Has Maine Fought Catholic Sex Abuse?

by Leslie C. Griffin^*

I am waiting for the Maine Supreme Court to decide a case about sexual abuse and the statute of limitations [SOL].¹ Statutes of limitations are rules that explain when the courts are open or closed to victims of abuse. I am particularly interested in the implications of that court’s decision for Catholic institutions, which have long practiced and hidden the sexual abuse of children in Maine.

For a long time, across the country short SOLs kept many abuse survivors from having their day in court. States are finally opening their courts to victims of abuse, recognizing that it does not make sense to give a child a year or two to file the suit and then close the courts to him or her forever.²

Maine expanded its statute of limitations in the 1990s for child sex abuse cases.³ Today, there is no criminal SOL for misdemeanor or felony sexual offenses of victims under 16 years old. There are, however, other SOLs for victims over 16. In 2000, the state abolished the civil SOL for child sexual abuse claims, but did not make it retroactive for claims that had already closed.⁴ Maine recently changed its statute of limitations again. In 2021, Maine made its statute abolishing the SOL retroactive. This “revival window” opened numerous lawsuits.⁵ The new window “never closes.” ⁶

The constitutionality of this window is before the Maine Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments about it on November 9, 2023. The court consolidated thirteen cases filed since the 2021 window opened into one case about the statute’s legality. We might learn from Maine how much courts can accomplish when they remain open. Or we might find out how victims are harmed when judges decide that the courts must remain closed and therefore unwilling to confront the wrongdoing of abusers.

In light of this upcoming decision, I explain Maine’s background law on child sexual abuse, and then consider the arguments the state court is hearing for and against the legislation’s constitutionality.

Who Is Coming to Court Today?

Many cases were filed after Maine opened the new window to older cases. Forthcoming in Maine are many new clergy suits.⁷ The first paragraph of one story from January 1, 2023, says “Thirteen lawsuits have been filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland so far this year, all alleging the church failed to stop priests and other employees from sexually abusing children.”⁸ The Berman and Simmons law firm has filed about 25 abuse suits since the statute of limitations changed.⁹

The following are among the cases filed under the new SOL window.

Arthur P. Craig, Oblates of Mary Immaculate [OMI], ordained 1955, was sued in a lawsuit in December 2022 against the OMI for abuse of a 4- to 8-year-old girl who lived in an OMI orphanage.¹⁰

John J. Curran, who was ordained in 1927 and died in 1976, had one victim testify in a legislative hearing that Curran had abused him. Lawsuits filed in June and December 2022 were for his abuse of boys in the 1960s. ¹¹

Eugene Descombes, a Canadian who worked summers in Maine, was ordained in 1932. The local bishop learned in 2021 of an allegation of abuse against Descombes in the mid-1950s, which was substantiated by a diocesan review board.¹²

Archbishop Peter Gerety was accused in a March 2021 lawsuit of assault of a girl in 1976.¹³

Raymond J. Lauzon, ordained in 1955, settled a number of abuse cases in the past, including 18 plaintiffs. He was accused in 2022 of abusing a boy in 1970. ¹⁴

Angelo B. Levasseur was accused of abusing a teenage boy in a hotel room they shared during a summer trip in the 1990s. He had given the boy, called John SB Doe, alcohol. Levasseur died in 2009.¹⁵ Doe sued the Maine diocese in February 2023.

Brother Shawn McEnany, of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, pled guilty in 1988 to unlawful sexual contact and got two one-year suspended sentences and one year’s probation. In 2018, he was accused of sexual assault against a girl in 1994. ¹⁶ A hearing on that charge was scheduled for 2020, but was delayed due to COVID.¹⁷

Michael L. Plourde, ordained in 1976, was on leave in 1994 for 1976 abuse of minors. He underwent laicization in 2008. In December 2022, two brothers sued the diocese for his abuse of them while they were altar boys, 10 and 12-years-old. ¹⁸

Lawrence A. Sabatino, ordained in 1955, was sued for numerous rapes of girls. He worked with supervisor Joseph Romani. A lawsuit was filed against the diocese in December 2022 by Ann Allen, born Ann Marie Burke, and more lawsuits were filed in March 2023. Sabatino died in 1990.

