Sex Verdict Against Church: $119 Million

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas and a defrocked priest were ordered Thursday to pay $119 million to 10 men and the family of a suicide victim who were molested as altar boys, in what is believed to be the costliest sex abuse judgment ever levied against a church.

The jury award ended an 11-week civil trial in which the church was accused of covering up the conduct of a pedophile priest, Father Rudolph “Rudy” Kos. The men also accused church leaders of gross neglect for assigning Kos to serve at three Dallas-area parishes over an 11-year period ending in October 1992.

“This is by far and away the biggest judgment we have ever heard of,” said Bill Ryan, a spokesman for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.

Sylvia Demarest, an attorney for the men, said she hoped the jury’s action would be a wake-up call to the church, which has been confronted with abuse allegations across the nation in recent years.

“We hope the message is being heard by the bishops of the United States, of the world--including those in Rome--that this kind of abuse must stop,” she said.

The men who filed the lawsuit were 11 to 18 when Kos allegedly assaulted them. The parents of one former altar boy, Jay Lemberger, said the repeated molestations drove their son to kill himself in 1992. He was 22, living in Denver and confused about his sexual identity.

Jurors awarded the victims $101 million in compensatory damages and an additional $18 million in punitive damages. Lemberger’s parents were awarded $19 million.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Nancy Lemberger, his mother, said after the judgment was announced.

Dallas Bishop Charles V. Grahmann called the entire episode “an unfortunate experience” and underscored the church’s commitment to continuing to assist the victims in any way possible. The 10 men are now 18 to 31.

But the bishop said he hoped the acts of one priest will not become an excuse to “defame the many fine priests” in the diocese.

He said the church is considering filing an appeal.

Kos, 52, who now lives in San Diego and is not serving as a priest, did not appear at the trial and was found liable. He awaits a criminal trial in cases involving two children.

Sexual-abuse watchdog groups called the verdict a turning point.

“I hope it says that, finally, the upper echelons of the church are being held responsible for the cover-ups, the transfers, the denials,” said David Clohessy in St. Louis, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

During the 11 years he served in the Dallas area, Kos repeatedly sexually abused boys during their formative adolescent years, according to court testimony. There also were allegations that Kos gave the boys alcohol and diazepam, commonly known by its trade name, Valium, which is used chiefly as a muscle relaxant and to alleviate anxiety.

Attorneys told the court that some of the altar boys developed severe alcohol and drug problems, which persist for some.

Attorneys for the men painted a picture of a church that repeatedly ignored “a mountain of evidence” pointing to Kos’ aberrant behavior, at least some of which was known to the church before Kos became a priest.

Jurors also were told that before Kos became a priest, he sought an annulment from his wife before a church marriage tribunal. Windle Turley, another attorney for the former altar boys, said Kos’ ex-wife told the tribunal at the time that he was attracted to boys. Moreover, Turley said Kos’ first application to Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas, in 1976 was rejected by the outgoing rector, who noted his “instability.”

In his closing arguments, church attorney Randal Mathis said leaders of the diocese were “good people” who had only made a mistake when they concluded that Kos was innocent of the accusations made against him.

Mathis called Kos a “smart, manipulative person.”

“The diocese clearly was wrong, but at the time it was making what it thought were appropriate, fair and reasonable judgments,” he said.

The Dallas diocese may not be covered by insurance. Its carrier dropped its coverage for sexual abuse cases several years ago, according to Tom Economus in Chicago, executive director of Victims of Clergy Abuse Link Up.

Turley said he had heard insurance companies were denying such coverage. But he added he had no doubt the money would be paid.

“We’ll collect it from the diocese,” he said. “They have lots of money.”

For years allegations of sexual abuse involving Catholic priests have dogged the church, forcing the nation’s bishops to take notice as victims stepped forward with their stories of abuse and the scars it had left on both their emotional health and religious faith.

In Santa Barbara, allegations surfaced in 1993 that 34 boys at St. Anthony’s Seminary had been molested by 11 monks over a 23-year period ending in 1987, when the seminary closed for financial reasons. At the time, the provincial minister of the order publicly called the findings a “terrible truth” and “horrific.”

In Long Beach, a priest was accused of molesting boys over two decades. In 1996, he faced criminal charges of assaulting five youths while assigned to five Southern California churches, but the charges were later dismissed by a judge who said the statute of limitations had run out. The priest killed himself in January.

“It’s a problem perpetrated by a few sick men and a large number of unresponsive leaders--frightened, paralyzed leaders who haven’t exercised leadership,” Clohessy said.

In an unprecedented letter to the nation’s bishops, Pope John Paul II in 1993 called priestly pedophilia a “scandal.” He said it had undermined the trust of the people and damaged the morale of priests.

Not long afterward, the pope agreed to an urgent request from U.S. bishops to speed up the church’s internal process for removing offending priests. The churches, as required by law, are supposed to also report allegations of sexual abuse to law enforcement authorities.

Since 1992, the bishops have taken a series of steps aimed at providing quick assistance to victims, including psychological and spiritual counseling.

Ryan, the U.S. bishops’ spokesman, said Thursday that all 190 Catholic dioceses in the United States now have policies and procedures in place to deal with sexual abuse.

Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S. Catholic Conference, had previously said payouts for all abuse allegations up to 1994 amounted to $60 million, not including legal and medical fees associated with the cases. The bishops’ office said Thursday that Chopko has not updated that figure.

Jason Berry, author of a book on pedophile priests, said he believes the figures have climbed considerably.

In his 1992 book, “Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children,” Berry estimated that the church had paid $400 million in settlements. Berry said Thursday the latest estimates are as high as $650 million.

After the Dallas trial’s closing arguments ended earlier this week and jurors were sent home for the day, District Judge Anne Ashby took the unusual step of taking off her robe and addressing the plaintiffs personally.

“I’ve been so close to your tragedy it just breaks my heart,” she said. Throughout testimony, she said, she felt that “everybody in this courtroom has been grieving. . . . You’ve been horrified. You’ve been hurt.”

Stammer reported from Los Angeles and Hart from Texas. Contributing were correspondent Paul Levikow in San Diego and the Associated Press.