Saturday, August 03, 2002

CLEVELAND (OH)
Vatican monsignor arrested in Ohio
USA Today
CLEVELAND (AP) — A monsignor who has served on a board that provides legal counsel to Pope John Paul II has been charged in an international insurance scam involving disgraced former financier Martin Frankel.
Monsignor Emilio Colagiovanni was arrested Thursday and charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, the U.S. Attorney's office for Connecticut said.
Colagiovanni, 81, is accused of helping Frankel use the Saint Francis of Assisi Foundation to acquire insurance companies, while concealing Frankel's involvement, according to a complaint.
He clung to a lectern for support while questioned Thursday in the Cleveland courtroom of Magistrate Nancy A. Vecchiarelli.
When Vecchiarelli asked whether he understood the charges, Colagiovanni said: "I don't understand what they're about." He was then flown to Hartford, Conn.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 11:13:32 AM

RICHMOND (VA)
Questions about priest won't go away
The Virginian-Pilot
Something unseemly happened back in the days that a Goochland seminary was open. We're not sure whether the Rev. John E. Leonard sexually abused students -- or did something less sinister. Even Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, head of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, conceded Thursday night that ``there was behavior that blurred boundaries and which I consider imprudent for a seminary faculty member.''
But something happened. And it's clear that no matter how much diocesan officials wish this case could be closed, lingering doubts will remain about Leonard and what he did -- or didn't do -- decades ago. That's despite the fact that Sullivan says Leonard ``has been in [psychological] treatment'' since 1996 and deserved to regain his Richmond-area parish.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 08:51:08 AM

BALTIMORE (MD)
Two city ministers accused of obstructing abuse probe
State police investigation at church camp in Carroll
Baltimore Sun
By Childs Walker and John Rivera
Sun Staff
Two Baltimore ministers have been charged with obstructing a police investigation into suspected child abuse at a church-run camp in Carroll County.
The Revs. Raphael Gamalial Warnock, 33, and Mark Andre Wainwright, 30, of Douglas Memorial Community Church are accused in court documents of trying to prevent a state trooper from interviewing counselors at the church's Camp Farthest Out in Eldersburg.
A state trooper assigned to the case said neither of the clergymen is a suspect in the child abuse investigation, but the officer would not describe the nature of the suspected abuse.
Warnock, who is senior pastor of the West Baltimore church, said yesterday that the alleged abuse is not sexual. Because the investigation is continuing, he refused to further discuss the accusations of child abuse.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 07:30:26 AM

MAUI (HI)
Maui priest in sex scandal says rights being denied
Honolulu Advertiser
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
The Rev. Joseph Bukoski III, accused this week by a second person who alleges being sexually abused as a minor, spoke out for the first time yesterday, saying he has been treated unfairly by a bishop who has ignored church law and denied him his due rights.
The Rev. Joseph Bukoski says that his due rights are being denied.
"My name has been massacred and not represented in any Christian way," said Bukoski, who was removed as pastor of Maria Lanakila Church in Lahaina, Maui, by Honolulu Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo.
Bukoski said that even though he filed an appeal of his case to Rome early last month, DiLorenzo chose to ignore that process and go public with an allegation that has not received a full hearing under the diocese policy.
Bukoski, the diocese's former judicial vicar who advised the bishop on church law for a number of years, said the policy requires that an allegation be accompanied by signed statements from both sides. He said he has yet to sign a statement regarding the second allegation, nor has he been contacted for a statement or allowed to present a defense before the diocese's Standing Committee for Sexual Misconduct.
In response, Patrick Downes, diocese spokesman, said DiLorenzo broke no church laws. He said the bishop is allowed to act in the best way that he sees fit for the diocese.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 07:18:00 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Archdiocese bankruptcy would hurt victims
Boston Herald
by Eric Convey
Declaring bankruptcy could make legal sense for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston as it faces a torrent of lawsuits from sexual abuse allegations but would hurt victims, people involved in cases said yesterday.
``Any way you can look at it, a bankruptcy filing would be bad news for the victims,'' said Phil Saviano, local director of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. Worst of all, he said, would be delays in settling cases.
``But it doesn't surprise me that that's something the church is considering,'' he added. ``I think they would look into any opportunity possible to avoid paying out settlement claims and avoid financial liability to the hundreds of victims of clergy abuse.''
The chancellor of the archdiocese, David W. Smith, confirmed yesterday that bankruptcy is being explored by officials.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 06:49:27 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Law grilled over abuse deal
Boston Herald
by Tom Mashberg
Bernard Cardinal Law was grilled on the meaning of the word ``is'' yesterday, and about whether he had one public identity or two, as he took the stand to defend his archdiocese's decision to abandon a $20 million-plus settlement in the John J. Geoghan abuse case.
In two hours of sometimes rueful, sometimes rote testimony in Suffolk Superior Court, the nation's senior Catholic prelate sought to convince a judge, and a public jaded by scandal, that he misspoke on March 12 when he used the phrase ``this settlement is an important step'' in describing an apparent resolution of the suit.
``I believed this to be a `proposed' settlement,'' Law told attorney Mitchell Garabedian, lead lawyer for 86 plaintiffs in the case, at a hearing before a single judge over whether the disputed deal should be made into a binding contract. ``I think the understanding was that this was a proposed settlement.''
But when confronted by Garabedian with a March 12 press release issued in his name, and a March 15 article from his archdiocese newsweekly, The Pilot - both of which omitted the word ``proposed'' - Law sighed, ``It says what it says.''
``I did not use that word as a qualifier,'' Law added. ``I wish obviously now that I had used it. It would have expressed the intent of my words more effectively.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 06:47:09 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Law notes regret on wording
Wishes he'd been cautious on pact
Boston Globe
By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff
In his first public courtroom appearance since the priest sexual abuse scandal erupted, Cardinal Bernard F. Law yesterday said he regretted not describing the settlement agreement reached with 86 alleged victims of former priest John Geoghan more cautiously.
During more than two hours of testimony in Suffolk Superior Court, Law admitted that he had not called the $15 million to $30 million settlement a ''proposed agreement'' in a widely reported statement released the day after the deal was announced in March. Yet he insisted that he viewed the agreement as the first step in a tentative accord that first had to be funded, and then signed by all parties.
But Mitchell Garabedian, representing the 86 alleged victims of Geoghan, confronted Law with a copy of the archdiocese's newspaper, The Pilot, which quoted Law's statement of March 12.
''This settlement is an important step in reaching closure for these victims who have long endured the damage done to them by John Geoghan,'' Garabedian read from Law's statement.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 06:43:51 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Jury to hear case of priest abuse in Conn. diocese
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Richard Nangle
Telegram & Gazette Staff
A priest sexual abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Norwich, Conn., that accuses former diocesan Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of recklessness and negligence, will go before a jury, a superior court judge has ruled.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2000 by a Middletown, Conn., man who is identified only as John Doe. It alleges that former diocesan priest Richard T. Buongirno sexually abused him on several occasions while he was a 9-year-old altar boy at St. Matthias Church in East Lyme, Conn., where Rev. Buongirno was serving. The alleged victim says the acts continued until 1998, when he was in high school.
In 1991, Bishop Reilly, now the bishop of the Worcester Diocese, was notified of an investigation into Rev. Buongirno's actions, but claimed it was a “false alarm,” according to Robert Reardon, the New London, Conn., lawyer who filed the lawsuit.
“It wasn't a false alarm at all,” Mr. Reardon said. “It was a very serious matter.”
The suit alleges that a Massachusetts man told Bishop Reilly that before becoming a priest, Rev. Buongirno sexually abused him repeatedly over the course of three years in the 1970s, starting when he was a 16-year-old student at St. Thomas More School, where Rev. Buongirno was a teacher.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 06:39:03 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Popular pastor placed on leave
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Richard Nangle
Telegram & Gazette Staff
The Diocese of Worcester has placed the Rev. Joseph A. Coonan, pastor of St. John parish in Worcester, on administrative leave, based on allegations of sexual abuse of minors dating back to the 1970s before he entered the priesthood.
Rev. Coonan vehemently denied the charges and lamented Bishop Daniel P. Reilly's decision to place him on leave.
Diocesan spokesman Raymond L. Delisle said District Attorney John J. Conte offered the diocese few details of the allegations, other than that there were more than one them.
Rev. Coonan, through his lawyer, Joseph Early Jr., provided most of the details. He said the allegations stem from his work with heroin addicts at a crisis center that served the Webster, Dudley and Oxford area in 1977, 12 years before his ordination as a priest.
Mr. Conte did not return a telephone call to his office yesterday...
Just last month, the Worcester Diocese defended Bishop George E. Rueger against an allegation of sexual molestation that dated to the 1960s. Unlike the seven priests, including Rev. Coonan, that Bishop Reilly has removed from active duty this year based on sexual abuse allegations, Bishop Rueger continues to serve the diocese.
Mr. Delisle said the situations are not similar and have to be handled differently.
“We're talking about a priest and not a bishop,” Mr. Delisle said. “Bishops are assigned by the Vatican.”

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 06:35:25 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Cardinal's words key in lawsuit
Lawrence Eagle-Tribune
By Meredith Warren
Staff Writer
BOSTON -- Cardinal Bernard F. Law testified this morning that he mistakenly left out a word when he was quoted in The Pilot as saying a $30 million settlement had been reached between the archdiocese and victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan.
"I believed this to be a proposed settlement," Law testified, after reading aloud his comments from the March 15 issue of The Pilot. "I wished I used that term (proposed) but I did not. It says what it says."
Speaking in a strong and solid voice and his hands clasped in front of him, Law testified publicly during a hearing in which lawyers for alleged sex abuse victims are trying to persuade a judge that the archdiocese should be forced to honor the agreement, which it later backed out of.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian had Law read from a story in The Pilot, the Boston archdiocese's newspaper, in which Law said "this settlement is an important step in reaching closure" for the 86 victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/3/2002 06:28:23 AM

Friday, August 02, 2002

Body Talk: What Do We Say with our Bodies?
We are ensouled bodies, or embodied souls--Christian faith proclaims the dignity of the whole person
Catholic Online
By: Deacon Keith A Fournier
Olivia Newton John had a long musical career. However, most people remember her for one particular song--the lyrics of which offer an insight into contemporary culture and its view of the body:
"Let's get Physical"
"I'm saying all the things that I know you'll like, making good conversation-I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie-There's nothing left to talk about unless it's horizontally
CHORUS: "Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk
In his encyclical letter entitled "The Gospel of Life", John Paul II speaks of a "profound crisis of culture" which permeates the contemporary age. The lyrics to this popular song strike at the root of this crisis.
We have lost our respect for human dignity, a holy and healthy view of human sexuality and the respect and dignity proper to the human body.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 09:45:45 PM

The office of bishop
The Tidings
By Rev. Richard P. McBrien
The sexual-abuse crisis that has afflicted the Catholic Church throughout this calendar year has focused renewed attention on the office of bishop. The crisis itself has been accurately characterized as a crisis of confidence and trust in the hierarchical leadership of the church rather than a crisis of faith.
The hierarchy is the collective term for the church's body of bishops. There are two types of bishops: diocesan bishops (also known as ordinaries) and titular bishops.
A diocesan bishop exercises pastoral authority over a particular portion of the church, known as a diocese. His authority is primarily one of supervision (thus, the Greek word for bishop is episkopos, which means "overseer").
The office of bishop is a ministry, not a reward or status symbol.
The rite of ordination makes clear that the 'title of bishop is one not of honor but of function.'
Titular bishops do not have direct pastoral responsibility for a diocese. They include auxiliary and coadjutor bishops who assist the diocesan bishop, and those bishops who hold high-level administrative positions in the church, but without any pastoral care for a diocese.
The fact that all titular bishops hold title to an ancient diocese that no longer exists is an indication of the church's uneasiness about making someone a bishop without a diocese to shepherd. The office of bishop, after all, is a ministry, not a reward or status symbol. The rite of ordination makes clear that the "title of bishop is one not of honor but of function."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 09:13:39 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Cardinal Law called to testify about aborted settlement
Boston Herald
Associated Press
An attorney for plaintiffs trying to hold the Boston Archdiocese to an announced $30 million settlement confronted Cardinal Bernard F. Law in court today with a newspaper article in which he hailed the agreement.
Law testified for the first time in public at a hearing where lawyers for alleged sex abuse victims are trying to persuade a judge the archdiocese should be forced to honor the agreement, which it later backed out of, citing financial concerns.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian had Law read from an article in The Pilot, the Boston's archdiocese newspaper, in which Law said ``this settlement is an important step in reaching closure'' for the 86 victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan.
But Law denied he believed the settlement, announced in March, was final.
``I believed this to be a proposed settlement,'' Law said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 03:35:12 PM

TULSA (OK)
Tulsa bishop suspends priest in abuse scandal
Pastor denies allegations he molested children in '70s
The Dallas Morning News
By BROOKS EGERTON and REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News
The Tulsa Diocese's clergy abuse scandal widened Thursday as Bishop Edward Slattery suspended a priest who was recently accused of molesting two children about 25 years ago and police inquiries expanded.
The Rev. Paul Eichhoff is the third of Bishop Slattery's priests to be publicly accused this week of sexual misconduct.
Father Eichhoff denies the allegations and "intends to cooperate fully with the authorities," the diocese said in a news release. The priest, most recently pastor of St. Cecilia Church in the northeast Oklahoma town of Claremore, could not be reached for comment.
AP
Edward Slattery, at a news conference Tuesday in Tulsa, Okla.
The Dallas Morning News on Sunday reported allegations of a lay ministerial worker that Father Eichhoff, as pastor of Tulsa's Church of St. Mary in 1993, had threatened to fire her if she told anyone about seeing associate pastor Kenneth Lewis in bed, clothed, with a boy.
Neither Father Eichhoff nor the diocese has responded to the allegations of Evelyn McMahon, who later quit St. Mary's after Father Lewis was allowed to keep working.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 10:12:38 AM

DETROIT (Mich.)
CATHOLIC CHURCH CRISIS: Victims wonder if there are others
They seek complaints about deceased priests
Detroit Free Press
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
They know the men who molested them can no longer hurt anyone else. But some survivors of long-ago sexual abuse have contacted Detroit-area prosecutors and Catholic Church officials to find out if their attackers, Catholic priests now dead, abused others.
Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Duggan said he makes it a point to tell those victims whether his office has received other complaints about a dead cleric, so the victim knows he or she is not alone.
Detroit-area prosecutors say they have received credible complaints about more than a dozen dead priests, but say it's not their responsibility to make the names public. Archdiocese of Detroit officials have declined to identify the names of 15 dead priests whose files were turned over to prosecutors, contending it is unfair to name anyone who cannot respond to allegations.
"The dead, I think, should be kept in peace before the Lord. That would be my initial thought," Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida said Thursday.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 08:54:32 AM

