“In
2002, the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, faced accusations of abuse from
62 individuals. Rather than spending the time and resources looking into the
merits of the accusations, Diocesan officials did not even ask for specifics
such as the dates and allegations for the claims. ‘I’ve never seen anything
like it,’ a pleased and much richer plaintiff attorney admitted.” (Catholic Priests Falsely Accused, p.80).
Thus
is told the chilling tale of how decades-old claims of abuse by Catholic
priests become “credible” to torte lawyers who score windfall profits from
every claim, and Church officials cowered by a scandal-hungry media and the
tactics of vigilante “victim” groups. Catholics disheartened by the sordid
scandal of sex abuse in their Church would do well to read this well-researched
account of how the Church’s tragedy was hijacked by contingency lawyers and
others with nefarious agendas of their own. David F. Pierre tells the sordid
story the mainstream media won’t touch.
It rings of both truth and justice.
Being
very familiar with the trial of one falsely accused priest whose case is
explored in David Pierre’s book, I marvel at the depth of his research and
skill in telling this disturbing story. In succinct and lucid style, the
personal accounts in Catholic Priests Falsely Accused leave the reader with some nagging questions: How did the mainstream media fail to
notice and report the extent of obvious fraud that took place in more recent
years in the Catholic scandal? Why
did entire groups of self-described victim advocates, like SNAP, turn a blind
eye to this fraud and blatantly deny its existence?
David
Pierre goes on to answer these questions, and the answers are part of the
horror of this story. Mr. Pierre here
exposes the sordid agendas of news media personnel looking to disparage the
Catholic Church and “advocates” who have been transformed from the advocacy of
victims to that of contingency lawyers, their ultimate masters. As I have pointed out in other venues, “Greed
ranks right up there with lust among the Seven Deadly Sins.” I
highly recommend Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories.
(Ryan A. MacDonald is a Spero News columnist, and an occasional contributor to These Stone Walls)
