Sex abuse claim targets Lasalle’s past
Former student cites trauma as teenager
Albany’s Lasalle School is the target of an expected lawsuit made possible by the recent passage of the Child Victims Act, a new state law that extends the statute of limitations for victims of decades-old child sexual abuse.
Steven Narbon, a teenage orphan, says the Rev. Joseph Romano repeatedly abused him while volunteering at the school for troubled youth run by the Christian Brothers, a Catholic religious order.
“It’s a struggle for me not to kill myself,” Narbon said in
an interview. “You feel worthless. You feel damaged.”
The Christian Brothers declined to answer specific questions about Romano, but Philip De Rita, a spokesman for the order, stressed that Romano was not a member of the Christian Brothers, but rather a diocesan priest who was assigned to work with troubled youth at the Lasalle School between 1981 and 1984. (Albany’s Lasalle School is not affiliated with the La Salle Institute, a private Catholic prep school in Troy.)
“We are deeply concerned with any misconduct that could involve one of our sponsored ministries — no matter the circumstances or how long ago the abuse may have taken place,” De Rita said.
Mary Deturris Poust, a spokeswoman for the Albany Diocese, noted that Romano was permanently removed from ministry in 2003 by then-bishop Howard J. Hubbard following two credible allegations of sexual abuse received in 2002 and 2003. Romano’s name appears on the diocese’s online list of clergy credibly accused of sexual contact with a minor.
Both of those allegations stemmed from conduct alleged to have occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, around the same time Narbon attended Lasalle.
Deturris Poust declined to address Narbon’s abuse accusation, citing his plans to file a lawsuit. She also declined to say where Romano currently lives, or whether he is still alive. A 2003 press release issued by the Albany Diocese at the time of his suspension noted that Romano strongly denied the abuse allegations.
David A. Wallace, the Lasalle School’s executive director, called Narbon’s allegations “extremely serious and troubling.”
“We only recently learned of this matter; however, we will not dismiss them, but rather will pursue the facts of this 40-year-old matter,” Wallace said in a statement. “We will examine the allegation — and remain committed to all the youth that are and have been part of our campus and community.”
Narbon’s suit is one of two currently planned by Michael Pfau, a Seattlebased lawyer who has represented scores of clergy abuse survivors.
There are more than 170 religious orders operating in New York State — many of them have their national or regional headquarters here.
“I think religious orders, for whatever reason, have flown under the radar — especially in New York state,” Pfau said.
According to data compiled at Georgetown University, almost a third of Catholic priests are non-diocesan, meaning they answer to their own superiors in religious orders.
Pfau is also planning legal action against the Franciscan Friars in relation to alleged abuse committed by Father Luke Rutter, a Franciscan priest who worked at St. Francis High School in Erie County. Rutter was accused of molesting Scott Heldwein, a student who lived in the school’s freshman and sophomore dormitories in the 1980s.
Rutter “would take me to dinners at nice restaurants and all that,” Heldwein said. “The abuse always happened when — I don’t know if he slipped something in my drink or whatever — but it always happened when alcohol and marijuana was involved.”
Rutter died in 2000. Father Michael Heine, a spokesman for the Franciscan Friars, declined to say if there had been other abuse claims against Rutter.
Heine said no current official at St. Francis High School was on staff at the time of the alleged molestation of Heldwein, but once the accusation was brought forward, the Franciscans provided several years of counseling and treatment for the former student.
“The safety and wellbeing of young people and all vulnerable persons is a paramount goal and responsibility for all friars and collaborators of our Province,” Heine said. “Our hearts go out to all victims of abuse, and we pray for their healing and peace.”
The Child Victims Act, signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in February, allows victims up until age 28 to press charges for felony abuse, and up to age 26 to file charges for misdemeanor sexual abuse crimes. For civil cases, the statute of limitations has been extended from age 28 to age 50.
The law includes a “look-back window” that grants past victims of abuse a year to bring decades-old claims in civil court against their alleged abusers. That provision, which drew strong opposition from religious and educational institutions, cleared the way for Narbon and Heldwein’s planned lawsuits.
Pfau said that legal actions brought under the Child Victims Act could push some religious groups into financial collapse.
In 2011, the North American branch of the Christian Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection after a series of multimillion dollar abuse cases in the Seattle area. Many of those claims were filed by Pfau.
“Some of the religious orders are small and they may not have the assets to fully fund the settlements,” Pfau said. “Also, bankruptcy in the Catholic context is often a strategy used by a diocese or religious order to stop bleeding, and more importantly to stop the flow of information.”
But Pfau believes religious order bankruptcies ultimately do little to protect Catholic assets from lawsuits. That’s because religious orders often work in close collaboration with local dioceses, such as making joint decisions in clergy assignments.
That means victims of religious order clergy can generally seek compensation from the diocese, as well.
“Every religious order in New York state falls under the supervision or the purview of one of the Catholic dioceses in New York state,” Pfau said. “The dioceses are always involved on some level and sometimes very, very involved.”
Chris Glorioso (Twitter: @glorioso4ny) is an investigative reporter with NBC New York. See more of his work at www.nbcnewyork.com/ investigations.