DETROIT (Mich.)
Priest's accusers scared silent
Removal was 40 years too late, ex-students say
Detroit Free Press
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER
In the late 1960s, Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights was abuzz with so many stories about the principal abusing boys that church officials were forced to take action.
But not against the Rev. Robert Haener, the accused principal.
Instead, several priests the students had never seen before swept into the school, pulled 30 boys out of class and put the fear of God into them for questioning Haener's behavior.
"These guys were ticked, very ticked at us," said Ray Cunningham, who now lives in Florida but was one of the stunned boys sitting in the room that day. "They scared the hell out of me, to be honest. They told us what we were doing was spreading rumors about Father Haener and that was a mortal sin and could lead to eternal damnation.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 08:52:19 AM

Catholic reform panel: Does it have teeth?
As the laypeople's review board has its first meeting, concerns are raised
about a 'counteroffensive' to reform.
The Christian Science Monitor
Aug. 1, 2002
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
For millions of the Roman Catholic faithful, the group of prominent laypeople
named to the national review board on clergy sexual abuse is key to saving
the American church.
But even as the group held its first meeting in Washington Tuesday, concern
was brewing among some Catholics that a "counteroffensive" may be
undercutting reforms issued by US bishops in Dallas in June. Strong public
pronouncements by church and lay leaders haven't been matched by vigorous
action to institute reforms.
In some cases there have been signs of backward steps: Some offending priests
aren't being removed as quickly as promised. Some lay efforts to increase
involvement are being discouraged. And concerns have developed over the
review board itself.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 8/2/2002 08:47:36 AM

RICHMOND (VA)
Bishop Defends Reinstatement of Priest
Some on Richmond Lay Panel Criticize Return of Cleric Accused of '70s Abuse
Washington Post
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Richmond's Roman Catholic bishop yesterday defended his reinstatement of a priest accused of sexual misconduct with three minors 30 years ago and rejected criticism that he acted improperly by not allowing his diocesan lay board a bigger role in his decision.
"I stand by my decision with confidence, my decision is firm and my decision is final," Bishop Walter F. Sullivan said in a statement released at a news conference in Williamsburg. "There has been no cover-up of how I arrived at my decision."
Sullivan made his remarks just before meeting with the diocese's sex abuse panel to explain his June 18 decision to return the Rev. John E. Leonard to his job as pastor of St. Michael's Catholic Church in suburban Richmond.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 08:38:52 AM

RICHMOND (VA)
Bishop defends ruling in abuse case
The Virginian-Pilot
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
WILLIAMSBURG -- A diocesan team investigating sex abuse allegations against the Rev. John E. Leonard recommended in June that the Richmond-area priest get psychological treatment and be returned to parish duties if tests showed he wasn't a sex abuser, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan said Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference in Williamsburg, Sullivan said he complied with those recommendations. He said Leonard ``has been in treatment'' since 1996.
Leonard went through two sets of psychological tests several weeks ago and the results ``eliminated any justification to label or remove him as a sex abuser,'' Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he would not reopen Leonard's case.
``My decision is final,'' he said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 08:28:25 AM

RICHMOND (VA)
Bishop Sullivan's statement about Father John Leonard
The Virginian-Pilot
Bishop Sullivan's statement regarding allegations against Father John Leonard
I've been silent about the investigation process into allegations against Fr. John Leonard. I did so because of absolute confidentiality imposed by the investigators.
I break silence now to correct false assumptions and misconceptions. The apprehension they have caused about my decision must be put to rest.
My decision to reinstate Fr. John Leonard wasn't made in a vacuum.
The Investigation/Assessment Team was a team of the Panel and accountable to them. The full findings by the Team came to me just before the Bishops' meeting in Dallas. The Team's report included what I regarded as final recommendations to me. The Team's chairman made persistent demands that I make a decision in about a week's time. It was not my action that bypassed the Panel. It was not for me to give the Team's report to the Panel.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 08:21:13 AM

NEW YORK
Church's Abuse Panel
New York Times
To the Editor:
Re "Member of Sex Abuse Panel Upsets Some" (news article, July 26):
Dr. Paul R. McHugh, a psychiatrist who has been appointed to the lay board set up by the Catholic bishops to review the plan on sexual abuse developed in Dallas, is to be complimented for criticizing therapists who use specious repressed-memory therapy techniques.
For 20 years, I have been deeply involved in evaluations differentiating true from false sex-abuse accusations. In most priest cases, I concluded that abuse did occur, but in some, I concluded that the accuser, under the influence of repressed-memory therapy, suffered delusions of abuse.
The Catholic Church is in trouble because of widespread sexual abuses perpetrated by priests. That said, it still needs people like Dr. McHugh to help deal with those who are falsely accusing priests and thereby adding unnecessarily to the church's burdens.
RICHARD A. GARDNER, M.D.
Cresskill, N.J., July 29, 2002
The writer is clinical professor of child psychiatry at Columbia University.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 07:54:57 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Bishop Daily Named in Lawsuit
Accused of Boston cover-up
Newsday
By Stephanie Saul
STAFF WRITER
As a high-ranking church official in Boston, Brooklyn's Bishop Thomas Daily ignored sexual abuse allegations against a priest, approving his assignment to jobs with unlimited access to teenage boys, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
The suit alleges that Daily allowed the priest to continue running youth outings and to counsel adolescents even after the state investigated sexual abuse allegations against the priest and despite warnings from another high-ranking clergyman. The concerned clergyman, the late Vicar Thomas C. Hudgins, wrote Daily in 1980 questioning the decision to allow the Rev. Bernard Lane, the accused abuser, to continue working with youths.
"If he is allowed to continue ... and something should happen, God forbid, his Eminence would be subjected to criticism and embarrassment," said the vicar's letter, which warned of possible repercussions for Daily's boss at the time, Cardinal Humberto Medeiros.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 07:51:19 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Lawyers square off over Geoghan $ deal
Boston Herald
by Tom Mashberg
An archdiocese lawyer acknowledged under oath yesterday his co-counsel gave ``inaccurate'' information in court in April at a pivotal moment in the contested John J. Geoghan sex abuse settlement.
At a hearing on the abandoned accord in Suffolk Superior Court, attorney Wilson D. Rogers Jr. admitted he was not where his son and partner, Wilson D. Rogers III, said he was on April 12: garnering the signatures of defendants to finalize the $20 million-plus deal.
The elder Rogers did not say where he was that day. But the April 12 court representation by his son is important, argued attorney Mitchell Garabedian, because on that date Garabedian formally stayed his lawsuit on behalf of his 86 alleged Geoghan victims in anticipation of the signed deal.
On a day in which key lawyers in the clergy sex abuse scandal found themselves in the looking-glass position of cross-examining each other over what they did and said about matters they are still litigating, Garabedian himself was on the hot seat in the morning.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 07:26:15 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Lay group works toward $1m goal
Boston Globe
By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff
On the second floor of a nondescript office building in Newton, fund-raisers are working the phones with the goal of raising $1 million. Volunteers sort through piles of contribution checks. Old political hands and reporters drift past a poster depicting James Michael Curley.
The scene resembles the headquarters of a Massachusetts political campaign, except for the freshly printed sign tacked to the door: Voice of the Faithful.
The grass-roots group, founded in a Wellesley church basement in response to the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis, is trying to organize with a paid staff, a concerted fund-raising effort, and a war room where it is mapping a strategy for national growth.
Leading the push is a newly hired executive director, Steven Krueger, a former investment banker and corporate turnaround artist who is applying his organizing skills to the task of challenging the Catholic hierarchy.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 07:22:18 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Lawyers for Geoghan accusers, church spar over deal
Boston Globe
By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff
A lawyer for dozens of alleged sexual abuse victims testified in court yesterday that he was repeatedly assured by lawyers for the Archdiocese of Boston that the church had plenty of money to pay for a settlement: $50 million from a combination of insurance money, a few private donors, and a bank line of credit.
On the first day of a hearing to determine whether the $15 million to $30 million settlement agreement should be enforced, lawyers for both sides quizzed each other, sometimes testily. Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer for 86 alleged victims of former priest John J. Geoghan, was the only witness whose testimony was completed.
When he finished testifying, he began questioning the lead lawyer who negotiated the settlement agreement for church officials, Wilson D. Rogers Jr.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 07:19:57 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Bankruptcy filing called option for archdiocese
Advisers cite worst-case plan
Boston Globe
By Stephen Kurkjian and Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff
The Archdiocese of Boston is considering the option of filing for bankruptcy if it loses large judgments in clergy sexual abuse cases, including the dispute currently being heard in Suffolk Superior Court over whether it must abide by an agreement to pay alleged victims of convicted child molester and former priest John J. Geoghan between $15 million and $30 million, church advisers said.
The advisers, who asked that they not be identified, said the bankruptcy option was being considered as a ''worst-case scenario'' that would enable the archdiocese to continue operating if it were to be hit with large judgments in the more than 400 claims of clergy sexual abuse it currently faces.
The bankruptcy option is also being considered at a time when the archdiocese is grappling with a fiscal crisis brought on by dwindling donations in the wake of the sexual abuse crisis and a downturn in the economy that have forced church officials to cut this year's operating budget by as much as 40 percent, affecting urban parishes, parochial schools, and other church programs.
In recent days, attorneys for the archdiocese have discussed the pros and cons of filing for bankruptcy with Daniel M. Glosband of the law firm Goodwin Procter, one of the city's top bankruptcy lawyers. Glosband declined to comment.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/2/2002 07:17:15 AM

Thursday, August 01, 2002

BOSTON (Mass.)
Judge hears arguments in disputed abuse settlement
Boston Herald
Associated Press
Lawyers for Catholic leaders and victims of priest sex abuse began making their case Thursday to a judge weighing whether to force the archdiocese to make good on a settlement worth up to $30 million.
The archdiocese said it should not be bound by the settlement agreement reached in March because it needed approval of the Finance Council and the signature of each of 17 defendants. The church backed out of the deal in May when the Finance Council said it was too costly.
But lawyers for 86 people who said they were victims of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan say the deal was done - and point to the archdiocese's announcement in March of the agreement and Cardinal Bernard F. Law's own comments that it was ``an important step in reaching closure'' for Geoghan's victims.
``If there was ever an agreement that needed to be approved by each and every body ... it was this,'' J. Owen Todd, attorney for the archdiocese, told Judge Constance M. Sweeney.
``Regarding what happened on March 11, 2002,'' Todd said. ``They had the beginnings of a document, but a great deal of work remained to be done by both sides.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 05:01:10 PM

TULSA (OK)
Police interview 4 more alleged victims of former Tulsa priest
The Oklahoman
By Clayton Bellamy
Associated Press Writer
TULSA - A police task force formed to investigate sex abuse allegations against a former Tulsa priest interviewed four young men Wednesday who claim to be victims, a police spokesman said.
All four, who were boys at the time, described being touched improperly by an unidentified priest police began investigating after another man came forward with allegations Monday, Sgt. Wayne Allen said.
Officers also obtained names of witnesses they will contact in an investigation that could include still more alleged victims of the priest who served in Tulsa in the early to mid-1990s, Allen said.
The men "are explaining the actual acts, the actual touching that was performed on them by a certain individual," Allen said. "Whether it was molestation or not is a matter for the district attorney to decide."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 08:45:12 AM

DETROIT (Mich.)
PRIESTS UNDER REVIEW
Detroit Free Press
Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida is still trying to resolve the status of 17 priests accused of sexually abusing minors. The men remain on his roster of diocesan priests, but none is working in a parish.
Lawrence Nawrocki, convicted in 1989 of molesting three boys in the 1980s while at St. Isidore, Macomb Township. Out of prison in 1994.
Robert Burkholder, moved to Hawaii by the early 1990s.
Joseph Femminineo, resigned in 1992 from St. Rita, Holly.
Gerald Shirilla, 63, removed March 20 from St. Mary, Alpena.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 08:21:50 AM DETROIT (Mich.)
Church officials ensnared in sticky disciplinary web Canon and civil laws overlap in removals
Detroit Free Press
BY DAVID CRUMM, ALEXA CAPELOTO AND PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Nearly two months after the nation's Catholic bishops vowed to rid the church of priests who sexually abused young people, Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida admits it may take years to determine the fate of accused clergy.
Since January, Maida has disciplined 14 priests for accusations of abuse and tried to assure the 1.5 million Catholics in the Archdiocese of Detroit that the men will never harm children in the future.
But the truth is that the priests are caught in a complex legal limbo of church and civil laws. A few priests are contesting Maida's efforts to end their careers and have many options for appealing the cardinal's actions through civil courts or the Vatican's code of canon law.
All the priests disciplined by Maida know that the Vatican has not yet approved the American bishops' strict new rules for ousting abusers, informally called the Dallas Charter. Several key Vatican officials already have publicly criticized the charter.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 08:19:01 AM

DETROIT (Mich.)
Priest fights to keep job
He says archdiocese cannot dismiss him, based on church law
Detroit Free Press
BY JIM SCHAEFER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Rev. Dennis Laesch has faced some horrible accusations. So far, he has survived them all.
In 1983, seven years before Laesch entered the priesthood, a man sued him for breaking his cheek and nose. But Laesch argued his punch was leveled in self-defense after a burglary. He won at trial.
In 1987, he was a murder suspect, but he passed a lie detector test and the cops went away. They never found the killer.
And now, the 48-year-old Catholic priest is battling an accusation that he molested a 17-year-old boy in 1997, an allegation that could force him out of the priesthood.
But in an aggressive style that belies the oath of obedience taken by every Catholic man of the cloth, Laesch isn't rolling over.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 08:15:15 AM

