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More Pre-11/2002 Archives

Saturday, September 07, 2002

LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Finger
God and the L.A. Times work in mysterious ways.
Los Angeles New Times
AS TOLD TO RICK BARRS
Satan's Hot Breath
Now wasn't that Labor Day dedication of L.A.'s new Roman Catholic cathedral downtown just freakin' perfect?! It was hotter than hell outside (The Finger thought it saw Satan himself sitting atop a TV truck), which several people on hand speculated was God's way of letting Cardinal Roger M. Mahony know what's in store for him and the pedophile priests he's harbored. As for whether that hellfire comes in the afterlife or sooner's pretty much up to L.A. County district attorney Steve Cooley. At Cooley's behest, highly placed sources report, authorities are gearing up to begin arresting 17 of the cardinal's pedo-padres on criminal charges. And that's only the beginning, since at least 72, and likely more than 100, sex-abusing clerics are now under investigation in the three-county L.A. Archdiocese. Plus, let's not forget that Cooley, in an interview with New Times, didn't rule out His Eminence becoming the subject of a grand jury probe. After all, the criminal sins of measly priests pale in comparison to the coverup of the pedophilia problem in the American church by the likes of Roger the Dodger -- who's now getting mentioned in the same breath as Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston (who was an honored guest at the dedication), the difference being that Law's a doddering old man who might've gotten his miter pulled over his eyes while Mahony's an architect of the U.S. church's conspiracy to keep the sordid truth from getting out (see various stories in Legacy of Shame).


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/7/2002 11:45:34 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Sex abuse suit filed against 2 Augustinians
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Stephen Kelly of Princeton has filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court alleging he was sexually abused by members of the Augustinians of the Assumption when he was a student at the former Assumption Preparatory School in the 1960s.
Named in the suit are the Rev. John Martin and Brother Robert Beaulac, identified as members of the Augustinians of the Assumption, and Assumption College. The men's religious order is also known as the Assumptionists. The order sponsors Assumption College and staffs St. Anne's parish in Sturbridge. The preparatory school closed in 1971.
Heidi Paluk, a spokeswoman for Assumption, said they had not seen the suit yet and could not comment at this time.
Rev. Martin is now living in New York and Brother Beaulac lives in Worcester, according to court documents.
Mr. Kelly, who is marketing manager for Pioneer Cover-All in North Oxford, said he first came into contact with Rev. Martin during freshman orientation in the late summer of 1965. The priest was in charge of the orientation.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/7/2002 09:53:45 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Priests ask for due process
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Some priests of the Worcester diocese are circulating among themselves a letter that will go to the Vatican opposing the American bishops' new national sexual abuse policy and asking that accused priests be given due process under canon law.
They contend the new policy actually puts more children at risk of pedophile-priests who are ousted from the priesthood.
One priest who spoke under condition that his name not be used said priests feel “like we have no one to go to right now.” It is a difficult time for priests of this diocese and accusations of sexual misconduct continue to pile up. His view is, “The hierarchy just doesn't get it.”
He said he has been told the letter is getting good response from priests but did not know how many of the area clergy had actually signed it. He said he believes that a number of copies are circulating in separate areas of the diocese and all priests are being given a chance to sign. The copy he signed had 10 other priests' signatures already on it, he said. And he was told several other copies were moving around the diocese. He indicated that he “supports the letter 100 percent.”
The letter was shared with Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, the priest said. Raymond L. Delisle, diocesan spokesman, was working on television ministry and was not immediately available for comment yesterday. Bishop Reilly supported the new national policy and has implemented it here.
He has removed seven priests since February after allegations of sexual misconduct were made.
The priests in the letter to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, prefect for the Congregation of the Clergy, said the national sexual abuse policy adopted by the bishops in June in Dallas does not do what the bishops say it will do.
“Clearly, a priest-pedophile or any priest who is determined to be a present danger to children must never be alone with a child again. We still forgive him, he is still our brother, but every step must be taken to ensure that all children are protected from him,” the priests said.
“Therefore, laicization is not the appropriate step. Laicizing a pedophile places innumerable children at risk. If the priest-pedophile refuses to accept the severe limitations that would be placed upon him and leaves the priesthood, then every appropriate authority should be advised of the danger he presents to children,” they said. Laicization is the term used in the Roman Catholic Church for defrocking a priest and returning him to lay status.
Their proposal is that all priests diagnosed as pedophiles be placed into “a therapeutic setting” to ensure the safety of all children and themselves; and that all priests accused of sexual abuse be given their rights under canon and civil law, including due process and legal representation.
Each case should be adjudicated on an individual basis and in a timely manner and determine the spiritual, moral, psychological and physical health of the accused priests.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/7/2002 09:50:54 AM
CLEVELAND
Catholics say diocese policy assumes guilt
Plain Dealer
09/06/02
Tom Breckenridge
Plain Dealer Reporter
Many Catholics fear that a proposed policy for handling allegations of child sex abuse weighs too heavily against priests, church employees and volunteers who face such accusations in the future.
Anxious parishioners repeatedly voiced the concern during seven meetings held the last two weeks across the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, as a 22-member Special Commission on Sexual Abuse, led by William Denihan, fine-tunes a policy it will present soon to Bishop Anthony Pilla.
"Our fear is the document assumes guilt, rather than innocence," Sharon Szabo, member of St. Basil in Brecksville, said at a meeting Wednesday night.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/7/2002 08:11:50 AM
BOSTON
Abuse Case Against Priest Withdrawn
Baltimore Sun
By JAY LINDSAY
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON -- A sex abuse case against Monsignor Michael Smith Foster has crumbled, but the Boston Archdiocese hasn't come to his rescue despite promises to help restore the reputations of falsely accused priests.
The inaction has been discouraging to clerics who hoped the archdiocese would respond quickly to the Foster case and the rare good news it offered priests, said the Rev. Paul Kilroy, a leader in The Boston Priests Forum.
"It says there's confusion," he said. "Morale sinks a little lower."
Archdiocese spokesman The Rev. Christopher Coyne said a policy for handling falsely accused priests is in the works, and could be ready by next week. The policy could include a public reinstatement and expressions of confidence in the priest by high church officials, Coyne said.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/7/2002 07:58:13 AM

