Denver Catholic

12 SEPTEMBER 22-OCTOBER 12, 2018 | DENVER CATHOLIC The clergy sex abuse scandal revealed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report has shaken the Church to her core. It's left many faithful Catholics questioning not only their own faith, but also the leadership of the Church and whether or not such a scandal could occur in their own dioceses. I n an e„ ort to be as transparent as possible, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila launched a webpage last week (archden.org/promise) to speak to the people of northern Colorado about the current crisis and share in comprehensive detail how the Arch- diocese of Denver has been and will continue to be diligent in addressing any alleged sexual abuse of a minor by clergy. Scott Browning, a partner at Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, has represented the Catholic Church in various cases for 25 years, including, but not limited to, the Archdioceses of Denver, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis. In this candid interview, Browning shared some of the fi ner details of the history of cases that have arisen in Denver over the years and how they were addressed, and shares his professional opinion on where the Archdiocese of Denver, and the Cath- olic Church as a whole, stands when it comes to protecting children. DENVER CATHOLIC: How long have you been representing the Catholic Church, and what kinds of cases have you worked on? SCOTT BROWNING: I've been representing the Church since 1993, for 25 years now. My work includes many types of legal issues, from real estate and transactional issues to First Amendment issues. During the start of my career, my work for the Church was very similar to my work for my corporate clients. In 2005, that signifi - cantly changed and I was called upon to defend against clergy abuse claims here in Colorado. DC: What happened in 2005? SB: There were two cases alleging sexual abuse in Colorado prior to 2005, and both those cases were quickly dis- missed by the courts. After the Boston scandal broke and the Catholic bish- ops from across the country gathered in 2002 and developed the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People, there were a large number of cases fi led around the country in many dioceses. In late 2005, two national plainti„ s' law fi rms fi led a series of cases in Colorado and we were soon facing 45 lawsuits and an additional number of unfi led claims. The cases were based on allegations against fi ve priests, all of whom had died. The cases of alleged abuse occurred from the 1950s to 1982, and almost all of the alleged wrongdoing took place in the 1960s and 70s. DC: How were the cases addressed? SB: The archdiocese focused on the victims and worked to heal them without litigation, if at all possible. In a then-unique program, the archdio- cese created an independent Outreach Panel to consider all claims and o„ er the victims help, including money for therapy and other needs. The panel was comprised of distinguished profession- als — a retired judge, a rehabilitation specialist and a police chief. Victims, and their attorneys if they wanted, could meet with the panel to describe their abuse and the resulting impact, and the panel would then recommend a monetary award to help the victim. The archdiocese's attorneys did not participate in those meetings or the panel's deliberations. This program was intended from the outset to be an exercise in caring, not part of the plain- ti„ s' lawsuits. Victims were also invited to meet with Archbishop Charles J. Chaput for personal pastoral outreach. DC: What happened after the announcement of the panel? SB: We were able to help dozens of victims, and not just through resolv- ing their cases but through the arch- diocese's demonstration of caring. In a remarkable moment, one of the plainti„ s' attorneys told me about how the archbishop had met with victims and their families, the apologies he made, and the sincerity and sadness he demonstrated in those di‹ cult days. Even that attorney found that the pro- cess was positive for his clients. It was meaningful for me personally to see how this issue was handled — as part of the Church's ministry. DC: Were all the lawsuits resolved? SB: Through the work of the Outreach Panel and additional private media- tions, all of the lawsuits and claims were resolved by 2010. Notably, in a 2008 editorial, the Denver Post described the process developed by the archdiocese as an "honorable way to address abuse," and noted the steps that the archdio- cese had taken since the early 1990s to minimize the chance of abuse occurring in the future. DC: What has happened in the arch- diocese since then? SB: Since then, we have had a few allegations against priests and laity involved with the archdiocese, but those have been immediately reported to law enforcement to be properly handled. Because of this response, and the work that has been and is being done by the archdiocese to protect children, there really is no basis for a civil lawsuit. It is impossible to eradicate sexual abuse in society. And, in the last few years it has become very public that sexual abuse is a societal problem. Sexual abuse and abuse of power is prevalent in fami- lies, in youth-serving organizations, in youth sports, in private and public schools, in every part of life. It is a deep sadness and something that needs to be addressed society-wide. I know that every organization is at risk of having a sick or troubled person try to hurt young people, and every organization's charge is to be vigilant and, if an inci- dent happens, report it immediately. DC: Why do you think we have had so few cases over the past 30 years? SB: As a community we had the good fortune to have Archbishop (now Car- dinal) J. Francis Sta„ ord leading the archdiocese in 1986 to 1996. We now know this was a very di‹ cult time for bishops all over the country as they struggled with what to do with the problem of abuse in the Church. We have seen examples of bad decisions in the media. Cardinal Sta„ ord is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He implemented comprehensive sexual misconduct policies and created a "con- duct response team" with lay advisors to address lay and priest sex abuse In Depth BY AARON LAMBERT aaron.lambert@archden.org Q&A: Lawyer shares history of clergy sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Denver Q&A with SCOTT BROWNING

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