For immediate release:
Saturday, September 27, 2008

“Nuns Molest Too,” Say Three Victims

Their Cases Against Catholic Religious Order Are Settled

For Decades, Nun Molested Girls in Illinois, Minnesota & Nebraska

Victims Prod Others Who “Are Suffering in Shame and Silence” To Come Forward

It May Be the First Time Several Victims Have Sued for Crimes by One Pedophile Nun

WHAT

Distributing fliers outside a Catholic church, three women will

--speak publicly about the child molestation they suffered at the hands of a Chicago Catholic nun, &

--strongly plead with others who were assaulted by nuns to come forward, expose predators and protect kids.

The three just settled their civil child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits against the religious order of the nun who abused them.

WHEN

Saturday, Sept. 27, 11:00 a.m.

WHERE

Outside Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State Street (at corner of Superior) in Chicago

WHO

Three victims and a the founder of a nationwide support group for clergy sex abuse victims called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org) and a few supporters

WHY

Sr. Benen Kent was sued for repeatedly sexually abusing three girls in the mid-1960s at St. Juliana’s Catholic School in Chicago and elsewhere. According to their civil lawsuits, Kent’s supervisors knew Kent suffered from mental illness and had behaved questionably with children. Yet church officials moved the nun and let her continue to work around kids.

The victims, now in their 40s and 50s, include two sisters who are letting their names be used publicly: Christine Bertrand of Sierra Madre CA and Karen Britten of Highland Park IL. The third woman is anonymous.

All of them believe sexual abuse by nuns is far more widespread than Catholics realize and want to encourage others who’ve been hurt by Catholic sisters to break their silence and start to recover.

Their suits were filed 2005 and 2006 in Olmsted County (MN) District Court, in part because Kent  belonged to a Rochester MN-based religious order called the Sisters of St. Francis. A judge tossed out Britten’s case because of the statute of limitations, and last year the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld that decision.

Kent, who was a music and piano teacher, died in 2003 at the age of 85.

Two of the women were also abused at the order’s headquarters in Minnesota. All were represented by Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson (651 227 9990, 612 817 8665 cell).

http://www.startribune.com/local/29748154.html?page=1&c=y

VISUALS: Victims have childhood photo of them with the nun.

CONTACT
Barbara Blaine of Chicago, SNAP Founder and President 312 399 4747
David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP National Director 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home
Jeff Anderson, of St Paul, Attorney for the victims, 612 817 8665