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By Laurie LaGrange
Diocese of Honolulu
April 24 marked the end of an extended six-year window for Hawaii victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits against their alleged perpetrators and their employers, and with this deadline, came a substantial number of new lawsuits. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, along with Punahou School and Kamehameha Schools, were among several organizations named in multiple filings for alleged incidents, most dating back to the 1960s through the 1980s.
With filings dating back an average of 35 or more years ago, most of the accused have passed away, along with potential witnesses. The lawsuits were not really against the perpetrators but against the institutions where they worked, as is the case with the Diocese of Honolulu, or in some cases, a religious congregation of priests, brothers or sisters.
Hawaii is the only state in the nation to re-open its statute of limitations three times. Hawaii legislators first opened a two-year extension in April 2014. It ran through April 2016. The window was then extended from April 2016 through April 2018, and again from April 2018 through April 24, 2020. The legislature was considering a fourth extension when it recessed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bishop Larry Silva addressed these new filings in his Sunday, April 19, homily during his livestreamed Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. In part he said, “Several lawsuits were filed against the Diocese this week by those who say they were abused as children and youth by priests or religious brothers. I cannot tell you how it turns my stomach to read of the abuse these people have suffered; and not only that, but how their faith was damaged by these men whose calling it was to nurture their faith.”
Since the first statute window lawsuits were filed against the Diocese of Honolulu in 2014, the Catholic Church in Hawaii has dedicated itself to handling each case with compassion and respect through mediation, with the ultimate goal of providing each victim with just resolution.
The Diocese has also implemented a number of safe environment programs and procedures at its churches and schools over the past 18 years, including hiring a full-time Director of Safe Environment to oversee and ensure all policies and procedures mandated by the 2002 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People are followed. The Diocese also continues to place advertisements in Hawaii’s local publications offering a confidential hotline and counseling services for victims of sexual abuse.
In his April 19 homily, Bishop Silva went on to say, “Yet when all the lawsuits are settled, when we have done all we humanly can to reach out to those who have been so deeply hurt, it is my fervent hope that these people who were abused will be given the grace to forgive their abusers. Forgiveness does not at all mean that the offense was excusable, or that it should be taken lightly; not at all! But forgiveness is a gift that the Lord longs to give to those who were abused so that they can be set free by his divine mercy. It is only this mercy in the end that can truly heal them — and he longs to do so!”
Laurie LaGrange is a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Honolulu in matters concerning sexual abuse lawsuits.