BOSTON
Boston archdiocese picks layman to oversee review board
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, September 6, 2002
BOSTON (AP) -- The Archdiocese of Boston has chosen a layman to head its priest oversight board, which was created in response to the clergy sex abuse scandal.
The archdiocese planned to announce the name of the director of child advocacy implementation and oversight next week, said Maureen Bateman, chairwoman of the Cardinal's Commission for the Protection of Children.
Bateman said she could not name the director, but that commission members met with him Friday and were satisfied with the choice. He will be in charge of implementing the commission's final recommendations for child abuse protections.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/7/2002 07:55:26 AM

LAWRENCE (NJ)
Rider U. welcomes back priest cleared of charge
Star-Ledger
BY BRIAN T. MURRAY
Star-Ledger Staff
Cleared two weeks ago of sexual assault allegations dating back more than 20 years, the Rev. Bruno Ugliano has returned to Rider University in Lawrence as the school's Catholic chaplain.
"He returned ... on Sunday, began his official duties on Monday and we're just pleased, actually very happy to have him back," said Dean of Students Anthony Campbell. "He's always been an important part of our campus ministry program. The faculty and students are glad to have this behind him."
Ugliano, the former headmaster of Delbarton School in Morris County, has served as the Catholic chaplain at the university since 1997. He was temporarily removed after allegations of sexual abuse were leveled by a 38-year-old North Carolina woman in June.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/7/2002 07:53:14 AM

