NY- Abuse suits may soon settle against ex-NY Catholic cleric

For immediate release: Thursday, May 8, 2014

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790,[email protected])

Several child sex cases against a Catholic cleric who molested more than 50 kids – and who worked in at least one New York parochial school – are expected to settle soon.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/952352-129/the-final-final-trial-of-edward

We urge New York's Cardinal Tim Dolan to aggressively spread the word about him and beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police.

The cleric, Brother Edward Courtney, belongs to a Catholic religious order, the New Rochelle-based Christian Brothers. 

We urge Christian Brothers officials to explain and apologize for “paying Courtney’s way to earn accreditation as a school principal” and writing “letters of recommendation on his behalf” even after they'd received multiple credible abuse reports against him (according to Seattle Weekly). 

Over two decades from coast to coast, Br. Courtney was a principal, teacher and coach in ten schools (in New York, Nevada and Washington state) and is believed to be living now in Honolulu. We strongly suspect that neither Br. Courtney's neighbors nor his family really know the truth about him, so he could well be molesting kids even now. 

Br. Courtney worked at New York City’s Sacred Heart School from 1957 to 1960 where, according to Seattle Weekly, “he almost immediately began to prey on young boys.” We strongly suspect that he was assigned to other NY area schools more recently. And we strongly suspect there are dozens of his victims in New York who have yet to come forward.

Later in his career, “despite the church’s knowledge of his serial molesting in their schools,” Br. Courtney used “the Catholics’ recommendations to gain employment at public schools” in Washington and Nevada,” according to the Seattle Weekly. 

The newspaper reports that perhaps “within days,” the Seattle Archdiocese may settle with an unknown number of Br. Courtney's victims. 

We hope that settlement will bring some comfort to all of those who were hurt by Catholic clerics who commit and conceal these heinous crimes. And we hope it inspires others who were raped, sodomized, assaulted or molested by church staff to step forward, get help, expose wrongdoers and protect kids.

Many of Br. Courtney's victims are represented by Seattle attorneys Michael Pfau, Jason Amala and Darrell Cochran. Seattle attorney John Bergmann represents/represented Br. Courtney. 

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 18,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell,[email protected]), Barbara Dorris 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])