NEW BUFFALO (Mich.)
An Ousted Priest, His Offense Long Past, Wistfully Departs
The New York Times
By JODI WILGOREN
NEW BUFFALO, Mich., July 31 — The Rev. Thomas DeVita had planned his departure from public ministry this morning in exquisite detail.
He would wear the vestments he bought last Christmas, with the burgundy stripe to match the sanctuary walls. The choir would sing, "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place" as if it were a holy day, not an ordinary Wednesday. As his final act, he would walk through the pews of St. Mary of the Lake, blessing the congregation. Then, without goodbyes, he would head for his new cottage in the country.
But Peggy Jachim, a St. Mary's parishioner since 1975, had a heart attack on Tuesday night. So after Mass today, Father DeVita drove to St. Anthony's Hospital in nearby Michigan City, Ind., draped a purple stole over his shoulders and made the sign of the cross over her bed in the intensive care unit.
"You have a lot of people praying for you, so don't be surprised if you feel good in a matter of days, if not hours," he told Mrs. Jachim, who is 70.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 07:33:11 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Lawyers to testify in church $$ deal
Boston Herald
by Tom Mashberg
Lawyers are set to cross-examine lawyers today in the John J. Geoghan sexual abuse case when a mini-trial gets under way to determine whether a disputed $20 million-plus settlement affecting 86 plaintiffs should be made binding.
Yesterday, sources say, tentative 11th-hour efforts to avert today's court showdown bore no fruit.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, representing the alleged victims, said yesterday he plans to question church counsel Wilson D. Rogers Jr. and Wilson D. Rogers III this morning.
Garabedian will also call himself as a witness, part of his effort to persuade Suffolk Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney that he and the Rogers Law Firm, longtime attorneys for the church, agreed in March to a formal settlement to be funded by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
Garabedian also plans to question archdiocesan spokeswoman Donna M. Morrissey, who issued a statement on behalf of Bernard Cardinal Law on March 12 referring to the deal as a ``settlement'' and ``agreement'' several times.
Garabedian will likely also call the archdiocese chancellor, David W. Smith, to the stand today, but does not plan to summon Law to testify until Friday at the earliest.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 07:22:04 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Hearing weighs church-victim pact
Cardinal Law expected to take witness stand
Boston Globe
By Kathleen Burge and Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff
Five months after it appeared that the first legal chapter of the priest sexual abuse scandal was ending, lawyers for a group of alleged victims and the church who agreed to a late-night, multimillion-dollar settlement are expected back in court today, asking a judge to decide whether they had a lasting agreement.
The hearing, slated to begin this morning, is rooted in the minutia of the $15 million to $30 million settlement agreement rather than the details of the alleged abuse of 86 victims by former priest John J. Geoghan. But it promises to be dramatic when Cardinal Bernard F. Law takes the witness stand, possibly tomorrow, in his first public courtroom appearance in the case.
Law's name and visage have become a public shorthand for the priest abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church. The nation's most senior prelate has already been deposed four times in various civil lawsuits filed by alleged sexual abuse victims.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 07:13:17 AM

AUGUSTA (ME)
Sides argue dead-priest disclosure issue
Portland Press Herald
By JOHN RICHARDSON, Portland Press Herald Writer
Maine's attorney general and the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram presented written arguments Wednesday in their disagreement over the state's obligation to provide information about dead Catholic priests accused of sexual misconduct.
The two sides directly dispute whether the disclosure could harm ongoing criminal investigations or unnecessarily violate the privacy rights of the priests and others. Both briefs were filed Wednesday in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta, where a judge must now decide if the names, allegations and investigative records are public documents under Maine's Freedom of Access Act.
The legal dispute stems from the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church and the ongoing investigation of Maine priests accused of misconduct in the past. Church leaders in Maine gave information about past misconduct allegations to the attorney general's office, which is working with county district attorneys to investigate potential criminal charges.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 07:03:32 AM

NORWICH (CT)
Priest sex assault suit to go before jury, judge rules
Norwich Bulletin
By BRIAN SCHEID
NORWICH-- A sexual abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of Norwich and a former East Lyme priest will be decided by a jury, a Norwich Superior Court judge has ruled.
The lawsuit, filed by a Middletown man under the pseudonym John Doe in June 2000, alleges that former diocesan priest Richard T. Buongirno repeatedly sexually molested him while he was an 9-year-old altar boy and Buongirno was a priest at St. Matthias Church in East Lyme. The alleged molestation occurred repeatedly until 1998, while Doe was in high school...
Tuesday, Judge Ian McLachlan ruled that Hart was not reckless because the Norwich bishop was serving as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Boston at the time the alleged sexual abuse occurred. But, McLachlan ruled that the rest of the allegations in the lawsuit would need to be decided by a jury at a trial that attorneys involved in the case said most likely will begin in early 2003...
Court records reveal that then-Norwich Bishop Daniel P. Reilly knew about the investigation, but regarded it as a "false alarm." But Reilly's involvement intensified when in 1994 a Massachusetts man told the bishop that Buongirno had sexually abused him repeatedly for three years in the 1970s, beginning when he was a 16-year-old student at St. Thomas More School and Buongirno was a teacher, but not a priest.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 8/1/2002 06:53:09 AM

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

BOSTON (Mass.)
Vicar general was told of priest years before removal
Boston Globe
By Matt Carroll, Globe Staff
Thirteen years before the Boston Archdiocese removed the Rev. Bernard J. Lane from his parish in 1993 for alleged sexual abuse that dated to the 1970s, a senior pastor alerted Auxiliary Bishop Thomas V. Daily, the archdiocese's vicar general, to ''disturbing stories'' about Lane's 1978 removal as director of Alpha Omega, a house in Littleton for troubled boys, according to a letter sent to Daily in April 1980.
There is no evidence in Lane's records that Daily, who is now the bishop of the Brooklyn, N.Y. Diocese, took any action after the letter from the Rev. Thomas C. Hudgins, who was Lane's superior.
Hudgins's letter, with its clear hint of sexual misconduct, expressed concern that if Lane were again granted permission to work with youngsters ''and something should happen, God forbid, his Eminence will be subjected to criticism and embarrassment.''
The letter came two years after Lane had been removed from the facility in 1978 because of allegations he had sexually molested a boy there.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:16:29 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Judge to hear arguments in disputed abuse settlement
Boston.com
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press
BOSTON -- Cardinal Bernard Law, who four months ago hailed a financial settlement with clergy sex abuse victims as "an important step in reaching closure," is now being called to court to testify about the collapsed deal.
Attorneys for alleged victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan and for the archdiocese were scheduled to go to court Thursday morning to ask a judge to decide if the settlement, worth up to $30 million, is binding.
Law will be called to the witness stand on Friday in the Suffolk Superior Court trial, plaintiffs' attorney Mitchell Garabedian said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:10:54 PM TULSA (OK)
Police begin inquiry into Tulsa Diocese
Bishop didn't report allegations; priest denies sexual misconduct
The Dallas Morning News
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
TULSA, Okla. – Police here said Tuesday that they had begun investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against a Catholic priest, as well as the Diocese of Tulsa's handling of the matter.
Officials said it was not yet clear whether church leaders were required by law to report to government authorities the allegation against the Rev. Kenneth Lewis – first brought to them eight years ago. "But why not err on the side of protection of children," said Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris.
Tulsa police join a growing list of law enforcement agencies around the country that have launched investigations into how their dioceses have dealt with allegations of sexual misconduct by priests or other officials of the church.
The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that Tulsa Bishop Edward Slattery sent Father Lewis to treatment and then returned him to work, allowing him to serve in parishes until last week.
Father Lewis addressed the accusations publicly for the first time Tuesday, saying that he had "never done anything which could be considered sexual contact or molestation."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 04:52:25 PM

CHEYENNE (Wyo.)
Hart cleared of sex abuse
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
By Kelly Milner
CHEYENNE – An investigation has cleared retired Bishop Joseph Hart of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.
Natrona County District Attorney Kevin Meenan announced Tuesday that an investigation found there was no evidence to support the allegations. The investigation recommended the case be closed.
“I am obviously pleased by the findings of the Cheyenne Police, but in no way surprised, as I was aware of my innocence,” Hart said in a prepared statement released Tuesday.
In April, a relative of the 39-year-old alleged victim contacted law enforcement with the accusations. The man later said Hart coerced him into exposing himself when he was 13 or 14.
The alleged incidents took place in Cheyenne and Kansas City, Mo., when Hart was auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne. He retired as bishop last September.
Meenan said in a statement that the allegations are “without merit, and therefore the case must be unfounded.”
“The investigator and I both concluded, given all the factors, that there really was no merit to these claims,” Meenan said.
The investigation was conducted by the Cheyenne Police Department and led by detective Lt. Jeff Schulz.
Earlier this year, Hart faced two other allegations of sexual misconduct in Kansas City. Church officials there said the accusations lacked credibility.
While Hart cooperated with investigators, Meenan and local law enforcement said the alleged victim did not.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 03:38:47 PM CHEYENNE (Wyo.)
Investigation clears Hart of alleged Wyoming abuse
Casper Star-Tribune
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - An investigation has concluded there is no evidence that retired Bishop Joseph Hart sexually abused a boy more than 25 years ago, 7th District Attorney Kevin Meenan announced Tuesday.
Meenan said many of the details provided by the accuser, a 39-year-old man whose name has not been released, were not corroborated and some were contradictory.
In a statement released through his attorney, Jack Speight, Hart said he was "pleased but in no way surprised."
"These allegations and the publicity they generated have been devastating to me. Even with this positive conclusion to the police inquiry, my personal reputation was considerably damaged," he said.
"I still do not know what truly led the person to make these accusations. I would be less than human if I did not acknowledge some anger, and some sorrow, too. But I do pray for him and his family and sincerely hope they find peace of mind, heart and spirit in their lives."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 03:31:38 PM

TULSA (OK)
Accused priest stayed in ministry
Tulsa bishop had pushed 'zero tolerance' in molestation cases
Dallas Morning News
07/28/2002
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
TULSA, Okla. - As clergy abuse scandals raged elsewhere a few months ago,
Catholic leaders here spoke out forcefully. They criticized other dioceses
for protecting molesters; they said that none of their active-duty priests
had ever been accused; they said that they screen and rescreen employees,
aiming to prevent abuse from occurring in the first place.
"We need to be ultrasafe - to have zero tolerance - in order to protect
children," Bishop Edward Slattery told the Tulsa World in March.
Privately, however, he was keeping on the job a pastor who had been accused
of inappropriate behavior with several boys, sent to a treatment center in
1994 and then moved to new parishes.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/31/2002 09:48:23 AM

LOS ANGELES
More subpoenas issued in priest abuse scandal
San Francisco Chronicle
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Authorities seeking personnel records of Roman Catholic priests under investigation for alleged sexual abuse served eight subpoenas, officials of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles confirmed.
The latest subpoenas served Monday come as the number of the archdiocese's current and former priests under investigation by law enforcement has reached more than 70, said Lt. Daniel Mulrenin of the Los Angeles Police Department. Investigators estimate that there are more than 120 alleged victims.
The subpoenas raise the number of current or former clerics whose files have been sought by the district attorney's office to 17.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/31/2002 09:33:19 AM

COLUMBUS (OH)
Diocese, Wehrle grad settle priest-abuse claim
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
July 30, 2002
By Dennis M. Mahoney
As a 31-year-old former Columbus man detailed his allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest yesterday, the bishop of the Columbus Diocese said he doesn't believe the man's claims.
"I trust Father (Martin) Weithman, and he's never lied to me in 19-plus years of working with me,'' Bishop James A. Griffin said. "He said to me, 'I did not do it.' ''
But Dennis Palmer, Weithman's accuser, said the priest repeatedly molested him for several years, beginning when Palmer was 14 and a student at the former Wehrle High School on the South Side.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/31/2002 09:25:03 AM

HOUSTON (TX)
Diocese appoints 11 to review board
Panel to assess abuse allegations
Houston Chronicle
By TARA DOOLEY
Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston has appointed an 11-member lay review board, including two non-Catholics, to help assess sexual-abuse allegations against the clergy.
The volunteer board includes lawyers, a doctor, mental-health professionals, parents and a former appellate court judge. It will examine allegations of sexual abuse against priests, determine their fitness for the ministry and review sexual-abuse policies and prevention programs.
Dioceses were required to establish the boards under new national policies on clergy sexual abuse adopted at a conference of bishops last month. Before that meeting, diocese officials had announced they would establish a review board.
"I think it is a very positive thing," said board member Judith Andrews, a psychologist with a general private practice in Houston and a member of St. Michael Catholic Church. "I'm encouraged it is happening not only here but around the United States. I think it will be important in the protection of young people."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 09:16:36 AM

MIAMI (FL)
Dade judge dismisses suit against priests
Miami Herald
Jul. 30, 2002
BY LISA ARTHUR
larthur@herald.com
A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the parents of a man who died in 1993 that alleges two priests abused their son and the Archdiocese of Miami covered it up.
Lawyers for Rita and Miguel Chinchilla Sr. have 20 days from July 26 to amend the suit and give Judge Jennifer Bailey information showing why the seven-year statute of limitations for filing a civil claim for sexual abuse has not expired.
In its request for the suit to be dismissed, the archdiocese argued that the deadline for filing the complaint had long passed. The suit alleges that the Revs. Ricardo Castellanos and Alvaro Guichard abused the Chinchillas' son in the 1970s.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/31/2002 09:16:11 AM TULSA (OK)
Tulsa bishop admits mistake in returning priest to ministry
The Oklahoman
By D.R. Tuttle
State Correspondent
TULSA -- The Tulsa Diocese Catholic bishop expressed regret Tuesday for returning a priest to the ministry following allegations of inappropriate behavior with young boys. The priest, the Rev. Kenneth Lewis, said he is innocent.
Bishop Edward Slattery said during a news conference that Lewis was not guilty of a crime, as the church sees it or as the state sees it. He said the reinstatement, on the advice of church lawyers, was a mistake considering the national scandal of priests returning to the ministry after molestation allegations.
"If I had the information then which I have now, I would not have allowed Father Lewis to have returned to active ministry in 1995," Slattery said.
At his own news conference Tuesday afternoon, Lewis denied wrongdoing.
"I have never, never, never had any sexual contact with a child or young person. Period," he said. "I have never done anything which could be considered contact or molestation."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 09:01:02 AM

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Editorial: 'Sadness and shame' / The pope addresses a sex-abuse scandal
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
July 30, 2002
Speaking to young Catholics at an open-air Mass on Sunday in Toronto, Pope John Paul II broached a subject that has been on the minds of the faithful of all ages: the sexual abuse of minors by a destructive minority of Catholic clergymen.
"The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame," the pope said. "But think of the vast majority of dedicated priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good."
Some activists representing the victims of sexual abuse faulted the pope for accentuating the positive, and for not extending his condemnation to bishops who covered up abuse and sometimes transferred abusing priests to new assignments.
But the bishops of the United States, who were responsible for such malfeasance, already have confessed to that offense.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/31/2002 08:59:27 AM

NEW YORK
ARCHDIOCESE HIT WITH $10M SEX SUIT
New York Post
By DAREH GREGORIAN
July 31, 2002 -- A Manhattan man has filed a $10 million suit against the Archdiocese of New York, charging its inaction allowed an allegedly deviate priest to sexually assault him.
The Rev. Albin Fusco reportedly had a record of "sexual deviation" before he allegedly assaulted the 22-year-old man at Most Precious Blood Church in Little Italy.
The man, whose name is being withheld, is now 25 and has had severe psychiatric problems as a result of the Aug. 2, 1999, attack, said his lawyer, Adam Cahn.
Cahn said the priest hugged the victim, then forced his head down into his lap and asked for oral sex.
The Rev. Patrick Boyle, of the Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception, said Fusco, 72, "was pulled out of the ministry as soon as the allegations were made."
He's now living in a monastery, Boyle said. Fusco could not be reached for comment.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:52:32 AM