Friday, September 06, 2002


SANTA ROSA (CA)
Diocese says 7 more priests accused
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sexual abuse allegations found in review of church files and given to district attorney
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Allegations of decades-old child sexual abuse by seven Catholic priests who formerly served in the Santa Rosa Diocese have been reported by the diocese to the Sonoma County district attorney, the church's lawyer said Thursday.
The allegations emerged from the lawyer's review of diocesan personnel files dating back to 1962, which church officials -- including Bishop Daniel Walsh -- had previously asserted contained no information on sexual misconduct.
Walsh said in March, "We have not gone through every priest's file because that would probably not contain information of that nature."
In April, however, Walsh asked diocese attorney Dan Galvin to undertake a thorough review, which included "all available personnel files" for active and inactive priests, Galvin said Thursday.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/6/2002 05:25:16 PM
BELLEVILLE (IL)
BISHOP GREGORY MEETS WITH DEMONSTRATORS
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Norm Parish
Of The Post-Dispatch
About a dozen Catholic parishioners protested Thursday outside the Belleville Diocese's offices because, they said, the diocese refuses to allow them to hold meetings at churches.
Members of the Southern Illinois Synod of Laity also claimed that Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, the head of the diocese, refused to meet with them.
But moments before the vigil ended at 222 South Third Street in Belleville, Gregory appeared and took the group to the neighboring St. Peter's Catholic Cathedral for a private meeting. Gregory, however, would not commit to allowing the group to hold future meetings at Catholic churches, leaders of the group said.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/6/2002 04:59:03 PM

LAWRENCE (NJ)
Rider U. priest returns to work
Trenton Times
By KRYSTAL KNAPP
LAWRENCE - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton has reinstated the Rev. Bruno Ugliano as the Catholic chaplain at Rider University, officials said yesterday.
Bishop John M. Smith reinstated Ugliano after investigations by the Union County Prosecutor's Office, the Archdiocese of Newark and superiors in Ugliano's religious order concluded that sex abuse allegations against the priest were not credible, Trenton Diocese spokesman Steve Emery said.
The Trenton Diocese removed Ugliano in June after the accusations surfaced. He was then recalled to his monastery, St. Mary's Abbey, by his superiors.

MIDLOTHIAN (VA)
Minister suspended
Richmond Times-Dispatch
BY ALBERTA LINDSEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Aug 24, 2002
A former Chesterfield County United Methodist pastor has been suspended from ministry on charges of sexual misconduct and immorality.
The Rev. Richard J. Geoghegan Jr. was suspended, censured and had contingencies placed upon him July 25 at the conclusion of a four-day church court trial in Staunton. The contingencies are that he take clinical pastoral education, have counseling and be under the supervision of a district superintendent of the church's Virginia conference.
He was found innocent of a third church charge, sexual abuse.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/6/2002 04:56:56 PM
SPOKANE
Priest accusations may be pursued
Kootenai County prosecutor wants law enforcement to investigate allegations of long-ago molestations
The Spokesman-Review
By Jonathan Martin
Staff writer
The Kootenai County prosecutor hopes to open a criminal inquiry into allegations of decades-old child molestations by a former Spokane priest.
Bill Douglas believes Idaho's "tolling" law, which halts the statute of limitations in certain cases, may allow charges against former Roman Catholic priest Patrick G. O'Donnell.
Neither Douglas' office nor the Kootenai County sheriff have talked to any of the alleged victims of O'Donnell.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/6/2002 04:54:27 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Judge seeks Appeals Court ruling on Geoghan
Boston Herald
by David Weber
The judge in the Suffolk Superior Court rape case against former priest John Geoghan will ask the state Appeals Court to decide whether the statute of limitations has expired.
On Aug. 28, Judge Margaret Hinkle reversed her earlier ruling and said the prosecution of the defrocked priest on two counts of rape could go forward. In March, she threw out the single rape charge because she said too much time had passed since the allegations were first reported to police.
Hinkle initially threw out the rape charges on the basis of the alleged victim's testimony that he told police about the rape in 1986. That would have put Geoghan's 1999 indictment outside the statute of limitations.
But other witnesses, including the alleged victim's mother, testified at earlier hearings that the boy told police about the rape allegation in 1989, which would have put it within the statute of limitations.
The clock does not start running on the statute of limitations until a rape is reported to the police.
In her Aug. 28 decision reinstating the charges, Hinkle said a jury could decide whether the alleged victim was accurate when he said he told police his story in 1986. The boy was between 7 and 9 years old when the alleged rapes occurred.
Because she has ruled both ways on the issue, Hinkle told the opposing lawyers she would ask the Appeals Court to rule on specific questions of law before allowing the case to go to trial.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 11:40:04 AM TOLEDO (OH)
Abuse victim rose up to heal herself, others
SNAP founder back in her native Toledo
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
Barbara Blaine never intended to step into the national spotlight. She just wanted to help heal herself and other victims of clerical sexual abuse.
The Toledo native organized a meeting for victims, which led her to found the group called SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Fourteen years later, with 31 chapters and 4,300 members nationwide, Ms. Blaine and SNAP have become prominent figures in daily news coverage of the scandal plaguing the U.S. Catholic Church.

