13 priests that are still living who abused children. [00:42:55] And I've talked to people who were abused when they were three years old [00:43:00] and they remember it like it was yesterday. Movies made with them in blindfolds with teenage boys. You're, you have no idea the horror stories. So we need indictments, we need arrests. We need charges. We need convictions, and we need incarcerations. [00:43:17] And the archdiocese has said that, X number of priests or clergy have been prosecuted. That's not accurate. They've been kicked out of the church or they've had their faculties removed. A few have been prosecuted. One that you know of well was Maurice Blackwell and he appealed and got out and then he went and shot his accuser, Dante Stokes, who's now in prison for that. [00:43:41] So none of this makes sense. There are so many things that have to happen. I think. Right now to make sure the accountability happens with names, trials, places. I don't drive. I live three hours away. You don't think I'm gonna get one of you to come and get me so I can [00:44:00] sit in all those trials. I will be in the first row championing my friends. [00:44:05] So the list is very long about what will make a difference. But this first step that we're all making with this wonderful team, legal team is critical to making that begin. The other thing, as I alluded to I didn't, I said it right to him. We need to have religious leaders who have integrity, and I'm so sick of the word transparency, but we're talking real transparency. [00:44:31] Do you think that this could be first crack at what appear? From my view as a media member and this person who also went to go school this kind of this hard, big structure that is the archdiocese, they take care of and we're gonna keep this things sacred and it really causes this power struggle between religion. [00:44:51] And real morality and this consequence being filled, being belief board and other [00:45:00] people mentioned, it's not that perfect back. Faith and religion are two different things. Okay. I was raised Catholic, I had nuns for 12 years. I don't practice my Catholic faith. , but I sit on the beach every day and I look at the sky and nobody can explain that science can't explain the sky. [00:45:19] That's enough for me. Faith and religion are totally separate. I do believe that this is a really critical move. We've had some the Netflix series was the first big stab at that, and as I said before, This press conference I'm making an audio recording of it. It's gonna go viral in all seven continents, including Antarctica by midnight. [00:45:41] So the archdiocese has no idea what they're up against because we seriously have the world on our side. We are not going anywhere. We are gonna fight this to the end. And I just turned 70. And you know what? If this is how I spend the last quarter of my life, I am honored to [00:46:00] do. We're gonna have one last statement by, so I, David, and then we'll wrap up. [00:46:05] I want to address what you said on a acting level. So on an national level, I think what we need are active change in all of the laws surrounding child sexual abuse. We have statute of limitations, we have statute limitations in, in Maryland 20 years ago, and most of these people were covered by that, right? [00:46:22] There's not three years. They had three years. You think a child can come forward? We have to change the statute limitation that are ArcHa all the way across the country. We need attorney general investigations not into, not just into the Catholic Church, but into all institutions. We know the Voice Scout did it, right? [00:46:40] So we need to have a and I would like to see a national investigation in like they done in several other countries like Australia, Ireland, and Germany. Where they've done a national investigation into institutional child sexual abuse, and those are the kinds of things on a national level that need to be done. [00:46:58] That's what that would look like. [00:47:00] All right. We'd like to thank you all for coming. We're gonna hand out a press release that we have or Beth will give you a copy of layout. Certainly if you have any questions, you can direct them to me or any one of the attorney members here. We thank you for your time today. [00:47:14] Thank you for coming and look forward to seeing you. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you. [00:47:20] [00:48:00]