NEW YORK
N.Y. diocese sued
in '99 priest case
New York Daily News
By HELEN PETERSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A Manhattan man who said he was sexually assaulted by a Little Italy priest is suing the Archdiocese of New York for $10 million.
The man - whose name is being withheld by the Daily News - was 22 years old and a student from Jamaica when, he said, he was abused by the Rev. Albin Fusco in the rectory of Most Precious Blood Catholic Church on Aug. 2, 1999, according to his lawyer, Adam Cahn.
Cahn said his client was confused about his sexuality and upset over being expelled from college when he sought counseling from Fusco, a member of the Franciscan order.
Fusco and the younger man were in a television room at the rectory when, Cahn said, Fusco turned and said: "I think you need a hug."
He said the priest then pushed the man toward his lap.
His client "had come to this church for some guidance and counseling and ended up being forced to perform oral sex," Cahn said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:48:01 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Lending a Sympathetic Ear
New church panel on abuse to hear from victims directly
Newsday
By Carol Eisenberg
STAFF WRITER; This story was supplemented with wire service reports.
Members of the national advisory panel of lay Roman Catholics charged with overseeing how the nation's bishops enact a new policy on clergy sex abuse agreed yesterday to hold a weekend retreat sometime in the future during which they would listen firsthand to survivors' stories.
Hearing the stories "puts names and faces to a terrible story and lets us know that the scars remain many years later and adds some urgency to what we need to do," William Burleigh, panel member and chairman of the board of E.W. Scripps Co., said.
However, the 13-member panel did not directly respond yesterday to other requests by a leading group of sex abuse victims, from its call for a seat on the panel to its request that the church support an independent treatment center for victims of clergy sex abuse.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:44:07 AM

LONG ISLAND (N.Y.)
The Legacy of Bishop's Letter
Praise for priest in abuse case
Newsday
By Rita Ciolli and Shirley E. Perlman
STAFF WRITERS
After finishing six months of psychiatric treatment in the wake of a complaint that he sexually abused a 10-year-old altar boy, the Rev. Andrew Millar returned to Long Island in 1999 and told the Diocese of Rockville Centre he wanted to retire.
Writing in response, then-Bishop John McGann thanked Millar for his 41 years of "priestly goodness" and said he was pleased Millar had agreed to reside in a parish in Manorville where he could assist a pastor who was going on a sabbatical. Eight months later, Millar was arrested at Tobay Beach for sodomizing a 15-year-old Great Neck boy who is learning disabled. He later pleaded guilty.
McGann's Sept. 1, 1999 letter, which has come to light in a civil lawsuit against the diocese, does not mention any sexual abuse concerns about Millar. The bishop did note that he hoped the diocesan retirement benefits would allow Millar "to live the ongoing years of your priesthood in the dignity and respect to which you are entitled."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:40:10 AM

CHEYENNE (WO)
Former KC priest cleared of allegations of sexual abuse in Wyoming
The Kansas City Star
By MATT STEARNS
The Kansas City Star
Retired Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Hart, a longtime priest in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a child sexual abuse investigation in Cheyenne, Wyo.
After reviewing the results of the Cheyenne Police Department's investigation, a special prosecutor said in a news release Tuesday, "It is clear that the allegations are without merit and that therefore the case must be unfounded."
The case, which surfaced in April, is now closed, and police will take no further action, according to special prosecutor Kevin P. Meenan.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 08:26:51 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Catholic lay panel to choose enforcement unit's director
The Washington Times
By Larry Witham
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A national board reviewing sex abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church yesterday adopted a charter that forbids bishops from settling complaints secretly and began a search for a tough director for an office of enforcement.
During its first meeting, the National Review Board of 12 lay Catholics approved the charter passed by the U.S. bishops last month in Dallas and geared up to tap a leader for the Office for Child and Youth Protection by Sept. 1.
"We happen to think most dioceses are doing a good job after Dallas," said Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, chairman of the board, which was appointed by Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the U.S. bishops.
He and Bishop Gregory, speaking at a Washington D.C. press conference with all 12 board members, said no one but the pope can remove bishops over disputes on handling sexual-abuse cases.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:49:39 AM

EL SALVADOR
In Latin America, Abuse by Priests Hidden in Shadows
Culture: Reverence for the clergy, machismo and distrust of judges make speaking out difficult.
Los Angeles Times
By T. CHRISTIAN MILLER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
APOPA, El Salvador -- When Pope John Paul II spoke out on the church's pedophile priest scandals for the first time this week, he did it on the eve of a trip through a region that has scarcely been touched by them: Latin America.
Even as hundreds of priests and bishops from the U.S. to Poland have been implicated in the abuse of children, only a handful of cases have come to light in a population that accounts for about 30% of the world's Roman Catholics.
The church's power, the region's bankrupt judicial systems and a culture that abhors homosexuality have combined to create enormous barriers to claims of priestly abuse, experts say.
Few doubt that such abuses occur in Latin America with the same rare frequency as in other parts of the world. But here, they appear to be easier to conceal.
"Here, priests are sacred, almost godlike. They have total power. No common person is going to take them to court," said Sergio Bran, a sociologist at the University of Central America in El Salvador who has long studied the Roman Catholic Church.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:44:03 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Archdiocese hires staffer to oversee child protection
Boston Herald
by Eric Convey
The Archdiocese of Boston has hired a full-time staffer to oversee efforts to protect children from molestation by clergy and other church workers, members of a commission drafting guidelines to fight abuse said yesterday.
``Help is on the way, things are going to be great,'' said Maureen Bateman, chairwoman of the commission.
The name of the man filling the position, who is not a priest, will be released next month.
Bateman, a top executive and general counsel at State Street Corp., said she is confident the selection of that person and other recent steps have put the local Catholic church on a path toward solving the problem.
The czar will report to Bernard Cardinal Law, but work closely with a new, soon-to-be formed, expanded commission overseeing efforts to fight sex abuse. Bateman said she sees no conflict of interest.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:37:20 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Review group meets with victims, details goals
Boston Globe
By Robert Schlesinger, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - The board that will monitor the Catholic Church's reaction to the ongoing child molestation scandal met for the first time yesterday, asking the US bishops' conference for a detailed review of how each diocese across the nation is complying with guidelines issued last month on protecting children.
Members of the 12-person commission, chaired by Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, also met with leaders of a victims' support group, laid out specific long-terms goals for the commission, and introduced topics - such as the review of diocese compliance - for their next meeting, in Oklahoma City in September.
''We intend to do anything we can do in order to make sure that this long night, this agony of our faith, is over,'' Keating said.
Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests expressed some optimism about the board.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:32:44 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Law sets steps for protection of children
A lay person will head efforts against abuse
Boston Globe
By Kevin Cullen, Globe Staff
Two weeks after state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly accused the Archdiocese of Boston of dragging its feet on efforts to protect children from sexual abuse by clergy, archdiocesan officials said yesterday Cardinal Bernard F. Law will hire a lay person to oversee implementation of new child protection policies.
The officials also said the archdiocese would begin in January to teach children in parochial schools about guarding themselves from sexual abuse, and would introduce the curriculum to Catholic children in religious education classes overseen by the archdiocese's 362 parishes in the fall of 2003.
In addition, the archdiocese agreed to meet next week with prosecutors and officials from the Department of Social Services to develop what it called a comprehensive training program for priests, who became mandated reporters of suspected child abuse almost three months ago.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:30:05 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
Bishop McCormack’s trip
to Europe defended
The Union Leader
By CAROL ROBIDOUX
Union Leader Staff
There is nothing inappropriate about Bishop John B. McCormack’s busy travel schedule, a diocesan spokesman said yesterday, despite the church’s involvement in civil lawsuits, including 11 new ones filed against six New Hampshire priests and a religious brother on Monday.
“This is a commitment the bishop made well over a year ago,” said Patrick McGee, spokesman for the Diocese of Manchester, of McCormack’s 10-day tour of Catholic Relief Service sites in Eastern Europe, which begins today.
“It’s part of his responsibility as a bishop to look to see how he can help with the role of the church in the world. Not to say he’s not concerned. He spends much of his time on the situation in New Hampshire. But right now, it’s in the hands of our legal counsel, and it’s still important to help the church in their mission work, as well,” McGee said.
McCormack is the only diocesan board member for the Catholic Relief Service, a humanitarian organization sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:26:27 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Panel Challenges Bishops on Fighting Abuse
The New York Times
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
WASHINGTON, July 30 — The sexual abuse review board appointed to police the nation's Roman Catholic bishops convened today and promptly called on the bishops to lay out the steps they had taken to fulfill promises to protect children.
But the board's chairman, Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, stopped short of making a clear call for the prosecution of bishops who have covered up abuses.
The National Review Board, as the church-appointed body is called, immediately put itself in the posture of challenging the bishops by calling on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide a prompt "snapshot" of how dioceses are complying with the measures of a child-protection charter adopted at a meeting of all the bishops in Dallas on June 13 to 15. The charter requires the ouster of priests found to have abused minors, but not necessarily defrocking.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:21:49 AM

SPRINGFIELD (Mass.)
5 priests removed under new policy
Springfield Union-News
By BILL ZAJAC
SPRINGFIELD — At least five priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield were removed recently from all ministry and can no longer present themselves as priests as a result of a recently approved zero tolerance policy related to sexual misconduct.
The Revs. Edward M. Kennedy, Richard F. Meehan, Alfred C. Graves and Donald V. Dube are the first priests in the Springfield diocese to face more severe punishments as a result of a policy that U.S. bishops adopted last month in Dallas, according to the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, the bishop of the Springfield diocese.
Each of the four had previously been removed from parish ministry in the 1990s as a result of sexual misconduct. Two had returned to limited ministry.
"This action was what was called for in Dallas," said Dupre.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/31/2002 07:00:10 AM

Tuesday, July 30, 2002

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Catholic review board on priestly abuse holds first meeting amid victim complaints
Boston.com
By Richard N. Ostling, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) The head of a board that will monitor the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops' efforts to combat the church's sex scandal met Tuesday with abuse victims who have criticized the panel's makeup and independence.
Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, the panel chairman, talked for an hour with four leaders from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. It was the first time Keating has held any extended talks with the group.
''He asked us for our advice and counsel on what the board should do. We're very pleased,'' said Paul Steidler of Reston, Va.
The meeting came hours before the first meeting of the panel headed by Keating, which was set up last month by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The survivor group leaders also were scheduled to speak with the full board.
After that 45-minute meeting, the victims group's national director, David Clohessy, said the board members are bright and well-intentioned, but ''it's simply too early to tell how effective the panel will be.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 05:35:03 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
The politics of sainthood
Why has the Church chosen this moment to canonize a priest widely accused of sexual misconduct with women?
Boston Phoenix
BY MICHAEL BRONSKI
LAST MONTH’S CONVOCATION of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, held to hammer out an official policy on how to respond to future cases of clergy sexual abuse, was roundly hailed by the US media as a bold and progressive step forward for the Roman Catholic Church. Time magazine, in its usual hype-speak, called it "groundbreaking." The policy worked out at the Dallas conference, which mandates, among other things, that any priest found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor will be immediately — and permanently — removed from pastoral work, has to be okayed by Vatican higher-ups before it can be implemented. Word from the conference president, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, is that this approval should not be a problem. Well, maybe yes and maybe no.
It’s not fully appreciated just how unprecedented this conference actually was. The impetus for forming the new policy came from an extraordinary demand by American lay Catholics that the US Catholic hierarchy admit its errors and — contrary to the organization of Roman Catholicism — follow the lead of the faithful. It was a stunning moment in the history of the Church. But you need look no further than the recent canonization of Padre Pio — a priest who faced numerous, credible accusations of sexual misconduct with women — to get an idea of how seriously (or not) the Vatican is taking the calls for change.
Make no mistake, the process of canonization within the Roman Catholic Church — that most methodical and bureaucratic of organizations — is fraught with politics. Aside from their spiritual evolution, saints also have pedagogical functions. They are the Church’s poster children and spiritual heroes. They are promoted in books and on holy cards, statues, religious portraits, and stained-glass windows. The Vatican makes clear political and social statements, cloaked in the guise of theology, when it selects its saints.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 05:19:21 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Church agrees to reforms recommended by internal commission
Boston.com
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press
BOSTON -- The Boston Archdiocese has agreed to major changes in the way it reviews allegations of child abuse by priests, including hiring a full-time director to enforce the reforms, church officials said Tuesday.
Church officials announced the steps after a closed door meeting with Cardinal Bernard Law's Commission for the Protection of Children.
It marked the early acceptance of several reforms outlined in the commission's draft recommendations released in June. Two of Law's lieutenants, the Rev. John Connolly and the Rev. Charles Higgins, met with the commission Tuesday.
Commission chairwoman Maureen Bateman said the archdiocese's internal review board's membership wouldn't be completely replaced, but there would be major personnel changes.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 05:10:07 PM

SPRINGFIELD (Mass.)
Bishop defends financial support of convicted priest
Boston.com
By Associated Press, 7/30/2002 10:21
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield would not necessarily cut financial support for a priest even if he were defrocked for sexual abuse, according to Bishop Thomas Dupre.
Dupre said in a recent letter to clergy that cannon law requires a bishop to continue financial support for a laicized priest, if he needs the help, even if the priest is dismissed ''for the most heinous reasons.''
''The law holds all members of the faithful, and particularly bishops, to the higher demands of charity,'' Dupre said in his letter. ''Bishops are not allowed the luxury of taking the easy or most popular path.''
The diocese's continued financial support of the Rev. Richard Lavigne, who pleaded guilty in 1992 to molesting two boys, has prompted the Rev. Thomas Scahill, pastor of St. Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, to withhold a percentage of weekly collections earmarked for the bishop's office. The bishop has also come under pressure to seek Lavigne's removal from the priesthood.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 11:32:15 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Critics call priest crackdown spotty
New York Daily News
By HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Catholic bishops who pledged to crack down on abusive priests aren't abiding by the national charter they adopted in Dallas, abuse survivors charged yesterday.
"Children remain at risk in the church, unfortunately," said David Clohessy, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
Members of the group have been invited to address today's first meeting of a lay panel reviewing how bishops are handling abuse allegations in their parishes.
SNAP charged the "zero-tolerance" charter adopted in June by the bishops' conference in Dallas - which largely defused the crisis atmosphere in the church - is being applied inconsistently and even ignored in some parishes.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 09:15:07 AM