SAN DIEGO
Man says 2 dioceses concealed conduct
UNION-TRIBUNE
By Susan Gembrowski and Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
A 40-year-old San Diego man filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing a retired Roman Catholic priest of abusing him decades ago at a Lakeside parish, and claiming that the San Diego and San Bernardino dioceses concealed criminal conduct.
At a news conference in downtown San Diego, attorney Raymond Boucher, one of several lawyers representing the man, said Roman Catholic authorities were aware of accusations that the Rev. Paul Gill had molested children here and did nothing about it.
Diocese officials in San Diego said earlier this week that there had been no allegations against Gill before this one, which it learned about in May.
Boucher also said he has filed about 100 claims in dioceses throughout the state and that the San Diego Diocese's response to allegations has been the worst in California.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/6/2002 09:36:23 AM
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Four claim abuse by priests
Accused either ousted or dead
News-Democrat
By George Pawlaczyk
BELLEVILLE -- Four previously unknown victims who say they were sexually abused by priests in the Belleville Diocese have come forward since January, and three are receiving counseling at church expense.
The four, all men, alleged they were victims of priests who already have been removed or who have died, the Rev. James Margason, vicar general of the diocese, said Thursday. During the early and mid 1990s, 12 priests and a deacon were removed because of allegations of sexual abuse.
``What seems to have caused these folks to come forward now is all the media attention throughout the country but especially with Dallas,'' said Margason, referring to recent newspaper stories and broadcasts about priests sexually abusing children, especially in Boston.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/6/2002 08:48:18 AM

SOUTHINGTON (CT)
Priest Still Waiting For Cronin's Answer
The Hartford Courant
The Rev. Henry Frascadore, pastor of St. Dominic Church in Southington, is often asked soul-searching questions.
On Wednesday, he celebrated the funeral of a woman in her 90s. Later he recalled her great distress when she became too ill to attend daily Mass - or even to pray.
He didn't plan the words of comfort. They sprung from his lips.
"You don't need to anymore. Once you've reached the second floor, you no longer need the staircase," he told her.
But nobody has a ready answer all the time.
Frascadore was stumped when staffers and parishioners asked how the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford was paying for the defense of accused priests and settlements for victims of child sexual abuse by priests.
He sent his first letter posing this question to Archbishop Daniel Cronin on May 7. Then he wrote five or six more, waiting a couple of weeks between each.
At that point, it was time to submit St. Dominic's annual cathedraticum, a 5.5 percent tax on weekly collections.
"It's the people's money, not the church's money, and the church is answerable to the people," said Frascadore. He sent the archdiocese the expected check for approximately $38,000 - but announced he was doing so "under protest."


