Showing posts with label Catholic Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic Church. Show all posts

Friday, November 14, 2008

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: November 14, 2008

BBC: A visitor runs by a painting of US President-elect Barack Obama dressed as Uncle Sam by Russian artist Farid Bogdalov at a gallery in Moscow.


Much gnashing of teeth over the number of former Clinton staffers being hired by Obama. I am perplexed. Who else should he hire? Former Bush administration staffers? Or naifs to Washington who would have a huge learning curve? The best source of experienced Democratic operatives for the White House are obviously the vets of the Clinton Administration. It's not like there a lot of people around from the Jimmy Carter (1976-1980) Administration to tap.

To infinity, and beyond! Obama will YouTube his weekly radio address, starting this weekend. This makes total sense. Not a lot of people listen to the radio anymore, compared to the audience getting their news online. I only ever heard the weekly radio address if I happened to be driving somewhere on a Saturday. Now I'll post it on this blog weekly. I bet the audience multiplies by more than 100-fold.

George W. Bush is such an international joke that world leaders are using him as a punch line. Sarkozy capped an argument with Putin during the Georgia crisis in August: "But do you want to end up like Bush?" Putin's response "Ah - you have scored a point there."

Republican governors not to happy with the Palin press conference yesterday. Governors trashed her anonymously to CNN: "One called it awkward: 'I’m sure you could see it on some of our faces.' Another Republican governor eyeing a presidential run in 2012 told CNN the event was 'odd' and 'weird,' and said it 'unfortunately sent a message that she was the de facto leader of the party.'"

The Catholic Church continues to drift towards religious extremism. A Catholic priest in Columbia, South Carolina has advised his parishioners that no Catholic who voted for Obama should receive communion. If he wants to empty the pews, he should ban parishioners who practice birth control. That would get rid of 80% of the faithful.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Harassment Pays: $830,000 Plus Benefits

Thanks for the Benjamins, Sean-o, now I can buy some more bling

I've litigated outrageous sexual harassment cases against large employers and never once have I seen such a large settlement for an employee without years of litigation, and often trial. And always with a blanket confidentiality clause so the employee can never ever speak out about the harassment. But for a harasser? Snap, done. This just sickens me.

Boston Globe: Caritas head ran out of options

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and the Caritas Christi Health Care System board had voted to fire the Caritas president for serial sexual harassment, but left him the choice of resigning with 10 months' severance pay, about $830,000, and agreeing not to sue the archdiocese.

Brian McGrory, columnist, Boston Globe: Ignominious outcome

If Robert Haddad gets a near-million-dollar payout from the Boston Archdiocese after being a serial harasser and unmitigated boor, how much more might he have earned for being an exhibitionist or something worse?

If he committed an actual felony, would he have gotten the full $3 million he initially sought from the Caritas board?

You could just about fill an airplane hangar with all his female subordinates who say that Haddad, ousted president of the Catholic healthcare system, groped them, kissed them on the mouth, called them at home to ask inappropriate questions. And that's his big sanction: 10 months of his already bloated pay, more money than most normal people will make in 20 years of work.

Where, it might be time to ask, is the sense in that?

The lawyers, of course, give their stock lawyerly replies. They say these cases are complicated, that sexual harassment allegations inevitably end up as he-said, she-said kind of deals, that hours of depositions would have to be taken, that victims are made to feel uncomfortable, that court time adds up, that the outcome is always at risk.

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But just imagine if someone in this case, anyone, had a scintilla of spine.

Imagine if Cardinal Sean O'Malley stood at a bank of microphones yesterday and acknowledged his own mistake in failing to grasp the gravity of the situation from the start. Imagine if he announced that, on second thought, he decided to fire Haddad without giving him the chance to resign.

He could have said he doesn't negotiate with such demeaning cads as Haddad. He could have said he listened to the advice from his battery of lawyers, but ultimately decided that he had to take a larger stand. He could have said that if the Catholic Church can't put morality before convenience, then what institution in this city would or can?


In response to the inevitable question over what he'll do if Haddad sues, O'Malley could have simply replied, ``Let him."

