MICHAEL BLUM IS NOT GIVING UP.
He wants answers and accountability from the institution and people in power who betrayed him and brought him agony. He also wants other victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to be unafraid of speaking out and disclosing their ordeals at the hands of clergy.
Blum has launched a civil lawsuit against former priest Donald Grecco, former Bishop James Wingle and the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Catharines.
He is seeking about $3 million, which includes $300,000 for pain and suffering, $100,000 for special damages and $50,000 for mental distress. His lawyers say it will take between two and five years before a settlement will be reached, which means Blum will continue to be forced to relive the horrid experiences of his teenage years when he was an altar boy at St. Stephen’s Church in Cayuga.
The Dunnville man, who is now 46 years of age, along with his lawyer Robert Talach announced the details of the lawsuit during a press conference Tuesday morning in St. Catharines.
The whereabouts of Grecco and Wingle are unknown, said lawyer Robert Talach, who is representing Blum.
