Bishop John T. Steinbock

My dear people of God,

We are coming to the end of the lawsuits against the Diocese of Fresno for sexual abuse by priests, most of which took place during the 1950’s and 1970’s. One case dates back to 1936. We had a total of 12 cases against us. Two were dismissed, one was settled without any payment, and five were settled for a total of $2,550,000 dollars of which insurance paid $830,000. As I record this message, we still have the case of Fr. Swearingen pending, who I believe is totally innocent. Two cases were filed in the Los Angeles Archdiocese and are being handled by their attorneys. This leaves one other case pending.

For the five cases settled, apart from the insurance, the Diocese paid $1,720,000, or an average of $345,000 for each case. I want to assure everyone that this money was not taken from parish funds or from Our Faith, Our Family and Our Future Funds. A separate legal entity in the form of a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation was set up to administer the Campaign Funds to provide assurance that the funds are used only for the purposes for which they were donated. This Corporate Board is legally independent from the Diocese and from me, as bishop. The major source of paying these settlements has been the surplus funds we have received through our cemetery operations. I will publish a full, detailed report of all these cases with the annual report for the financial year ending June 30, 2007, in our Diocesan paper at the end of the year.

I, once again, want to apologize to any victims of sexual abuse by priests. Even one case is horrific in the minds of us all. I also want to assure everyone in the Diocese that we are taking every precaution to protect children while they are in the care of the Church. All priests, teachers, youth workers, and anyone, including volunteers, involved with the unsupervised care of children are fingerprinted. We are moving forward in having the Safe Environment Program training in all our parishes and schools. We have a Victim’s Assistance Coordinator, and we have our Diocesan Review Board in place for making sure that we respond to any case according to the Charter of the Bishops for the Protection of Children. Since I have come into the Diocese we have always had a policy of reporting sexual abuse allegations to the proper authorities and have always fully cooperated with law enforcement. And, we have always made an effort to reach out to any victims, offering psychological and spiritual support.

As this letter is being broadcasted on our TV station, I am in the midst of an eight-day silent retreat. I do keep all of you in my prayers during this time. It is a time that the Lord touches me deeply each year to renew my total commitment to seeking his will in serving you, God’s people, and my fellow priests. I beg your prayers for me and ask you to pray very much for all our priests. We are blest so much by so many good, caring, faithful and hardworking priests in our Diocese.

God bless you all as we begin this new year of grace. Happy New Year to all.