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O'Malley wouldn't even have to point out that it was his own $400-an-hour lawyers at Ropes & Gray who didn't think Haddad's behavior was a dismissible offense and that one Ropes & Gray lawyer, Stephen B. Perlman, even likened Haddad's behavior to ``effusive, friendly warmth that is nonetheless unwelcome."

Thank you, Ropes & Gray. Where does the line form to get more of your advice?

This is the article from the AP that is being printed around the country, with my comments in italics:

WaPo: Clergy Victims Angered by Handling of Case

BOSTON -- For victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Boston Archdiocese's initial handling of sexual harassment allegations against its top health care executive had a familiar ring: multiple allegations, minimal consequence and secrecy.

"There are extraordinary and painful parallels," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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The initial decision to reprimand rather than fire Haddad was criticized by some clergy sex abuse victims, who said they felt O'Malley sought to protect Haddad just as church officials for decades protected priests who sexually abused children.

O'Malley was installed as Boston's archbishop in July 2003, seven months after Cardinal Bernard Law resigned amid intense criticism of his role in moving priests who had been accused of abuse from parish to parish instead of removing them.

"The fact that this man was not immediately terminated makes me wonder ... whether they've learned anything over the last four years?" said Gary Bergeron, who was molested by a priest in the 1970s in Lowell.

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O'Malley sought the advice of three outside lawyers who are experts in employment and sexual harassment law. One lawyer found that although Haddad's conduct was illegal and improper, it "was not of an exceptionally egregious nature," according to the archdiocese. [The only male of the three lawyers thought it was nothing. O'Malley credited the one male lawyer's opinion over the opinions of the two female lawyers. Surprised?]

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Employment attorneys, however, said it's not always clear-cut how to discipline an employee accused of sexual harassment.

"What constitutes what we call hostile environment? Is a hug sexually harassing? How many hugs does it have to be?" said Nancy Shilepsky, a Boston employment lawyer not involved in the Haddad case. "There are gradations. Some activities are clearly on one side or the other, but there may be some that may be more in the middle." [Nancy Shilepsky started out as an employee's lawyer, but now she's with a big firm and represents employers This comment is meant to influence all her future jury pools. I'm sure it makes all her corporate clients happy to see it in print. I remember seeing Nancy Shilepsky speaking at employment law seminars fifteen years ago when she didn't think sexual harassment was so .... ambiguous. Sheesh.]

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Dr. Haddad Resigns With More Than $800,000 Severance Package

Dr. Perv and his enabler

Gee, I'm filled with pity, he gets 10 months of his over $1,000,000 annual compensation as he slinks out the door.

WaPo: Mass. Roman Catholic Hospital Chief Quits

Boston Globe: Chief of Caritas forced out
Haddad quits after board votes for firing


Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and the leadership of the region's Catholic health care system early this morning forced the resignation of the hospitals' president, Dr. Robert M. Haddad, over allegations that he had sexually harassed several women.
Article Tools

At around 1:30 a.m., after a five-hour meeting of the hospital's board of governors, the archdiocese said that Haddad had resigned from the positions of president and chief executive of Caritas Christi Health Care System.

The archdiocese said that the hospital's board had voted to fire Haddad but offered him ten month's of salary and benefits if he resigned instead. His compensation is believed to be worth more than $1 million a year.

The Globe offers a weaselly article in the Business section claiming sexual harassment is filled with ambiguity. They quote several employment lawyers, all of whom are defense lawyers. This is the equivalent of writing an article on environmental laws while quoting the attorneys for Dupont, Dow Chemical and Halliburton.

This article on the ambiguity of sexual harassing behavior is written as the sidebar to a case in which a man is accused of sexually harassing at least 14 women and perhaps more. The harassment consisted of offensive and unwanted touching including hugging, rubbing them on the back, and kissing on the lips (ewwww); sexual innuendoes, calling them at home late at night, and asking them about their sex lives. There's nothing ambiguous about Haddad's behavior. That's why the attorneys who investigated the case for the Diocese, Drinan and Musiker (the former head the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination) believed he should have been fired when they knew about 4 complaining women. Now there are 14+. A completely unambiguous story. Gray areas, my ass.