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 08:17:16 AM

NEW HAVEN (CT)
Priest Admits Aiding Frankel
Used Vatican Bank To Launder Money
The Hartford Courant
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, Courant Staff Writer
NEW HAVEN -- A frail, 82-year-old Italian priest admitted in court Thursday that he used a Vatican bank account and manipulated Roman Catholic foundations to disguise a scheme by Greenwich financier Martin Frankel to loot hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. insurance companies.
Monsignor Emilio Colagiovanni, a tiny, smiling man with a toupee that seemed to have only a precarious grip on his head, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
As part of his guilty plea, Colagiovanni provided federal Judge Ellen Bree Burns with a seven-page statement detailing an association with Frankel that began during a visit the priest made to relatives in Ohio in 1998.
According to the statement, Colagiovanni became part of a scheme Frankel created to hide the fact he was buying nearly a dozen insurance companies in the Midwest and southwestern United States. Frankel needed to steal money from the insurance companies to pay off more than $6 million he had stolen earlier from investors in a securities fund he controlled.
Until his retirement in 1997, Colagiovanni was a church or canon lawyer. His lawyer said the clients to whom he provided advice included the pope. After his retirement, Colagiovanni remained president of the Monitor Ecclesiasticus Foundation in Rome, an organization that publishes a journal of Roman Catholic canon law. He also controlled an account in the Vatican Bank.
Colagiovanni described a brief relationship with Frankel that may have begun with a lofty purpose before quickly degenerating into misrepresentation and thievery. During his 1998 Ohio visit, the priest said an acquaintance from Rome, whom prosecutors mysteriously identify in court papers as "X," asked him to travel to Greenwich to meet Frankel. According to Colagiovanni's statement, X said that Frankel wanted to make "a sizable donation" to the church.
Within weeks, Colagiovanni said, it was clear that Frankel wanted to do more than donate. The priest agreed to go along with the scheme.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 08:14:07 AM

MANCHESTER (NH)
Retired Msgr. Tancrede
stripped of duties over
sex abuse allegations
The Union Leader
By NANCY MEERSMAN
Union Leader Staff
The Manchester Diocese recently stripped a retired monsignor of permission to serve Mass and wear the priestly collar after a review board concluded that allegations of sexual abuse made against him were credible.
Msgr. Roland E. Tancrede, who had been filling in performing masses at St. Pius X Church on Candia Road, may no longer function as a priest, a spokesman for the church said yesterday.
The Rev. Edward Arsenault, chancellor for the diocese and pastor of St. Pius, has informed parishioners that a credible allegation had been made against the monsignor and that his ministerial faculties had been revoked, according to Patrick McGee, the church’s public relations specialist.
Tancrede is one of the priests named in three new lawsuits filed last week in Hillsborough County Superior Court on behalf of individuals alleging they were sexually abused as children by Roman Catholic priests.
An anonymous plaintiff alleges Tancrede abused him many years ago, from approximately 1956 through 1959, while he was an altar boy at Holy Rosary Church in Rochester.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 08:02:28 AM

WORCESTER (Mass.)
Sexual abuse victims rally
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- St. John Church was lighted only with candles last night as about 200 people gathered to pray, listen to music and keep their own thoughts about the removal of Rev. Joseph A. Coonan as their pastor.
Strains of “Danny Boy” drifted through the church and those in the church were welcomed. Joseph McGuire called the church a “house of peace” and told people when they left the church they would be stepping on “holy ground.”
The scene outside on Temple Street was much different.
Scott Zajkowski of Dudley stood in front of the church and tried to shout into the church that he had been abused by Rev. Coonan years ago. “Put a face on it,” he said.
“No little children should be molested and raped,” one man yelled through a bullhorn as more than 35 survivors of clergy sexual abuse from this area and Boston walked from City Hall to the church and held their own sidewalk vigil across the street from the church.
“No more abuse,” they shouted.
“Bishop (Daniel P.) Reilly is a liar and a charlatan,” shouted Steve Lewis of Boston.
“Keep feeding the monster,” read one sign.
“Bishop Reilly, like Cardinal (Bernard F.) Law and Cardinal (Edward) Egan, are monsters. The monsters of the church,” Mr. Lewis shouted, charging that church hierarchy has allowed some priests to continue abuse of children.
For a brief moment, Catholics from both sides of the issue came close to each other, but remained far apart regarding their views.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:53:48 AM