The Bishops at Bay
New York Review of Books
Review/essay by Garry Wills

Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church
by the Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe
Little, Brown, 274 pp., $23.95

Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election
by John L. Allen Jr.
Image/Doubleday, 231 pp., $12.95 (paper)

1.
The Critics
The nearly three hundred Catholic bishops of the United States who traveled to Dallas for their semiannual meeting, this June 13–15, were partly chastened in demeanor. It was oddly symbolic that, though they were given the extra courtesies that airlines have always shown the clergy, they were also subjected to the intense security checks that everyone undergoes in the wake of the Twin Towers disaster—the only special attention given them was a careful scanning of the large crucifix many wear on a chain around their necks. It is a new experience for some of them to be treated like ordinary people. Even the one bishop who came in luxury, in a private plane lent him by a benefactor whose identity is unknown, was not enjoying a special privilege but dodging a special threat. Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, whose actions sparked the current outrage over reshuffled priests who have abused minors, did not want to be trapped in an airport or on a plane where he could be accosted, questioned, or publicly criticized. He travels with bodyguards in his hometown, and he sneaked off to Rome last spring by being driven south for five hours to an airport where he would not be recognized. (We learn this latter detail from Betrayal, the excellent account of Law's troubles by the Boston Globe reporters who exposed them.)
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/30/2002 09:13:54 AM

FORT EDWARD (NY)
Area priest may appeal his removal
He plays the guitar and sings songs of peace, but he's a very angry man.
Troy Record
By: Anne C. Fullam, The Record
July 23, 2002
Rev. James J. Rosch, former pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Fort Edward, announced publicly over the weekend that he is seeking redress from Rome for his removal from active ministry.
"I'm not talking to reporters or TV," said Rosch on Monday.
"Talk to Father Doyle. He knows my story," said Rosch.
However, when reached, Rev. Kenneth Doyle, the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese spokesman, said through an intermediary that the diocese had received no official notice of Rosch's petition.
"We have not received any information," said a spokeswoman for Doyle. "But Father Rosch has the right to appeal the decision to the Vatican."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/30/2002 09:10:33 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Beep, beep! Catch me if you can
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Dianne Williamson
Telegram & Gazette Columnist
Careful followers of the priest sex abuse scandal could be excused for their confusion last week when our district attorney gave an impromptu press conference and made it clear why he avoids the burden of expressing himself.
After three newspapers dutifully reported John J. Conte's comments -- which indicated that his office had flip-flopped on the issue of bail for a priest charged with sexual abuse -- Mr. Conte claimed he was misquoted. The problem was, he was “misquoted” the same way by each of three reporters who covered the session, including a 25-year Boston journalist who had tape-recorded the exchange and played it back for Mr. Conte the next day.
The response of our veteran district attorney?
“You asked a two-part question, and that's not fair.”
No one is accusing Mr. Conte of lying -- at least, I'm not. There may indeed have been a perfectly innocent misunderstanding at work when every reporter who heard Mr. Conte speak reported the story the same way.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 09:07:44 AM

COLUMBUS (OH)
PASTOR REMOVED WHILE ABUSE CLAIM INVESTIGATED
Columbus Dispatch
By Dennis Mahoney and Geoff Dutton
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The Roman Catholic pastor of Seton Parish in Pickerington has been relieved of his duties while the diocese investigates allegations of inappropriate conduct involving a minor.
Bishop James A. Griffin told parishioners at 5 p.m. mass yesterday that the Rev. Martin V. Weithman, pastor of Seton since late 2000, has been accused of inappropriate conduct and was placed on administrative leave.
Monsignor William J. Maroon, a visiting priest, also read a statement from Weithman in which the 47-year-old pastor denied the allegations.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/30/2002 09:06:44 AM

ALBANY (NY)
Seventh priest named in scandal
Diocese says the Rev. John Fitzpatrick had abused five children
Times-Union
By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer
At least five children were sexually abused by a priest who was forced out of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany in 1996 for sexual misconduct, a church official said Monday.
The Rev. John Fitzpatrick, who worked at parishes throughout the Capital Region, was not among the six priests publicly identified and removed from active ministry by church officials last month.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/30/2002 09:04:27 AM

SENECA (Kan.)
Catholic priest waives preliminary hearing on charge of fondling boy
The Kansas City Star
By MATT STEARNS
The Kansas City Star
SENECA, Kan. - A Roman Catholic priest accused of fondling a teen-age boy waived his preliminary hearing Monday in Nemaha County District Court because of concerns about the youth's privacy, the priest's attorney said.
The move means that the Rev. Dennis E. Schmitz, who once oversaw priest recruitment for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, will be arraigned on the charge and enter a formal plea unless his case is resolved before the arraignment.
Schmitz, 41, is charged with taking indecent liberties with a child. Court records allege that Schmitz engaged in lewd fondling of a 15-year-old boy sometime between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1, 1999.
The act allegedly occurred at S&S Ranch, in Nemaha County in northeast Kansas. Schmitz is a co-owner of the ranch.
Schmitz is charged in a similar case, with the same alleged victim, in Douglas County, Kan.
At a preliminary hearing, prosecutors typically set out the evidence they have against a defendant, and a judge then decides whether there is enough to proceed. In Schmitz's case, the accuser was expected to testify.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 08:48:35 AM

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Archdiocese checks plaintiffs' backgrounds in abuse suits
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Archdiocese of Louisville says it's making extensive background inquiries about the 156 people suing it over alleged sexual abuse by priests and other church workers because it otherwise doesn't have enough information to evaluate the accusations.
''We know very little about any of these cases,'' said Brian Reynolds, chief administrative officer for the archdiocese. ''We don't know who (the alleged abuse) was reported to, we don't know who had what information. Until we do, we can't make a judgment to what degree the archdiocese has responsibility, or someone else does.''
Since April, 156 people have sued the archdiocese alleging abuse by 23 priests and four other employees between the 1950s and 1990. All of the suits name the archdiocese and not the alleged abuser as defendant.
In documents filed Friday in Jefferson Circuit Court, the archdiocese asks the plaintiffs for records on their academic, employment, psychiatric and substance-abuse histories, as well as about any other sexual or spousal abuse they may have suffered.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 08:39:53 AM

CHICAGO (Ill.)
Sex abuse victim on Catholic panel
Psychologist not bitter with church
Chicago Tribune
By Lisa Black
Tribune staff reporter
When a national review board established to oversee the sexual abuse policies adopted by U.S. Catholic bishops meets for the first time Tuesday, it will count one victim as a member: a Chicago psychologist and former priest who at age 15 was molested by his own clergyman.
Michael J. Bland, 41, brings to the table his own painful experience and staunch support for zero tolerance rules when dealing with abusers, past and present.
But that does not satisfy some victims' advocates, who believe Bland and others on the 12-member review board are too close to the church to represent them and tackle real issues.
That Bland still attends mass today and works part-time counseling other victims of sexual abuse for the Archdiocese of Chicago also separates him from those who reject the church they say has treated them badly.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 08:36:24 AM

MEXICO CITY
Pope visits Mexico as scandal festers
The visit coincides with renewed accusations that the Vatican ignored abuse by a trusted pope associate.
St. Petersburg Times
By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
© St. Petersburg Times
MEXICO CITY -- When Pope John Paul II arrives today on the final leg of an 11-day tour, he can expect a tumultuous reception.
But, wherever he goes these days it seems the Roman Catholic Church is dogged by sexual scandal. Mexico is no exception.
The pope's visit comes at a difficult time for Mexico's church as it struggles to come to terms with evidence of sexual misconduct that has lain dormant for many years.
But unlike the controversy in the United States, in which bishops are alleged to have covered up evidence of abuse, in Mexico it is the Vatican that faces accusations of hiding the truth.
The focus is a sex scandal involving allegations of pedophilia against one of the pope's most trusted associates in the Mexican church.
In what some Mexican priests and analysts say is the most serious case of alleged abuses to have been raised so far anywhere in the world, the accusations concern the founder of one of Mexico's most influential yet least known religious orders.
The allegations against Father Marcial Maciel, the 82-year-old Mexican-born founder of the Legionaries of Christ, date to the order's creation in 1941 and span two decades of alleged abuse against some 30 seminarians, who were mostly young boys.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 08:25:59 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Lay advisers to U.S. bishops to meet with 'survivors'
The Washington Times
By Larry Witham
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The lay Catholic panel organized by U.S. bishops as a watchdog in church sexual-abuse cases holds its first meeting today and will hear from a "survivors" group that wants a seat at the table.
Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, a Catholic layman who is chairman of the National Review Board, meets this morning with leaders of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
They will also speak to the 12-member board when it meets here this afternoon.
Outside St. Matthew's Cathedral yesterday, SNAP protested that bishops in at least seven states already have violated a "charter" the U.S. bishops adopted in Dallas last month to curb the sex-abuse problem.
"We are dealing with an entrenched power structure," SNAP spokesman Mark Serrano said. "Some bishops are in noncompliance with the charter,"
Dan Mahoney, spokesman for Mr. Keating, said the National Review Board is made up of independent individuals, so groups such as SNAP are not likely to get a seat.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 08:16:01 AM

BROOKLYN (N.Y.)
'ABUSE' GROUP BLASTS BISHOP
New York Post
By DOUGLAS MONTERO
July 30, 2002 -- Brooklyn Bishop Thomas Daily has violated the U.S. Catholic bishops' zero-tolerance policy against priests accused of sex abuse, an advocacy group charged yesterday.
Daily is one of 10 bishops and archbishops nationwide accused by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests of violating the 6-week-old zero-tolerance policy.
David Clohessy, the group's executive director, criticized Daily's delay before suspending the Rev. Joseph Byrns of the St. Rose of Lima Church in Brooklyn.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:45:47 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Victims Group Says Nine Dioceses Broke Promise
The New York Times
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Advocates for the victims of sex abuse by priests denounced church officials in nine dioceses yesterday, accusing them of betraying the promises made by bishops at their meeting in Dallas last month to act decisively against molesters in the church.
The accusations were timed to come a day before the bishops' national sex abuse review board was to hold its first meeting, in Washington. The advocates, the leaders of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, have been invited to meet with the board.
The Survivors Network cited local newspaper reports to make a case that despite the adoption of what the bishops call tough guidelines on abuse and a new policy of openness, some bishops have been slow to dismiss abusive priests or are still keeping them in the ministry, and are fighting to keep secret the lawsuits by people who say they are victims or are concealing the amount of money paid in settlements.
"There is no excuse for leaving a dangerous man around children," David Clohessy, the network's executive director, told reporters at a news conference in Washington. "Many of the promises the bishops made in Dallas remain to be realized."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:42:03 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Catholic Charities trustees consult AG over donations
Boston Herald
by Tom Mashberg and Eric Convey
Top trustees of Catholic Charities are talking with the Attorney General's Office, which governs Bay State public charities, to see if they can buck Bernard Cardinal Law and take money from disfavored groups like Voice of The Faithful.
``They reached out to us a few weeks ago and we're gathering information to determine if we can help them carry out their charitable mission,'' Stephen Bilafer, a spokesman for Attorney General Tom Reilly, said yesterday. ``We are looking at the basic information as to how they do business.''
The Herald has also learned the 50-member board of Catholic Charities, made up of many prominent local Catholics, has been summoned by its executive committee to debate Law's decision on the VOTF funding in mid-August.
``For the last hundred years, Catholic Charities has accepted donations from all who wished to contribute,'' two executive committee members, Neal F. Finnegan and Peter Meade, said in a Sunday memo to the trustees. ``We are planning to call a meeting of the board . . . to discuss and decide what the policy should be.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:36:08 AM

BROOKLYN (N.Y.)
Brooklyn Diocese suspends priest
Boston Globe
By Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff
Four years after the Rev. Timothy J. Lambert and his brother accused a priest in the Brooklyn Diocese of sexually molesting them when they were teenagers, Bishop Thomas V. Daily has placed the accused priest on administrative leave, saying he will follow the procedures outlined in a child protection charter adopted last month by American bishops meeting in Dallas.
But Lambert said yesterday that he is skeptical of Daily's promise to investigate the allegations against the Rev. Joseph P. Byrns, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church. Church officials gave Byrns permission to address parishioners during Mass on Sunday, when Byrns again denied that he abused the Lambert brothers.
''I think they're going to let him take his little vacation, do what they call an investigation, and whitewash the whole thing,'' Lambert said.
Frank DeRosa, a spokesman for the Brooklyn Diocese, said Daily placed Byrns on administrative leave effective Friday after receiving new information about the Lambert brothers' allegations from Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
''The information that the Queens district attorney's office passed to the diocese will be investigated,'' DeRosa said. He would not reveal the information, and a spokeswoman from the district attorney's office declined to comment.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:31:15 AM

AUBURN (N.H.)
Boucher faces more
jail for sex crimes
The Union-Leader
By JASON SCHREIBER
Union Leader Correspondent
AUBURN — A sentencing hearing has been set for next week to decide whether a convicted sex offender who exposed himself to children at an Auburn church while their parents attended Mass should spend another 16 months behind bars.
Joseph “Leo” Boucher, 61, of Berlin, is to appear in Auburn District Court on Monday.
The hearing to determine whether Boucher should receive a 16-month deferred prison sentence was supposed to be held July 22, but was rescheduled when neither Boucher nor his lawyer showed up for court.
Boucher was convicted in 1998 of four misdemeanor indecent exposure charges for exposing himself to children he was caring for at St. Peter Church in 1997. Each charge carried a 12-month sentence, but four months of each sentence were deferred for one year.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:23:58 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
11 men allege abuse by
clergy in latest suits
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
Eleven men allege in lawsuits filed yesterday that they were sexually abused as children by six Catholic priests and a religious brother between 1955 and 1982.
The civil suits, filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court, bring to about 120 the number of people who allege they were molested by New Hampshire Catholic clerics since the church sex scandal broke in January, Manchester attorney Mark A. Abramson said.
The alleged victims, whose ages range from 35 to 55, live in New Hampshire, Abramson said. At least four have reported their alleged abuse to the state Attorney General’s Office, he added.
The suits allege:
David Goudreau was 5 years old when the Rev. Leo Shea began molesting him at his home and an Errol camp, he said. The abuse allegedly occurred from 1970 to 1978.
Paul Dubois also alleges he was molested by Shea on a trip to Cape Cod and at an Enfield chalet. The abuse allegedly occurred when he was 12-14 years old.
Shea served a state prison term for a 1994 conviction for raping an altar boy. A 2001 diocesan directory lists him as retired and living in Danbury.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:20:41 AM

