Press Event: Attorneys to Comment on the Unprecedented and Historic Release of Documents by the Vatican

Attorneys to Comment on the Unprecedented and Historic Release of Documents by the Vatican After Being Compelled by a United States Court

Clergy Abuse Attorney Jeff Anderson says documents point to Vatican’s direct control over the conduct, placement, and removal of individual priests for sexual abuse.

What
At a news conference on Monday Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marci Hamilton will comment on I,800 pages of discovery in the historic John V. Doe v Holy See clergy abuse case delivered to Anderson’s office on Friday.  The attorneys and Terence McKiernan of the Website Bishop Accountability will speak to the discovery as a historic step in getting to the bottom of the worldwide tragedy of clergy sex abuse of children; evidence among the documents affirming the Vatican’s direct control of priests; and, that the documents produced by the Vatican are missing key elements of the discovery ordered by the court.

When
Monday, August 22, 2011, at 11 A.M. CDT

Where
Offices of Jeff Anderson & Associates
366 Jackson Street, Suite 100
St. Paul, MN

Who
Jeff Anderson, Attorney for the Plaintiff in John V. Doe Versus Holy see, is an internationally known St. Paul, Minnesota-based trial lawyer widely recognized as a pioneer in sexual abuse litigation and has earned a reputation as a tireless champion of civil rights for children and the under-privileged. One of the first trial lawyers in America to publicly and aggressively initiate suits against religious organizations and hold them responsible by utilizing the American civil justice system, Anderson has represented thousands of survivors of sexual abuse by authority figures and clergy.

Contact:  651.227.9990/612.817.8665

Marci A. Hamilton, of counsel to Jeff Anderson & Associates, is one of the United States’ leading church/state legal scholars, as well as a national expert on clergy sex abuse law, federalism and representation, and holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University in New York City. Along with Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, Marci is also counsel of record for the Clergy Abuse lawsuit against the Vatican (John V. Doe v. The Holy See) — which is currently moving into discovery and trial in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. She is a widely read columnist for Justica.com and a visiting professor at Princeton University, New York University School of Law, Emory University School of Law, and the Princeton Theological Seminary. Marci is also the author of two books, God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005), and Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (Cambridge 2008).

Contact:  215.353.8984; hamilton02@aol.com]

Terence McKiernan, is the founder of BishopAccountability.org and is the organization’s president. Terry holds master’s degrees in Classics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Bristol in England. Before his involvement in the clergy abuse crisis, he was an academic editor and a consulting firm manager.

*Attorney Marci Hamilton will appear by video conference from New York.

*The news conference will be streamed live at www.AndersonAdvocates.com

*Documents related to the news conference will be available on Monday on the Case Resources page of www.AndersonAdvocates.com

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