PORTLAND (ME)
Maine's bishop to resign next year
Portland Press Herald
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Bishop Joseph Gerry, who was thrust into the public spotlight by this year's priest sex abuse scandal, plans to submit his resignation a year from now, a diocese spokeswoman said Thursday.
Gerry intends to resume the quiet life of a monk after tendering his resignation on his 75th birthday — Sept. 12, 2003 —as required by church law, said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the diocese.
It could take weeks, months or even years longer before the pope accepts the bishop's resignation and designates his successor.
However long it takes, Gerry looks forward to returning to St. Anselm, the Manchester, N.H., monastery where he lived for most of four decades, the spokeswoman said. He may teach a few classes at adjoining St. Anselm College.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:48:26 AM QUEENS (NY)
Priest wants deal
Avoiding jail said to be theft suspect's goal
New York Daily News
By BARBARA ROSS
and ROBERT INGRASSIA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
A Queens priest accused of stealing from a parish school to support a gay live-in lover is trying to cut a plea deal that would keep him out of jail, sources familiar with the negotiations said yesterday.
The Rev. John Thompson, who was suspended in June after the sex allegations surfaced, is considering pleading guilty to embezzlement in exchange for probation, the sources said.
A spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown declined to comment about a possible plea deal, but said a grand jury probe is continuing. Thompson's attorney, Roland Riopelle, declined to comment about the talks.
In another development yesterday, Thompson's chief accuser said she plans to expand her suit against the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Barbara Samide, who is on upaid leave as principal of St. Elizabeth School in Ozone Park, accused the diocese of putting her on unpaid leave for blowing the whistle on Thompson's exploits.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:38:51 AM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Jesuits to Pay $7.5 Million to 2 Men Who Contended Abuse
The New York Times
By BARBARA WHITAKER
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 5 — Two mentally retarded men who said they were sexually abused for years by Jesuits at a Northern California religious retreat will receive a total of $7.5 million in an out-of-court settlement.
The settlement, among the largest of its kind in a growing number of such cases, was reached on Wednesday after about a year of negotiations between the California Province of the Society of Jesus and lawyers representing the two men, who were identified only by the pseudonyms John and James Doe.
The two men — John is 56 and James 51 — had lived for nearly 30 years at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, which serves as a retirement home for some 60 priests in Los Gatos, Calif. Both had worked as dishwashers there, earning about $8 an hour.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:35:37 AM

NEW HAVEN (CT)
Ex-Official of Vatican Pleads Guilty in Conspiracy
The New York Times
By PAUL ZIELBAUER
NEW HAVEN, Sept. 5 — A retired Vatican official who is an expert on Catholic canon law pleaded guilty today to a federal conspiracy charge for his role in an international insurance swindle run by Martin R. Frankel, the Greenwich financier who is now in prison.
In a signed statement, Msgr. Emilio Colagiovanni, 82, whose career included sitting on the board that provides legal counsel to Pope John Paul II, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and launder money. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
In the six-page statement, Monsignor Colagiovanni, an Italian citizen and a priest for 60 years, said that in 1998 and 1999 he helped Mr. Frankel defraud American insurance companies that Mr. Frankel wanted to buy. His contribution, he said, was allowing his own Rome-based foundation, the Monitor Ecclesiasticus Foundation, which publishes a journal of canon law edited by the monsignor, to siphon $50 million of Mr. Frankel's money into a second foundation. It had been created by Mr. Frankel specifically to acquire the companies, the monsignor acknowledged.
Mr. Frankel then told the companies' executives this second foundation, the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation, had received the $50 million from "various Roman Catholic charities and tribunals at the Vatican" interested in raising money for charitable causes, according to the plea.
In return for his acquiescence in the scheme and access to Vatican-based bishops and cardinals — whose support Mr. Frankel and the monsignor sought, according to federal prosecutors — Mr. Frankel paid the monsignor's foundation $40,000.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:32:24 AM

