Priest abuse fund excludes some victims

Harold Siering was a seventh-grade student at St. Joseph School in Babylon when he said he was molested by a Franciscan brother.  But Siering doesn't qualify for a victims compensation program set up by the diocese  because his alleged attacker belonged to a religious order.  The program requires a victim to be a minor at time of the abuse, the alleged abuser to be a diocesan priest and documentation of the alleged misconduct. Siering  told Newsday recently that he sees his exclusion “a huge injustice.”   Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.