There are six civil complaints against the Diocese of Portland for Sabatino’s abuse of girls 5-11 years old in Lewiston and Portland from 1958 to 1967. In 1958, the diocese had moved Sabatino to another church instead of doing anything about his abuse. The cases argue that the church hid abuse from the state in order to protect itself.¹⁹

Patricia Harkins Butkowski named Sabatino as her abuser 20 years ago but could not sue because of the statute of limitations; Theresa Day, Feliciz Quatrano Ham, Mary Greene, and two unnamed plaintiffs joined Butkowski. Following the change in the statute, the case now proceeds.²⁰

Ray Shorty, “accused of abuse at a Portland rectory,” is the source of yet another lawsuit against the Portland bishop and diocese under the changed statute of limitations.²¹

Sister Mary Geraldine Walsh, who died in 1973 at age 86, was sued in December 2021 for sexually abusing a second-grade boy in 1957-1958.²²

Edward F. Ward, who died in 1997, had charges for behavior abuse in 1966. ²³ He was accused in December 2022 of sexually abusing a 9-year-old altar boy.²⁴

Four members of the Penobscot Tribal Nation have filed complaints against the Portland Diocese for sexual abuse. Three were abused between 1972 and 1979, when they were between 7 and 12 years old. The other was abused at age 16 in 1987. The priests were Marcel Robitaille, David Paul Cote, and Leo James Michaud. ²⁵

Six men sued the Portland Diocese in August 2023. Robert Rossignol was twelve when John Audibert abused him in Washburn. Glen Witham was 14 when John Harris abused him at Rumford Boys’ Home. Harris abused Witham while Witham was grieving his mother’s death. Those two are joined by four anonymous plaintiffs in suing the Portland Diocese for knowing about their sexual abuse and concealing it. The abuse took place between 1954 and 1988 across the state. Their attorneys have filed 30 suits since the statute changed. ²⁶

Audibert had been removed from active ministry in 1994 and 2002 for earlier reports of abuse. He was defrocked in 2006. Another man says he was abused by an unnamed nun, and later by Antonio Girardin. Girardin was also know for earlier abuse. Another man alleges abuse by Clement Thibodeau in the 1960s, when the boy was 12 years old. An anonymous woman says she was abused by Sister Helen McKeough when she was 7 years old and McKeough was principal of her school. That woman says she was later abused by David Cote. ²⁷

The diocese continues to challenge the law opening the courts to the survivors. ²⁸ That is why I am waiting to hear from the Maine Supreme Court.

What Will Happen to Their Cases?

Whether these cases go to court or end is now in the hands of the Maine Supreme Court.²⁹ The Diocese of Portland opposes the expansion of the SOL retroactively. They say the legislation was a violation of due process because it destroyed the church’s vested legal right to immunity from liability. Because they had that legal right in the past, they argue, it is unconstitutional for the legislature to take it away.

This question of the church’s vested rights has been litigated recently in Louisiana. The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled on March 22, 2024, that the Louisiana legislature had violated the property rights of the church by applying the SOL retroactively. But the court reheard the case, and ruled on June 12, 2024, that the state’s legislature acted constitutionally when it expanded the SOL so that more survivors could sue their abusers in court.³⁰

In Maine, the survivors’ lawyers argued that the SOL is a procedural right, not a substantive right, and that the church had no vested right arising from a change in the SOL. They said Maine courts had never discovered the existence of a vested right in such circumstances. Finding such a vested right would undo everyone’s attempts to bring justice to abuse survivors, keeping them out of court and allowing the abusers to enjoy a vested property interest in abuse.

The survivors argue that the change in law applies to all perpetrators, not just the abusers. The Diocese of Portland, of course, disagrees.

We wait to see what the Maine Supreme Court will decide.