Gray areas complicate sexual harassment cases

I prefer the Herald's take:

Margery Eagen, Boston Herald: Church still coddles creeps (subscription wall)

Now for the archdiocese’s latest cross to bear: the alleged winking, leering, back-rubbing, body hugging and mouth kissing workplace sexual harasser, Dr. Robert Haddad, the million-dollar man who has run the Catholic Caritas Christi Health Care system.

Will these deviants never go away?


Previous posts: Dr. Haddad Getting The Hook (May 24, 2006)

The Catholic Church Never Learns (May 23, 2006)

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Dr. Haddad Getting The Hook


From private reprimand to quick exit: Dr. Robert Haddad is being ushered out the door of the Caritas Christi Catholic Hospitals, with a nice little severance package, because rich men always get money on their way out the door. Wonder if the 14 women who've come forward with allegations will get a little something extra in their paychecks? Of course not.

Boston Globe:

Caritas chief negotiating departure

The head of Boston's Catholic hospital system, facing a cascade of accusations that he sexually harassed female employees, will leave his job, participants involved in the process said yesterday.

They said that whether Dr. Robert M. Haddad resigns or is fired as president of the Caritas Christi Health Care System depends on whether he will accept a severance package that Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley can publicly justify for someone accused of serial sexual misconduct.

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The cardinal, according to one adviser, was taken aback by Haddad's statement to the Globe, reported yesterday, that he ``never acted inappropriately" with the four women, even though he had accepted the reprimand for behavior that the archdiocese characterized as sexual harassment.

Lebanese-Americans scoff at explanation of behavior

``This is harassment," said Wally Zainoun, a Newton business owner gathering up oranges and olive oil. ``I don't like that, saying because he is Lebanese, he is kissing his employees [on the lips]. Why is it because he is Lebanese? It's part of our culture to show our warmth with kisses. I don't see a problem with that. But no. Not on the lips! That's unacceptable, whether you're Lebanese or Chinese or whatever.

Eileen McNamara: Dangerous patterns


Haddad's misconduct, which he has characterized as nothing more than effusive friendliness, was such an open secret that Helen G. Drinan, the executive vice president for human resources at Caritas who argued unsuccessfully for his immediate dismissal, received a bouquet of flowers this week from the nurses at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton.

``Thank you for standing up for the women," read the card.

Steve Bailey: Where was the board?


Previous post: The Catholic Church Never Learns (May 23, 2006)

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Catholic Church Never Learns

Robert M. Haddad, MD, President/CEO, Caritas Christi Health Care

They just don't take accusations of sexual misbehavior seriously. You'd think after paying out millions for the priest pedophilia scandals, they'd have learned a lesson, but no. Sunday the Boston Globe reported that the head of the Catholic church's hospital system in Boston, Dr. Robert Haddad, was privately reprimanded for sexual harassment of several female employees, despite a hospital board recommendation that he be fired. Why did they recommend he be fired? There were four women complaining, and there had been prior complaints about Haddad, for which he was warned against any further harassing behavior. Today's article in the Globe says Haddad even lied to investigators about the prior reprimand.

Once the story hit the papers, women started coming out of the woodwork with their own stories of harassment by Dr. Haddad. The count of new complaints is put at 'over 10'. Haddad gives the old 'cultural differences' defense; do men in Lebanon talk about sex with women who work for them? I don't think so.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley is the Vatican's man; he has continued to run the Diocese of Boston as Cardinal Law did, with an iron fist and a deaf ear to the laity. Why do you think they made him a cardinal three months ago? He protects the hierarchy -- even the lay hierarchy -- and to hell with the parishioners. Close their churches, the churches built with the weekly donations of the faithful. Protect the priests, not the innocent children. Cardinal Law and Cardinal O'Malley are the poster children of a broken institution.

Boston Sunday Globe: O'Malley reprimands Caritas chief


Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley last week decided to privately reprimand Caritas Christi Health Care System's president, Dr. Robert M. Haddad, for multiple instances of kissing and other physical touching involving four women employees, despite an investigation by senior Caritas Christi officials that concluded that Haddad should be fired, according to internal documents and e-mails obtained by the Globe.

