The FAQyMe Gene Archive: A Depository of Historic Child Sexual Abuse Data
In the Public Interest by Child Abuse Survivors and their Advocates in their Pursuit of Justice, Recognition, Recovery and Redress.
<< First
< Previous Current Page "1146" Next
>
Last >>
Article Category: 2007 September
Lawyer calls priest in sex abuse suit 'sociopathic'
Description: Lawyer calls priest in sex abuse suit 'sociopathic'
Article originally prepared on : 19 September 2007
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18824271&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576&rfi=6
Lawyer calls priest in sex abuse suit 'sociopathic'
NEW HAVEN - A New Haven lawyer said the priest implicated in a clergy sex-abuse lawsuit filed in August against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford was "one of the most sociopathic abusers" he has dealt with as an attorney.
The suit, filed in Superior Court in New Haven, alleges that the Rev.Ivan Ferguson, now deceased, sexually abused a teenage boy from New Milford for about a year in the late 1970s. According to court documents, the alleged victim's mother worked at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in the Tariffville section of Simsbury in 1977 and 1978, when the abuse was supposed to have taken place.
The lawsuit states that Ferguson befriended the 16-year-old and, while his mother worked, took the boy upstairs to his second-floor bedroom in the rectory and repeatedly sexually abused him.
The lawsuit also claims that Ferguson threatened to fire the boy's mother if he told her about the abuse.
The New Haven Register does not identify the victims in most sexual abuse cases.
Thomas M. McNamara, the attorney for the alleged victim, said he has at least one more sex-abuse lawsuit coming up that involves Ferguson when he was a priest at a Catholic church in Derby, and has had cases against Ferguson in the past. McNamara said the archdiocese actually sent Ferguson away for treatment after receiving complaints about him, and yet he still ended up serving at a church in Derby.
The lawsuit states the archdiocese knew or should have known that Ferguson "posed a danger to minors" at the time and that it was negligent and reckless in failing to prevent the abuse.
In a recent phone interview, McNamara said the pastor of St. Bernard's in the late 1970s witnessed Ferguson bringing young children up to his bedroom on numerous occasions and did nothing about it. He also said another priest in the area was told of the allegations against Ferguson at the time and failed to act.
In 2005, the Hartford Archdiocese reached a $22 million settlement with 43 alleged clergy sex abuse victims. That settlement stemmed from abuse claims against 14 priests.
McNamara said his law firm handled 16 of those cases, including two against Ferguson. He declined to give an amount being sought in the new case, but said it was "a lot."
"(The victim's) life would have been significantly different and that is worth significant compensation," he said.
The Rev. John Gatzak, director of communication for the Archdiocese of Hartford, said he could not comment specifically about the lawsuit, but expressed sympathy for victims of sexual abuse in general.
"It's a reminder to pray for the victims of abuse and to strengthen our determination to do all that we can as a church within society to make sure we protect our children and young people," he said.
Gatzak said the Catholic church has taken steps in recent years to protect children from abuse including requiring priests, teachers and diocese employees to go through background checks and special training.
Abbe Smith can be reached at asmith@nhregister.com or 789-5615.
If you wish to keep this article alive in the Internet Archive simply click the link below.
Click here to add this page to the Internet Archive
<< First
< Previous Current Page "1146" Next
>
Last >>
Select from these TFYQA archives
Contact us if you have data you want to preserve.
Tell others, share this page on : X | BlueSky | Mastodon.Social | Strangeminds.Social | Facebook
Find us on X.com || New ID on Facebook || BlueSky || Mastodon.Social || Strangeminds.Social
trauma
informed human
rights justice failed
institutions UN Convention
on Human Rights Rights of the
Child and a Bill of Rights for Australia future evidence resilience not
providing or representing a secular Australia autodidact
Hegemony: The authority, dominance, and influence of one group, nation, or society over another
group, nation, or society; typically through cultural, economic, or political means.
. 
If you found this information to be of assistance please don't forget to donate so that we can
extend these resources to more survivors. These pages are focused on preserving survivor relevant information. Information is not provided as legal or professional
advice; it is provided as general information only and requires that you validate any information via
your own legal or other professional service providers.
You can directly support my work at here
Were you like so many others born into a constitutionally
protected God based death and rape culture?
Copyright The FAQyMe Gene
© 2022.