SPRINGFIELD (Mass.)
Diocese explains support of Lavigne
Springfield Union-News
By BILL ZAJAC
The desire by many local Catholics for the Diocese of Springfield to cut financial support to a priest who pleaded guilty to sexual abuse will not likely occur even if the priest, the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne, is defrocked.
According to canon law, even if a priest is laicized, a bishop is obligated to support him financially if need be.
The financial support of priests who are dismissed "even for the most heinous reasons" was described in a one-page "Explanation of Laicization" that was sent to all diocesan clergy recently by the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, bishop of the Springfield diocese.
The "explanation" was part of a packet of information regarding the church's sexual abuse crisis.
"The law holds all members of the faithful, and particularly Bishops, to the higher demands of charity. Bishops are not allowed the luxury of taking the easy, or most popular, path," it stated.
The "explanation" appears to be a reaction to a protest by St. Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow in which the parish is withholding a percentage of weekly collections earmarked for the office of the bishop.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:13:20 AM

ALBANY (N.Y.)
Seventh priest named in scandal
Albany -- Diocese says the Rev. John Fitzpatrick had abused five children
Albany Times Union
By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer
At least five children were sexually abused by a priest who was forced out of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany in 1996 for sexual misconduct, a church official said Monday.
The Rev. John Fitzpatrick, who worked at parishes throughout the Capital Region, was not among the six priests publicly identified and removed from active ministry by church officials last month.
Fitzpatrick, who went to seminary with Bishop Howard Hubbard and was ordained in 1964, was not among those named because he no longer has any ties, nor receives a paycheck, from the diocese, said the Rev. Kenneth Doyle, chancellor of the diocese.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/30/2002 07:00:37 AM

Monday, July 29, 2002

BOSTON (Mass.)
Church abuse commission to meet with archdiocese officials
Boston.com
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press
BOSTON -- A commission put together to recommend ways to protect children from clergy sexual abuse will meet Tuesday with representatives of the Boston Archdiocese to discuss reform efforts already put in place by the church.
The meeting comes before the commission's final recommendations go to Cardinal Bernard Law.
The Rev. John Connolly, Law's private secretary, planned to discuss archdiocese reforms with the cardinal's Commission to Protect Children at a meeting Tuesday morning at the chancery.
The meeting comes two weeks after Attorney General Thomas Reilly criticized the archdiocese for being slow to implement change, but commission chairwoman Maureen Bateman said the public criticism was not the impetus for the meeting.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 10:08:50 PM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
New church policy on sexually abusive priests being ignored, victims advocates say
Boston.com
By Darlene Superville, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A national policy for disciplining sexually abusive priests isn't being consistently followed, advocates for molestation victims said Monday, the eve of the first meeting of a lay panel reviewing how U.S. Roman Catholic bishops punish alleged abusers.
"We've seen a number of very clear violations" of the policy bishops adopted last month at a meeting in Dallas, David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said at a news conference outside a Catholic church in downtown Washington.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said there would be no comment until a bishops' news conference Tuesday afternoon.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 05:06:40 PM

TULSA (OK)
Accused priest stayed in ministry
Tulsa bishop had pushed 'zero tolerance' in molestation cases
The Dallas Morning News
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
TULSA, Okla. – As clergy abuse scandals raged elsewhere a few months ago, Catholic leaders here spoke out forcefully. They criticized other dioceses for protecting molesters; they said that none of their active-duty priests had ever been accused; they said that they screen and rescreen employees, aiming to prevent abuse from occurring in the first place.
"We need to be ultrasafe – to have zero tolerance – in order to protect children," Bishop Edward Slattery told the Tulsa World in March.
Privately, however, he was keeping on the job a pastor who had been accused of inappropriate behavior with several boys, sent to a treatment center in 1994 and then moved to new parishes. He kept the Rev. Kenneth Lewis on the job until last weekend, despite new allegations of early-1990s misconduct and the vote by U.S. bishops last month to crack down further on abuse.
Bishop Slattery was in Canada for the pope's visit and unavailable this weekend, his office said. The Tulsa Diocese's chancellor and communications director, Dr. Henry Harder, said that Father Lewis had requested a leave of absence and that he didn't know why. Father Lewis did not respond to requests for comment.
Dr. Harder acknowledged that the priest had been the subject of internal investigations in 1994 and again this summer, which he said found "nothing actionable" under church law or criminal law. Thus, he said, no report was made to police or child-welfare officials.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 01:16:01 PM

TORONTO
Pope Tells Crowd of 'Shame' Caused by Abusive Priests
The New York Times
By FRANK BRUNI
TORONTO, July 28 — Speaking to a public audience about the child sexual abuse crisis for the first time since it engulfed the Roman Catholic Church this year, Pope John Paul II called the crimes and misdeeds of some priests a source of shame today and urged young Catholics not to lose faith.
"If you love Jesus, love the church," the Pope said during a homily at an outdoor Mass here this morning that was attended by hundreds of thousands of Catholics, many of them teenagers. "Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members.
"The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame," the Pope continued, speaking in English.
"But," he added, his voice rising as he stressed that word, "think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good."
Midway through that sentence, the pope was interrupted by applause from the crowd, which stretched out across the grass of an airfield that had been converted into a gargantuan outdoor cathedral.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:57:05 AM

SYDNEY (Australia)
Child protection advocates call on government to investigate church sex abuse
Yahoo! News
SYDNEY, Australia - A prominent child protection group on Monday called on the government to investigate child sex abuse by Australian Catholic priests after the church's most senior cleric reportedly described it as less of a crime than abortion.
Sydney Archbishop George Pell made the comments to 500 young Roman Catholic delegates at the World Youth Day forum in Toronto, Canada's national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, reported over the weekend.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/29/2002 08:53:57 AM

BROOKLYN (N.Y.)
Priest goes to pulpit,
denies sex rap
New York Daily News
By ELIZABETH O'BRIEN
DAILY NEWS WRITER
A suspended pastor declared his innocence from the pulpit of a Brooklyn church yesterday, insisting he never sexually abused two brothers 30 years ago.
"I stood before you four months ago and I stand before you again today to categorically and vehemently deny the charges against me," the Rev. Joseph Byrns told worshipers at St. Rose of Lima Church on Parkville Ave., Kensington.
Parishioners at the 10:30 a.m. Mass gave Byrns a standing ovation.
After publicly supporting Byrns, Bishop Thomas Daily suspended him indefinitely on Friday after Queens prosecutors said they found the sexual misconduct accusations credible. Byrns, 59, is accused of molesting two brothers when he was a priest at St. Anastasia Church in Queens in the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of the accusers, the Rev. Timothy Lambert, 44, is now a New Jersey priest.
Lambert, who said Byrns abused him for three years beginning when he was a 12-year-old altar boy, said yesterday that he was skeptical of the bishop's actions.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:49:42 AM

NAPLES (FL)
Priest now under investigation is close to bishop
Diocese won't discuss whether Flemming is still part of Bishop John Nevins' inner circle
Naples Daily News
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, aszagier@naplesnews.com
Like hundreds of other Catholic priests across the country, Father Neil Flemming is embroiled in the church's unprecedented child abuse scandal, facing accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor.
But Flemming, who held forth at St. William Catholic Church on Seagate Drive in Naples for nearly a decade, is no ordinary priest. Rather, he is part of Bishop John Nevins' inner circle, a trusted confidant who continued to serve as the Diocese of Venice's treasurer even after his retirement two years ago.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/29/2002 08:45:01 AM

ROCHESTER HILLS (MI)
Some Catholics say sermon helps to heal
They agree all priests shouldn't be tainted by the sins of a few
The Detroit News
By Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News
ROCHESTER HILLS -- Craig Wietchy did not travel to Toronto with thousands of others to attend World Youth Day. But the young Roman Catholic agreed with the message delivered by Pope John Paul II Sunday, urging them not to judge all priests by the actions of a few.
The sexual abuse scandals rocking the Catholic church were addressed publicly by the pontiff for the first time.
"The pastors at my church have addressed this quite a bit. I agree with the pope saying we should support the majority of priests who do good," said Wietchy, 18, as he worked Sunday at a sports shop. "I really think the media has blown the sexual abuse all out of proportion. For every bad priest, there are probably hundreds doing their jobs and creating a positive influence."
Cardinal Adam Maida of the Archdiocese of Detroit agreed.
From Toronto, he said, "The holy father was the one who helped the American church come to terms with the sexual abuse crisis. When he gathered the cardinals together in Rome in April, he insisted that we find a way to restore trust among our people. Today, in Toronto, the pope wanted to make sure that trust was restored to our young people."
But Ken Land, a non-Catholic who counsels sexual abuse victims, took issue with the pope.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:38:31 AM

TORONTO
Don't let abuse crisis dim hope, pontiff urges
Pope to youth: Look beyond scandal
The Detroit News
By Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
TORONTO -- Encouraging young pilgrims to cling to their faith, Pope John Paul II on Sunday told World Youth Day participants not to be discouraged by the "sins and failings" of some church leaders.
The pope's first public comments on the sex abuse scandal involving U.S. priests were met by cheers from the crowd of 800,000, most of whom endured thunderstorms to participate in the papal Mass that concluded World Youth Day.
"The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame," he said. "But think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:36:15 AM

TORONTO
Aging pope lifts spirits, tells youths to look ahead
Detroit Free Press
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
TORONTO -- Nothing could dim the ecstatic spirits of the Catholic Woodstock that culminated the weeklong World Youth Day festival with Pope John Paul II.
Not torrential downpours on Sunday morning that soaked the 200,000 young pilgrims who camped out for 24 hours. After all, they soon dried in the sun.
Not the high winds that ripped apart huge balloon-shaped light fixtures that had kept the vast fields aglow on Saturday night. After all, no one was hurt when the fixtures blew away.
And not even the scandal of priests sexually abusing young people that has rocked the church in the United States. The pope tried to dismiss that with a one-sentence apology in his homily at Sunday's mass.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:32:31 AM

TORONTO
Pontiff urges hope
Boston Herald
by Eric Convey
TORONTO - Pope John Paul II, in his first public reference to the clergy sex-abuse revelations rocking his church in the United States, told some 900,000 Catholics yesterday that the scandal ``fills us with a deep sense of sadness and shame.''
Delivering a homily during a Mass concluding World Youth Day, the leader of the Roman Catholic church urged the faithful to maintain hope.
``If you love Jesus, love the church,'' he said. ``Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members.''
The crowd included Bernard Cardinal Law and about 600 young people from the Archdiocese of Boston who sat through drenching rains before the Mass began.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:29:05 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Alleged abuse victims say pope's words fall short
Boston Herald
by Franci Richardson
Local sex abuse victims of pedophile priests were discouraged by Pope John Paul II's message yesterday urging youths gathered in Toronto to look beyond the sins of a few and embrace the majority of dedicated Roman Catholic priests.
``Nowhere in there did he imply any change. That's a problem,'' said Bob Bartlett, 40, of Haverhill, an alleged victim of abuse by the Rev. Robert Paquin, who remains jailed on sex abuse charges.
``I agree with the premise it's not right to judge the many by the actions of the few. However, there has to be actions by the many to prevent the actions of the few and they're not doing that,'' Bartlett added.
Ralph DelVecchio, an alleged victim of defrocked priest and convicted abuser John Geoghan, agreed and took exception to what he called the pope's unsympathetic words.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:27:03 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Back to work: Recharged Law says he's ready to rebound
Boston Herald
by Eric Convey
TORONTO - Battered by the sexual abuse scandal but buoyed by the throngs of pilgrims, Cardinal Bernard Law last night said he is ready to rebound from the molestation crisis.
After the weeklong World Youth Day conference, Law said he was returning to New England with new energy to guide an archdiocese considered the epicenter of turmoil.
``I have been in an oasis here,'' Law told the Herald last night in an interview.
Law, who led a delegation of 600 young people from the archdiocese to Canada, said the support he received from worshipers has recharged his spiritual batteries.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:24:47 AM

TORONTO
Pope speaks of scandal's 'sadness'
Urges young to see beyond abuse crisis
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff
TORONTO - Pope John Paul II yesterday expressed ''sadness and shame'' over the clergy sexual abuse crisis, but urged hundreds of thousands of rain-soaked Catholics not to be discouraged by the scandal that is roiling the church.
The ailing 82-year-old pontiff, whose reference to himself as ''old'' prompted chants of ''the pope is young'' from the crowd, chose the start of a three-hour outdoor papal Mass to offer his first remarks on the current crisis while on the American continent. He urged young Catholics, who have come from all over the world to celebrate the 17th World Youth Day, to remain true not only to their Christian faith, but also their Catholic denomination, saying of the church, ''We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures.''
''If you love Jesus, love the church,'' the pope said, sitting on a multitiered, 40,000-square-foot stage with more than 1,000 young adults and 450 bishops, including Cardinal Bernard F. Law of Boston. ''Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members.''
The pope, who is now considering whether to approve a national child protection policy adopted by US bishops last month, acknowledged that Catholics have been hurt by the clergy sex abuse scandal, which exploded in Boston in January. In the ensuing months, dioceses around the United States and in a growing number of other nations have been forced to admit that in the latter half of the 20th century, numerous priests sexually abused minors, while their supervising bishops often failed to remove them from ministry.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:21:26 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Pope's homily draws mixed response from local Catholics
Abuse comments draw praise, but derision as well
Boston Globe
By Corey Dade, Globe Staff
They cheered in Toronto yesterday after Pope John Paul II addressed the clergy sexual abuse scandal there, but reactions in Boston, the epicenter of the crisis, were of equal parts hope and dismay.
Advocates for victims of pedophile priests said the pope, commenting publicly on the crisis for the first time in months, brought them no comfort. Church reformers had hoped for a more forceful stand, if not a call for systemic change. And several other Catholics said the pontiff's remarks at World Youth Day were appropriate - but long overdue.
''He's the leader of the church and that's where it should come from. I think it's good because that's what everybody's been waiting for,'' said Patrick McFeely, as he left the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, where picket signs calling for the removal of Cardinal Bernard F. Law have become weekly events since the scandal erupted in January. ''He comes out and says how he feels, and that's how everyone else feels. It was affirming.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:18:40 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Law finds 'an oasis' among the young
Cardinal praises pope's remarks on clerical abuse
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 7/29/2002
TORONTO - Cardinal Bernard F. Law, wrapping up a six-day trip here with a delegation of 550 young Catholics from metropolitan Boston, said yesterday that he was heartened by their enthusiasm and support at a time when he has been facing criticism at home.
''To be in the midst of this under any circumstances is to strengthen one's faith, but surely in these weeks and months, when we've had the particular challenge, the pathos, the particular aspect of the cross, it's an oasis to be with these young people and to get a glimpse of the future, a future that all of us want for the church,'' he said in a brief interview yesterday afternoon.
Law, who has been criticized for not acting over years to remove sexually abusive priests from ministry, has kept a lower profile than some American bishops in Toronto this week, staying closer to the local pilgrims rather than leading a public tutorial on Catholicism as some have done. But he celebrated Mass twice with the local delegates and joined them for a religious concert Friday night. He appeared on stage with Pope John Paul II Saturday night and again during a Mass yesterday.
Law said he welcomed the pope's remarks on clergy sexual abuse during his homily yesterday.
''I loved his homily, from beginning to end,'' Law said. ''I thought it was wonderful, and I'm anxious to be able to see it in print and to meditate on it. But I thought he did a masterful job in communicating the word. I think he did it beautifully.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 08:14:00 AM

