Sex abuse lawsuits filed against Florida diocese

National Catholic Reporter, March 17, 1995 by Arthur Jones

Civil suits have been filed against the Orlando, Fla., diocese arising from sexual molestation allegations against two former priests, including a former diocesan official.

Fr. Arthur Bendixen, one of the accused, is a former chancellor and seminary rector. He was twice cleared earlier by official church investigations of sex abuse allegations involving a seminarian in 1992. In separate cases, the possibility of criminal charges against Bendixen are being investigated after five young men met March 1 with officials of the Orange-Osceola state attorney general's office to give statements. A sixth young man is expected to meet with the officials.

The young men at various times in 1994 accused Bendixen of sex abuse during the 1980s. They came to a settlement with the Orlando diocese last year. Details were not disclosed.

Bendixen was chancellor from 1984 to 1991, the year he was named rector of St. Vincent de Paul Seminary, Boynton Beach. In 1992, an 18-year-old student at a Miami seminary alleged that during a missionary group tnp to Santo Domingo that year, Bendixen attempted to seduce him.

Church authorities confirmed that an initial investigation by church authorities cleared Bendixen; three St. Vincent Seminary priests demanded a deeper inquiry. A second inquiry, headed by then Miami Archbishop Edward McCarthy again found no reason for proceeding against Bendixen.

When Bendixen was cleared, the three priests resigned in protest from the staff of St. Vincent, which serves as the seminary for all Florida dioceses.

New charges were leveled against Bendixen in 1994 by young men who alleged sexual abuse when he served in parishes in the Orlando diocese. Those young men are now dealing with the state attorney general's office.

When the 1994 charges surfaced, Orlando Bishop Norbert Dorsey said in a diocesan statement that after the accusations "Bendixen was suspended. He was asked to go for treatment and he refused. Art Bendixen then took a leave of absence from active ministry." The statement said that Dorsey "took the necessary steps to ensure that (Bendixen) would not attempt to minister elsewhere, by informing the proper ecclesiastical authorities. Bendixen now resides outside the state of Florida."

Dorsey has publicly urged "anyone who may have been molested by a priest or diocesan employee to contact the chancellor's office."

The most recent charges against Bendixen were filed Feb. 10 in an Orange County civil suit. A former altar boy alleged sexual abuse by Bendixen for more than a decade, from the time the boy was 13 in 1982.

Later that month, in a message read from most Orlando pulpits, Dorsey said, "I have personally and in the name of the diocese expressed my sincere sympathy to the victims and asked their pardon and forgiveness" wherever possible.

While the civil suit continues in Orange County, the possibility of criminal charges against Bendixen hinges on whether the state statutes of limitations apply.

"And that's a big question," said state attorney general's office spokesman Randy Means. The Florida statute of limitations applies after four years except in the case of capital sexual battery charges. The attorney general's office has to investigate whether the six complainants were under 12 at the time of any abuse.

There is no statute of limitations on sexual battery of a child under 12. "We're currently reviewing these cases to see if all fall into the statutes," said Means, but maybe one or two cases do not."

In a third case, Dorsey and the diocese are being sued by the family of a minor allegedly abused by a former priest, Thomas J. Pagni, in 1992, six years after Pagni left active ministry.

According to the diocese, when Pagni was ordained an Orlando priest in 1977, the cliocese had been assured by "certified therapists, that any propensity (Pagni) had in the past had been addressed. When allegations were made after his ordination, (Pagni) was evaluated by licensed professionals and the diocese once again assured that the matter had been resolved."

On that basis, contended the diocese in a Feb. 23 statement, Pagni was transferred to other parishes, "until the diocese realized he should not be functioning as a priest." The diocese paid for Pagni's further education to "give him an opportunity to start a new life . . . because it was believed that this was the compassionate thing to do."

Knowing what is now known about child abuse, said the statement from the Orlando chancellor's office, "we would never transfer a priest or other diocesan employee accused of any kind of abuse."

As to the suit based on the 1992 allegation, the diocese insists that Pagni "has not been associated in any way with us for seven years and has not functioned as a priest for nine years."

Meanwhile, parishioners were asked not to judge all priests because of the "weakness and sins" of a few. The diocese did not reveal in its statements to Catholics that three priests had resigned their positions in protest against Bendixen being cleared. They found out from a local newspaper.