Newfoundland victims of pedophile priest frustrated by compensation delays
ST. JOHN’S — Almost two decades after his death, Father James Hickey’s legal and moral legacy lives on in Newfoundland.
There are still a dozen outstanding claims against or involving the notorious pedophile priest, who, in September 1988, pleaded guilty to 20 charges of sexual assault, gross indecency and indecent assault involving teenage boys.
“They’re at a snail’s pace, is what they are,” St. John’s lawyer Greg Stack said of the cases.
His firm represents the 12 victims.
Hickey was sentenced to five years for his crimes and sent to the federal penitentiary in Dorchester, N.B.
His case was a watershed moment in Newfoundland and Labrador, because a high-profile priest had finally been charged.
Other charges against Catholic clergy followed, as did the Winter Commission, a church-led inquiry into the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
Around the same time, revelations that children at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s had been sexually abused by their Christian Brother caretakers surfaced, and prompted a royal commission.
The abuse scandals had the province and the country agog throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Hickey died in 1992.
A number of the boys he preyed upon have sought compensation and many were part of a 1997 settlement.
Stack, the lawyer, said the priest’s victims have had little success since then, even though most had filed complaints against Hickey with the police and thought they would have been included in the original agreement.
“It’s like someone got the reins hauled in on us,” Stack, who began representing Hickey’s victims in February 1989.
Four current cases are before the courts, but no judgments have been made.
In the other eight claims, the victims were found to be entitled to compensation, but the amount hasn’t been determined.
There had been 11 victims in this latter group, Stack explained, but two have been compensated and another is awaiting his money.
Stack said the lawyers are discussing the files weekly, but the process crawls along.
“The legal representatives for the church are certainly dragging this out,” he said. “Why? I don’t know.”
St. John’s lawyer David Hurley is representing the church’s insurer, which is responsible for eight of the claims.
He couldn’t offer a reason as to why the settlements are taking so long.
“We’re hoping to get them all finished this year, if possible,” Hurley said.
The significance of a recently surfaced 1997 letter from the Vatican asking Irish bishops not to report sexual abusers to the authorities is not lost on Stack.
He questions whether Rome sent such a letter to the St. John’s-based archdiocese that year, especially since the settlement of claims has almost come to a halt since then.
“Whether it’s something from the Vatican, we may never know unless we get a WikiLeaks-type letter,” he said.
“If there’s a comparable letter that could account for (the delay in resolution here), I don’t know.”
Stack said the slow pace is disappointing for him and baffling for the victims.
“They are very frustrated with it,” he said.
According to Stack, approximately 50 of Hickey’s victims have sought compensation
Some of the claimants who were part of the 1997 settlement have found closure and “have put it behind them remarkably,” he said.
Others who were part of that settlement haven’t been so fortunate, he added, noting that one of them was hospitalized this past year.
“And it’s all psychiatric problems that stem from the Hickey matters. A couple of the victims have tremendous difficulty coping with life, just general life, as a result of what this did to them.”
Stack doesn’t believe all of Hickey’s victims have come forward and he said the length of time it’s taking to resolve claims isn’t going to prompt them to act.
Still, he doesn’t think the slow pace should deter someone who Hickey preyed upon from taking action.
“It depends on the individual. If they’re troubled by it, it does still provide closure to address it,” Stack said.
“It’s saying, ‘I’m not going to let this person get the better of me. I was a victim and I deserve compensation. . . . But I also want acknowledgment that I was a victim. I want the church to be aware that I was a victim.’”
Attempts to reach the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s and its legal counsel were unsuccessful.
sbartlett@thetelegram.com
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