#Tyler whetstone knoxville news sentinel archive#
It is not clear how long he has been a member of the Diocesan Review Board.īoth Stika and Phillips were listed as members of the board in 2020 after Jane Doe told people she had been sexually assaulted, according a list of board members viewed in the internet archive Wayback Machine. Phillips has been the lawyer for the diocese since 2010, according to his online resume. In a statement, diocesan spokesperson Jim Wogan said, “the diocese is confident that no conflicts exist under the facts of the case.” Review board is a problem, activists say “This is the reality when you have an institution who perpetrated and enabled abuse for centuries acting as the primary ‘investigator’ into these cases. Obviously, there is a clear need for independent investigations by law enforcement agencies in every case like this."īoth the diocese and Phillips declined to answer a list of questions about the board, Stika and Phillips’ involvement with it and potential conflicts of interest, other than to say Stika is not a member and his inclusion as a board member was an oversight. “Although the board may want to appear as a neutral investigator, their interests in reviewing these sexual abuse cases seldom overlap with the best interests of the abuse survivor,” she wrote to Knox News in an email. There’s likely nothing illegal about Ward’s placement on the board and his role as lawyer for the diocese, she said, but it could be a conflict of interest. Weiss is an attorney at New York City’s James Marsh Law firm, which has expertise in abuse lawsuits against the Catholic church.
bishops that they've turned a new leaf when it comes to abuse," said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of, an online public library of information about the Catholic clergy abuse crisis.
It is a worst practice, one that mocks the claim by U.S.
"When a diocesan attorney belongs to a review board, the board forfeits its credibility. It shows a major conflict of interest that throws doubt on the board’s work, they told Knox News. And experts in accountability say it's alarming that Ward Phillips, the diocese's lawyer, is on the review board. There's no way, however, that sexual assault victims seeking help would know it was an error. The diocese says Stika was mistakenly listed as a member and is not on the review board. Mary's Catholic Church, groped her while he counseled her after the death of the father of her infant. Jane Doe is a placeholder name in the lawsuit to protect the identity of the woman, a Honduran asylum seeker living in Gatlinburg who says the Rev. What’s more, the diocese’s lawyer also is a member of the review board, meaning the same person is simultaneously defending the diocese and conducting what's supposed to be an independent investigation into the allegation. Yet against the norms of the Catholic Church, Stika was listed as a member of the review board that investigates allegations of sexual misconduct within the diocese. The knowledge went all the way to Bishop Richard Stika, the leader of the diocese. When Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville earlier this year, diocesan leaders had known for nearly two years about her account of being sexually assaulted by a priest.
0 kommentar(er)