TORONTO
Pope speaks on sex scandal
Pontiff asks young people to remain faithful despite 'the harm done by some'; At World Youth Day Mass, he notes good done by 'vast majority of priests'
Baltimore Sun
By John Rivera
Sun Staff
TORONTO -- In a plea to those he calls the hope and future of the church, Pope John Paul II beseeched hundreds of thousands of young Catholic pilgrims encamped yesterday on a former airfield not to lose faith because of "the harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable."
In his first remarks on the sexual abuse scandal during this weeklong World Youth Day celebration, the pope said the abuse of minors by priests "fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame."
But he urged the youths to look beyond the evil of a few.
"If you love Jesus, you love the church," the pope told the youths in a clear and emphatic voice that in recent years has often been slurred and indistinct because of Parkinson's disease. "Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:58:20 AM

CLOVERPORT (KY)
Abused himself, Kentucky priest helps victims
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
CLOVERPORT, Ky. -- Growing up in the 1960s in a heavily Catholic New Jersey city, Gary Hayes dreamed of becoming a priest.
Little could he know that the dream would take him to Western Kentucky and two small Breckinridge County parishes. Nor could he have known that a childhood incident would elevate him to national prominence as a voice for those who have been abused by priests.
As both a priest and a survivor of abuse by priests, Hayes occupies a unique role in the ongoing molestation crisis in the Catholic Church. He views himself as the loyal opposition -- passionately loyal to his calling, yet fiercely opposed to church officials' coverups of abusive priests.
That dual role can make for some awkward moments with other abuse victims, he acknowledges.
''They see me as another survivor, and they're real appreciative of that,'' he says. ''But then they also see me as a priest and that's very hard. Because people are angry and critical. I'm angry and critical, so hello.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:52:27 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
Books on Catholic issues vie for audience after abuse scandals
The Washington Times
By Larry Witham
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Headlines about the Catholic Church and sex abuse have generated a small book war as secular and religious publishers pour new and old titles into the marketplace.
Leading the pack, according to Internet sales in recent days, is journalist and papal critic Gary Wills' "Why I Am a Catholic."
It appears to be followed in sales by "Betrayal," a recap of the Boston Globe staff's reporting on the Boston sex abuse scandal, and then by a conservative book "Goodbye, Good Men" on the decline of vocations, which author Michael S. Rose blames partly on open homosexuality in the priesthood.
The publishing industry, according to trade journals, has been careful not to exploit the church scandals. But the topic has gained publishing wings, with at least 10 books focusing on the Catholic Church that are new, reissued or picking up sales on Amazon.com.
Greg Erlandson, publisher of Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), one of top independent Catholic publishers, said the scandals require walking a fine line between profit and edification.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:31:35 AM

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
How Deep The Scars Of Abuse?
Some Victims Crippled; Others Stay Resilient
The Washington Post
By Sandra G. Boodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Although they have never met, Henry R. Bachmann of Port Wentworth, Ga., and Frank L. Fitzpatrick of Cranston, R.I., have a lot in common.
Both men, now in their early fifties, were molested by Roman Catholic priests in the mid-1960s when they were altar boys. For decades, both repressed the memory of what had happened -- a festering secret that metastasized into consuming self-hatred, unfocused anger, and serious sexual problems. Both men continue to take medication to treat depression and anxiety stemming from the abuse inflicted by men they revered.
Despite their many overt similarities, Bachmann, 51, and Fitzpatrick, 52, have fared quite differently. Bachmann says he cannot stop thinking about the sadistic "games" the Rev. James Gummersbach repeatedly forced on him in the basement of a St. Louis church 38 years ago. He has dropped out of school, battled alcoholism, attempted suicide, been diagnosed with predatory sexual disorders and spent time in a mental hospital and jail. He is now unemployed.
By contrast, Fitzpatrick has managed to fashion a satisfying life, juggling careers as an insurance investigator, advocate for the abused and, most recently, a music teacher. Despite his successes, Fitzpatrick said he still bears the psychological scars inflicted by James R. Porter, a former priest who is serving a 20-year prison term in Massachusetts.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:25:02 AM

CONCORD (N.H.)
Voice of the Faithful group growing in N.H.
Foster's Democrat
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A group dedicated to giving parishioners a greater say in Roman Catholic Church policies is expanding across the state despite skepticism from church leaders.
The Voice of the Faithful was founded in the Boston area last winter by Catholics frustrated over revelations that church officials covered up sexual abuse by priests.
New Hampshire’s chapter, based in Concord, has more than 100 members from around the state, and Catholics in several other cities have expressed interest in forming their own chapters.
As it grows, the group faces a number of questions. Should it focus solely on resolving the sex abuse scandal and ensuring that priests are adequately supervised with children? Or should it also seek greater oversight of church finances and work to change policies that prohibit women from becoming priests?
A larger question is whether the group will disband after the abuse scandal is settled or will it remain a lasting voice for the laity?

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:15:04 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
Rev. Arsenault discusses challenges facing the church
Foster's Democrat
By J.M. HIRSCH
Associated Press Writer
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — For the Rev. Edward Arsenault, a bad week kept getting worse.
It started Tuesday, when another priest filed a lawsuit alleging officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester covered up a dead priest’s child pornography stash, and punished the would-be whistleblower.
It ended with weekend Mass when Arsenault, by chance the pastor at the deceased priest’s parish, had to explain to his congregation the embarrassing — and he says distorted — facts of the case.
But weeks such as these are increasingly common for Arsenault, who as diocesan chancellor has become Bishop John B. McCormack’s point man on the priest sex abuse crisis.
And soon, the problem that has dominated headlines for months, also will dominate Arsenault’s life. He is giving up his pastorship at St. Pius X to focus full time on rebuilding trust in the church and responding to the scandal.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:12:49 AM

PORTLAND (ME)
Catholics from Maine see pope
Portland Press Herald
By TED COHEN, Blethen Maine Newspapers
PORTLAND — The world may be in turmoil and a number of priests embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal, but Maine's adolescent Catholics who traveled to Toronto to see the pope are bullish on faith.
"We got to within three or four feet of him," said Mike Harris, 18, of South Berwick, who saw Pope John Paul II during the church's 17th World Youth Day. "It was amazing."
Harris was among 215 Catholic teen-agers from Maine who traveled to Toronto with Jeanne Bigelow of Naples, director of Catholic Youth Ministry for the state's Roman Catholic diocese, for several days of prayer and fellowship. An additional 200 young Catholics from Maine made the trip on their own.
This is Bigelow's fourth such trip. Her last trip with a group of young Maine Catholics took her to Rome two years ago.
Though worldwide attendance was down in Toronto, due partly to the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the Church, the number of Maine participants has remained fairly constant.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 07:05:04 AM

PALM BEACH GARDENS (FL)
Money Scandal in Florida Diocese Adds to Church Woes
The New York Times
By SAM DILLON
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — After their last two bishops acknowledged sexual abuse and resigned, few Roman Catholics in the Diocese of Palm Beach imagined that things could get worse. But in recent weeks, public confidence has eroded further as church authorities have been forced to reveal that the same disgraced bishops kept secret the embezzlement of $400,000.
The first of the two, Bishop J. Keith Symons, learned in 1994 that the diocese's chief financial officer, Robert Schattie, had plundered the church treasury, but to avoid scandal the bishop did not file charges, church officials said. Instead, the diocese signed a secret agreement with Mr. Schattie under which he was to repay $200 a month, a schedule that would have required more than a century to reach restitution.
But Mr. Schattie quit paying after only a few months, church documents indicate, and Bishop Symons took no action before he resigned in 1998 for molesting boys. Under his successor, Bishop Anthony O'Connell, the diocese continued to consider it more important to keep the embezzlement secret than to recover the money, said J. Patrick Fitzgerald, a lawyer for the diocese.
The embezzlement became public only recently when Mr. Schattie's former wife, Darlene Kott, informed local reporters and provided documents backing her assertions.
The scandal has fueled frustrations among the nation's lay Catholics over their lack of control over the financial dealings of the bishops, who in many dioceses have entered into deals that have concealed crimes committed by clergy or other church insiders. While the Palm Beach embezzlement was not directly related to the bishops' sexual abuse, their efforts to conceal both embarrassments have linked the sexual and financial matters in the public mind.
"These bishops have acted just like corrupt corporate executives," said Edward M. Ricci, a Palm Beach lawyer and major Catholic fund-raiser who suspended his philanthropic activities on behalf of the church after Bishop O'Connell acknowledged that he had abused former seminarians and resigned in March. "There's no accountability, either with the money or with sexual misconduct."
Jack Goldberger, Mr. Schattie's lawyer, said that Mr. Schattie never admitted stealing anything from the diocese, but acknowledged that his client signed an agreement to repay money.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/29/2002 06:55:36 AM

Sunday, July 28, 2002

TORONTO
Molestation victims say pope's comments on clerical sex abuse fall short
Boston.com
By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press
TORONTO -- Advocates for victims of sexually abusive priests complained that Pope John Paul II's comments Sunday on the clerical misconduct crisis seemed to sympathize more with priests than with Roman Catholics who were molested.
Janet Patterson of Conway Springs, Kan., said the pope should have encouraged those gathered for World Youth Day to embrace victims as "brothers and sisters in Christ." She blames the 1999 suicide of her 29-year-old son, Eric, on abuse by their parish priest when he was 12.
"I'd like to see a lot more attention put on prior victims who are still struggling through life, never having the chance to live the kind of life they should," she said in a phone interview.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 06:29:37 PM

TORONTO
Pope urges young people not to let scandal shake their faith in the church
Pontif says abuse brings 'sadness and shame'
Boston.com
By Victor L. Simpson, Associated Press
TORONTO -- Speaking publicly on the scandal for the first time, Pope John Paul II told young Catholics on Sunday that sexual abuse of children by priests "fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame," but he urged them to support the vast majority of priests who do good.
The frail, 82-year-old pope spoke clearly and at times forcefully during the three-hour Mass for World Youth Day, faltering only at the end when he grew visibly tired, slurred some words and lost his place in his text.
He told the estimated 800,000 pilgrims at a soggy, muddy outdoor Mass that young believers should not let the actions of a few sway their faith.
"If you love Jesus, love the Church. Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members," John Paul said.
"The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame," he said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 06:25:41 PM

WICHITA (Kan.)
Anger, sorrow at Larson hearing
Ex-priest Robert Larson's victims argue passionately that he should stay in jail. His former colleagues ask the parole board to show mercy.
The Wichita Eagle
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle
Some stood alone. Others gathered in groups for moral support.
They spoke with Thursday passion and pain to the Kansas Parole Board about Robert Larson, the former priest up for parole 18 months after being convicted of molesting altar boys.
A few asked the board to release Larson from prison as a gesture of forgiveness for the sex crimes he committed while he was a priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newton more than 15 years ago.
He was convicted of one felony count of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of sexual battery, and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison. Larson, 72, is eligible for parole after serving half the minimum sentence.
But most said releasing Larson from prison after only 18 months would be an insult to his victims.
"I've lived with this since I was 12 years old.... I'm going to deal with this for the rest of my life," said Darren Razor of Newton, one of the four boys Larson admitted molesting.
Because he was abused on days he served Mass for Larson, Razor said, "every Sunday is a bad day for me."
Paul Schwartz, another of Larson's victims, pulled out wedding photos and showed them to the four-member parole board.
"I was abused on that day -- right there," Schwartz said, jabbing a finger toward the photos for emphasis.
Larson molested him the day of the wedding, where Schwartz was serving as an altar boy, and more than 20 other times over a 30-month period, he said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 06:02:37 PM

HARTFORD (CT)
Pope John Paul II's Mexican Gamble
Hartford Courant
By JASON BERRY And GERALD RENNER
Frail and stooped, Pope John Paul II is showing great willpower in what may be the last trip of his pontificate. From Toronto, where he is participating in World Youth Day events this weekend, he will head to Mexico. There, on Wednesday, he will canonize Juan Diego, the Aztec peasant believed to have had a vision in 1531 of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the icon of Mexico's Spanish and Indian cultures.
There is a darker symbolism, and subtext, to the Mexican journey, one that shows how clueless Roman Curia officials are to the sex abuse scandals that have convulsed the church. It raises questions about how Catholics can expect leadership from Rome when the highest echelon of the Holy See - led by the pope - is in the same state of denial that afflicted the U. S. bishops 20 to 30 years ago.
One of John Paul's allies, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion of Christ, a religious order begun in Mexico and headquartered in Rome, has been accused by nine men of repeated sexual assaults when they were Legion seminarians in Rome in the 1940s, '50s and '60s.
The accusations were first lodged in a letter to Pope John Paul II in 1978 by two former Legion priests working in the United States. One of them, Juan Vaca, had help from officials in the diocese of Rockville Center, Long Island, who made sure that the letter went to the Vatican Embassy in Washington for delivery by diplomatic pouch to Rome, and received confirmation of receipt by the Vatican.
Vaca never got a reply from the Vatican.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 04:50:10 PM

He dares to question
Boston Globe
Column by Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist, 7/28/2002
Ideology and science are a dangerous mix, an old lesson learned anew last week by Dr. Paul McHugh, the former chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
McHugh, a Boston boy and a Harvard man, is under fire again, this time for his appointment by the United States Conference of Bishops to a national lay board that will monitor how well the bishops handle charges of sexual abuse by priests.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/28/2002 03:47:24 PM

RELIGION AND MEDIA
When 'two alien cultures' face off
Boston Globe
By Mark Jurkowitz, 7/28/2002
tunning cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergymen did not just start generating headlines this year. Almost two decades ago in Louisiana, reporter Jason Berry unearthed the sordid tale of a priest with a track record of sexually abusing children. A decade ago, Massachusetts was rocked by similar revelations about former Fall River priest James Porter. The Dallas Morning News spent a good chunk of the '90s covering a notorious episode in that city. Tom Roberts, editor of the National Catholic Reporter, has ''fat envelopes full of clips'' about similar misconduct published over the past 20 years...
The intensity and tenor of the coverage have generated some harsh criticism, much, but not all, of it coming from inside the church hierarchy. And there is some concern about the Catholic Church being chewed up in America's culture of shrill public debate, driven by ravenous cable news networks and an endless parade of pundits. But by and large, a mainstream media corps often accused of a lack of perspective and understanding when it comes to organized religion is getting high marks for unearthing a scandal with broad and deep implications.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/28/2002 03:32:11 PM