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One of those stunned by the decision to rebuke but not dismiss Haddad is Helen G. Drinan, senior vice president for human resources at Caritas, who sent an e-mail Thursday to the board members in which she declared: ''I know what will befall this organization when the public learns that the Church in Boston has once again put the powerful predator ahead of the powerless victim."

In a May 8 letter to O'Malley, Drinan said Caritas had ''always" fired other employees who have engaged in similar behavior.

She also advised him that both she and Jean Musiker, an outside lawyer who was brought in to conduct an independent inquiry, concluded that Haddad violated federal workplace law, as well as the written sexual harassment prohibitions of Caritas Christi, which operates six hospitals and has 12,000 employees.

Drinan, who fielded the initial complaints about Haddad from women employees, elaborated on Haddad's behavior in an e-mail to members of the Caritas Christi board of governors on Friday, a day after they endorsed O'Malley's decision.

Haddad, she wrote, ''hugs subordinate female employees, kisses them on the lips, rubs them on the back, calls them late at night, and asks them about matters that are highly personal to them."

She also said that, even during the course of the investigation, Haddad continued to behave inappropriately, citing a report from Peter Holden, president of the Caritas hospital in Methuen, that Haddad ''was observed to be winking and leering" at one of the four women complainants a week earlier.

Boston Globe: Caritas chief faces new accusations

Haddad, who had previously declined to comment, issued a statement yesterday through his spokeswoman, Nancy Sterling, saying he was committed to continuing as president. He said that the behavior for which he was sanctioned was merely an extension of the Lebanese culture in which he was raised, and has been misinterpreted.

``In my Lebanese culture, hugs and kisses among men and women are not only expected, but warmly given and received," he said in the statement. ``So I was stunned to learn that some of my actions may have been misinterpreted; at no time was I aware of making anyone uncomfortable. And although I have never acted inappropriately, I deeply regret causing anyone any discomfort."

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Meanwhile, in a reflection of simmering tensions within the archdiocese, Bishop Richard G. Lennon, who was O'Malley's vicar general until he became bishop of Cleveland last week, issued a statement saying that O'Malley removed him from two joint Caritas boards just hours before last Thursday's vote. Lennon, according to several people he has talked to, had strongly urged that Haddad be dismissed, and would have made that argument to the governing board.

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The Globe yesterday interviewed a female former Caritas Christi manager who has not filed a complaint. She said that when she met Haddad several years ago, he made sexual innuendoes in a casual conversation with her about her husband, which he then repeated in several subsequent conversations.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Church Has A Lot to Hide

Outing Cardinal Egan
A priest's lawsuit alleges the Catholic Church is hiding pedophile clergy—and offers a stunning reason why


Who knows whether Cardinal Edward Egan is sleeping soundly these days. But as head of the New York archdiocese—as the top Roman Catholic prelate in the state—he'd have every reason to be restless after the recent advent of a little-noticed lawsuit.

The suit, now pending in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, was filed on December 13 by Bob Hoatson—a 53-year-old New Jersey priest considered a stalwart ally among survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. Hoatson, the now-suspended chaplain for Catholic Charities in Newark, is suing Egan and nine other Catholic officials and institutions, claiming a pattern of "retaliation and harassment" that began after Hoatson alleged a cover-up of clergy abuse in New York and started helping victims.

But that's not all his lawsuit claims. Halfway through the 44-page complaint, the priest-turned-advocate drops a bomb on the cardinal: He alleges that Egan is "actively homosexual," and that he has "personal knowledge of this." His suit names two other top Catholic clerics in the region as actively gay—Albany bishop Howard Hubbard and Newark archbishop John Myers.

I was raised in a Catholic church, but this whole sex abuse scandal has led me to despise the church and its hierarchy. The cover-ups, putting pedophiles back into churches where they have contact with children, the utter hypocrisy. Now the church is on a witchhunt against gay priests. Gay priests aren't the problem. Pedophiles are the problem. Gay bishops who let pedophile priests prey on children to avoid being outed are a big problem.

And the Vatican installed our own pedophile enabler Bernie Law in a private apartment in Rome. Sickening.

Here's Hoatson's complaint, from BishopAccountability.org.