TORONTO
Don't let sex scandals rocking Roman Catholic church diminish faith says Pope
National Post
JAMES MCCARTEN
Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) - Pope John Paul acknowledged the Roman Catholic clergy's "sins and failings" Sunday as he urged a massive outdoor congregation not to let a string of sex abuse scandals diminish their faith in the Church.
An estimated 800,000 people, more than half of whom braved driving rains during an open-air vigil overnight, listened solemnly as John Paul pleaded with them not to cast blame on all priests for the sins of a few. "The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame," the 82-year-old pontiff said in a strong but tremulous voice, his face contorted with effort.
Please see below for the text of the homily read by Pope John Paul at Sunday's mass concluding
"But think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests whose only wish is to serve and do good . . . be close to them and support them."
His remarks prompted a chorus of cheers and applause from the congregation. Some among the hundreds of priests gathered on the stage to deliver communion also clapped their hands.
As Pope John Paul spoke, congregants dried themselves in emerging sunshine and strong winds after a thick blanket of rain cloud that drenched the audience overnight and earlier Sunday began to break apart.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 01:44:43 PM

MONTREAL
Priests busted in crackdown
Male prostitution ring had U.S. clientele
Montreal Gazette
SIDHARTHA BANERJEE
Montreal Gazette
A police crackdown on a male prostitution ring, which catered mainly to American tourists traveling to Montreal specifically to solicit sex from minors, has also netted a pair of Roman Catholic priests from New Jersey.
Rev. Eugene Heyndricks, 60, of Guttenberg, N.J., and Rev. William Giblin, 70, of Edgewater, N.J., are back in the United States after appearing in Quebec Court July 19. They were charged with procuring for the purpose of prostitution and soliciting sexual favours.
Both priests, who belong to the Archdiocese of Newark, have opted for a jury trial. They were released on a $1,000 bond and with certain conditions attached.
Both are due back in Montreal for a preliminary hearing Oct. 2.
Few details have been given on the male prostitution ring, which involved children as young as 14, after it was dismantled by Montreal police earlier this week in a series of raids.
Police have remained tight-lipped about what role the priests, who were charged nine days prior to the raids last Wednesday, played in their investigation.
But it was clear the prostitution ring was catering to a largely American clientele.
"The network was very well-known on the American side," said Constable Ian Lafreniére, a Montreal police spokesman. "It was very well-known that American people were coming to Montreal to pick up prostitutes."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 09:44:47 AM

MONTREAL/NEWARK
2 Jersey priests arrested in Canadian sex case
Pair out on bail after Montreal sting operation
Newark Star-Ledger
July 27, 2002
BY GEORGE BERKIN AND MARK MUELLER
Two New Jersey priests, including the former head of the prestigious Seton Hall Prep school, were arrested in Montreal this week on charges they solicited sex from minors, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark said yesterday.
The Rev. William Giblin, 70, the former Seton Hall Prep headmaster and retired pastor of St. Joseph's Church in East Orange, and the Rev. Eugene Heyndricks, 60, who most recently headed a parish in Hudson County, were caught in a police sting operation on Wednesday, archdiocese spokesman James Goodness said.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/28/2002 09:24:10 AM

MONTREAL
Priests arrested in Montreal sting
The Jersey Journal
By Michaelangelo Conte
Journal staff writer
The former headmaster of Seton Hall Preparatory School and a Hudson County priest have left the ministry following their arrests on sex-related charges in Canada earlier this week, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark said last night.
Arrested was the Rev. William M. Giblin, 70, the former headmaster, who is currently a retired priest living at Holy Rosary Church in Edgewater, said James Goodness, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark.
Also arrested was the Rev. Eugene Hendricks, pastor of St. John Nepomucene Church in Guttenberg, who lives in the church rectory there, said Goodness.
"The Archdiocese is appalled by the allegations, and both priests are now removed from the ministry pending the outcome of the investigation," Goodness said last night. "We understand they were arrested, and that it was a part of a sting operation."
Goodness added that "the arrest does involve something sexual, but we don't know exactly what."
Goodness said the Archdiocese has not been formally notified of the charges the priests face, but that the priests posted bail and have returned to the United States, and are scheduled to return to Montreal to make court appearances in the fall.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 09:05:57 AM

LAS CRUCES
Police look into claim priest was abusive
El Paso Times
Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
El Paso police are investigating allegations of sexual misconduct in 1973 by a St. Patrick Cathedral priest with an 11-year-old boy, officials said Wednesday.
The Rev. Denis Tejada was removed Monday from his pastoral and administrative duties at St. Genevieve's Catholic Church in Las Cruces due to the allegations, the bishops of El Paso and Las Cruces said in a joint statement Tuesday.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 7/28/2002 09:02:10 AM

MONTREAL
Two priests arrested in boy sex ring
New York Daily News
Two New Jersey priests were busted in Montreal on charges they solicited sex from teenage male prostitutes, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark said.
The Rev. William Giblin, 70, and the Rev. Eugene Heyndricks, 60, were arrested Wednesday, church officials said.
Giblin is a former headmaster of Seton Hall Prep, a Catholic boys school, and Heyndricks served until last week at St. John Nepomucene Church in Guttenberg, N.J. The priests were swept up along with 28 other people in a sting operation aimed at breaking up a prostitution ring made up of boys as young as 14.
Canadian police said they arrested two ringleaders, who allegedly recruited teenagers by telling them they could make $20 to $200 per client depending on the extent of their sexual acts, according to The Gazette of Montreal. The ringleaders took 30% of the prostitutes' earnings, Canadian cops told The Gazette.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 08:51:59 AM

BROOKLYN (N.Y.)
Pastor Suspended After Abuse Claim Is Revisited
The New York Times
By JAYSON BLAIR
A Roman Catholic pastor whom the Diocese of Brooklyn had previously defended was suspended Friday because of allegations of sexual abuse, diocesan officials said yesterday.
The pastor, the Rev. Joseph P. Byrns, had been accused by a priest of molesting him for three years starting in the late 1960's. The priest, the Rev. Timothy J. Lambert, of New Jersey, told Brooklyn Diocese officials about five years ago that the abuse began when he was 11 years old and an altar boy at St. Anastasia Parish in Douglaston, Queens, where Father Byrns was then assigned.
The allegations became public in March; diocesan officials said that church investigators had looked into them and were convinced by Father Byrns's denials. But on Friday, church officials reversed their decision and suspended Father Byrns, removing him as pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in the Kensington section of Brooklyn on the orders of Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn. The move was first reported in Newsday yesterday.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 08:40:24 AM

NEW BUFFALO (MI)
Parish wants to keep priest who abused boy
Many forgave the Rev. Thomas DeVita years ago. But new rules force his removal
The Detroit News
By Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
Special to The Detroit News
NEW BUFFALO, Mich. -- It was Aug. 16, 1998, when America's Catholic priest scandal reached the pews of St. Mary of the Lake Church.
The Rev. Thomas DeVita, the well-liked pastor at the tiny brick church, stood at the pulpit and confessed to having sexual contact with a teen-age boy 20 years earlier. He'd made a mistake, he said. He'd repented and asked God for mercy. Now, he was asking the same of his parishioners. Forgive him, DeVita said, or he would leave the priesthood.
Shocked by the news but sympathetic to a leader they respected, many in the church that morning gave DeVita a standing ovation.
Later that day, parishioner Esther Adrian sat in her New Buffalo farmhouse and wondered whether the church had done the right thing: "This man has really sinned and what did we do? We clapped for him."
This tiny west Michigan town captures the conflicting emotions that Catholics across the nation have faced in recent months, as hundreds of cases of sex abuse and cover-ups have been revealed. An estimated 250 priests have either resigned or have been removed from the church because of allegations of sex abuse. DeVita will join their ranks today, when he performs his last Sunday Mass.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 08:32:30 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Hub Catholics eye vocations: Youth Day participants heed Law request
Boston Herald
by Eric Convey
TORONTO - Neither scandal within their church nor the sensual offerings of the wider world stopped 45 young Boston-area Catholics from expressing interest this past week in the priesthood or other full-time religious work.
The extraordinary display of interest followed a request from Bernard Cardinal Law, who invited potential full-time religious workers to approach the altar for special prayer at the conclusion of a Mass Thursday. The Mass was part of World Youth Day events in Canada attended by Boston-area Catholics.
Their response comes amid not just the steady trend of declining religious vocations nationwide, but also the unusual strain brought upon the Archdiocese of Boston by revelations about how sexually abusive priests were shuffled among parishes by superiors.
``Becoming a priest is something I really need to keep open,'' said Michael Sheehan, 21, of Norwood.
The Williams College senior described a call from Jesus with which he is grappling.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 07:44:39 AM BOSTON (Mass.)
Faithful seek salvation for St. Joseph's Church
Boston Herald
by Marie Szaniszlo
For as long as Marcia Scott can remember, St. Joseph's Church has been part of her family's life.
When her sister was dying of cancer more than a decade ago, it was the pastor of St. Joe's who walked the mile and a half to her house in Roxbury each day to give her Holy Communion...
When the church celebrated its 175th anniversary, there was standing room only. And when word spread that the Boston Archdiocese planned to raze Roxbury's oldest church because it had fallen into disrepair, Scott and other parishioners gathered nearly 500 signatures in a matter of days and convinced the city Landmarks Commission last week to delay the demolition for 90 days...
Archdiocesan officials estimate that restoring the building would cost $7.9 million - money they would be hard-pressed to justify spending, they say, on a church with dwindling attendance...
No one is more acutely aware of St. Joe's status as a poor, predominantly African-American and Latino parish than its congregation. Since January, when services ended at the church because of its deteriorating slate roof, many parishioners have wondered privately whether the archdiocese would have gone to greater lengths to save the church had it served a more affluent community. But until now they have kept silent, reluctant to criticize the archdiocese publicly at a time when Bernard Cardinal Law already was being assailed for triggering a national crisis in the Catholic Church by protecting priests accused of molesting children.
By last Tuesday, however, when the archdiocese told the Landmarks Commission it expects to spend nearly $500,000 to demolish St. Joe's rather than try to keep it open, parishioners decided they would not go quietly.
``Is it because it's located in a poor neighborhood that they think they can just walk in here and tear it down?'' Scott said. ``It's no longer cost-effective for us, so to heck with the people?''
Archdiocesan officials point to numerous other churches they have closed in recent years, all based not on class or race but dwindling congregations and a shortage of priests - problems critics argue are of the Catholic Church's own making.
Indeed, the realization that the church refused to ordain women and married men at the same time that bishops such as Law coddled priests suspected of raping children is one of the reasons many devout Catholics have cited for withholding donations.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 07:40:27 AM

ALBANY (N.Y.)
Church attends to ousted priests
Albany Times-Union
The decision by Bishop Howard Hubbard to provide social services for the priests follows the Catholic Church's long-held mission to minister to those who have sinned and are trying to reform their lives, says one church scholar.
"It's a guess, but I'd say Bishop Hubbard is probably a couple steps ahead of other bishops in deciding to assign a case manager," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, publisher of the Catholic magazine America. "I think it shows again what he is known for everywhere: his compassionate, pastoral leadership. Ultimately, the other bishops are going to decide to do very similar things. Just because these people are priests doesn't mean the church shouldn't do the same for them."
But Hubbard's decision has angered some people, who argue the church continues to be more sympathetic to the priests than to abuse victims.
"The church apparently is prepared to follow these priests for the rest of their lives and we should expect no less for the victims," said Sharon Jones Witbeck, a 48-year-old divorced mother of three. It was Witbeck's allegations earlier this year that she was abused decades ago by the Rev. Joseph Mancuso that led Hubbard to eventually remove Mancuso as pastor of Mount Carmel Church in Schenectady.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 07:26:58 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
Diocesan chancellor explains Manchester priest’s death
Foster's Sunday Citizen
By J.M. HIRSCH
AP Writer
MANCHESTER— A top official with the Diocese of Manchester told parishioners Saturday that the church did not try to cover up the circumstances of their priest’s death, nor did it oust a potential whistle-blower.
The Rev. Edward Arsenault, the diocesan chancellor, addressed the congregation of St. Pius X, where the Rev. Richard Connors was assigned at the time of his death in November 1999.
Another priest, the Rev. James A. MacCormack, has filed a lawsuit accusing Bishop John B. McCormack and other church officials of trying to keep him silent about a child pornography collection discovered in Connors’s residence after his death. MacCormack alleges that church officials disposed of the pornography before police had an opportunity to see it and ruined his career as part of the alleged cover-up.
But Arsenault denied the accusations.
"There was not a cover-up of any criminal behavior, nor any cover-up of a hidden lifestyle," he said. "There is not nor has there ever been a relationship between or drawn between Father Dick’s death and Father MacCormack’s personal issues."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 07:23:20 AM

MANCHESTER (N.H.)
Diocese admits to priest’s secret life, but denies coverup
The Union Leader
By GARY DENNIS
Union Leader Staff
In a year rife with scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, the Rev. Edward J. Arsenault yesterday tried to help parishioners at St. Pius X deal with one that hit close to home.
“It’s never pleasant to find out that something was kept from you,” Arsenault told a fairly full St. Pius parish hall during yesterday’s 4 p.m. Mass. “. . . I’m sorry this has happened in our church.”
Arsenault, the diocesan chancellor, took a full 10 minutes to speak to those attending the liturgy about the circumstances surrounding the 1999 death of beloved St. Pius priest Richard Connors.
He conceded church officials removed pornography kept by Connors soon after his death, but denied there was any kind of coverup.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 7/28/2002 07:17:20 AM

LAWRENCE (Mass.)
Priests wary of Voice of the Faithful
The Eagle-Tribune
By Rebecca Griffin
Eagle-Tribune Writer
An emerging group of reform-minded laypeople called the Voice of the Faithful hopes parishes across the country will open chapters and work for positive change in the Catholic Church.
But judging what priests think of the fledging group is difficult, in part because so few are willing to talk publicly about the movement. Many area priests questioned refused to answer while others hedged on their answers. Those who did speak commended parishioners for taking charge of their church, but warned against extreme measures.
"It's not a simple question," said the Rev. James J. Ronan, pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Lawrence. "For lay people to come together and be concerned about the church is right and appropriate in every way."
But, he said, the lay group's agenda is unclear. It will only work if the group can avoid "extreme movements of one form or another," he said.