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Settlement seen close in Rhode Island cases
Boston Globe
By Matt Carroll, Globe Staff, 9/6/2002
The Diocese of Providence and lawyers for three dozen alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse appear close to a settlement, according to a court document.
A motion filed in Providence Superior Court earlier this week by a plaintiff's attorney makes note of the ''likely settlement of approximately 36 of the 38 plaintiffs' claims'' in the case. The motion by attorney Steven A. Robinson was unrelated to any settlement and sought to withdraw his representation from two plaintiffs in the case. Robinson had no comment yesterday.
Other lawyers on both sides of the case declined to comment directly when asked if they were close to settlement. However, diocesan attorney William T. Murphy and the plaintiffs' attorney, Timothy J. Conlon, issued a two-sentence joint statement on Wednesday, saying, ''The parties have been involved in intense mediation toward resolution of the pending cases. Out of respect for the process, no further statement will be issued at this time.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:27:56 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Voice of the Faithful is not the church
Boston Globe
By John Mallon, 9/6/2002
THE RECENT scandals in the Catholic Church have created a free-for-all for those who wish to vent against the church. They employ cliches over facts and agendas over genuine healing. It is one thing to criticize the bishops' handling of this affair, but it is another to continually bash teachings that Catholics believe come to us from Christ.
These critics go so far as to mention the ''letter'' as well as the mythological ''spirit'' of Vatican II. Members of the group Voice of the Faithful proclaim, ''We are the church.'' They are not. Insofar as they are truly faithful they are part of the church. Jesus did not collect a group of leaderless first-century flower children as his followers. No, he called Peter and the Apostles whom he taught and formed as he went about his ministry to be the leaders of the church he was building, to carry on his ministry and protect the integrity of his teachings. The Gospels take pains to point out how imperfect these men were, like their successors, our bishops today.
The ''We are the church'' slogan is a gross misreading of Lumen Gentium, one of the Second Vatican Council's main documents, which Catholic dissidents have invoked to attempt drive a wedge between the church's teaching authority and ''the people.'' But a simple glance at Lumen Gentium's table of contents reveals the error. Here the church defines herself: Chapter 1: The Mystery of the Church. 2: The People of God. 3: The Church is Hierarchical. These chapters, along with the rest of the document and all of church teaching are, Catholics believe, part of an integrated expression of God's revelation to us, not a source for out-of-context sloganeering. If you are going to toss out the hierarchy, you'll have to throw out Vatican II as well.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:25:36 AM


VATICAN
Pick priests with care, pope exhorts bishops
Boston Globe
By Philip Pullella, Reuters, 9/6/2002
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II said yesterday that the Roman Catholic Church must be much more careful not to let men with ''deviations in their affections'' enter the priesthood.
He also reaffirmed the Catholic Church's rule on celibacy, saying it should not be seen as a useless imposition but a vital part of a tradition in which the priest offers himself unconditionally to God.
The pope made his comments, his latest in a series on the crisis over clerical child abuse, in a speech in Portuguese to Brazilian bishops visiting his summer residence south of Rome.
He said the church must be careful not to allow men who have what he said were obvious ''deviations in their affections'' from entering seminaries.
The pope, who has said before that he felt personally wounded by the scandals, told the Brazilians he felt a duty to remind all bishops to use all means at their disposal to keep unqualified men out of the priesthood. Candidates, he said, should be screened ''above all from the standpoint of morals and affections.''
He said those who should never be ordained include men who are ''young, immature or those with obvious signs of deviations in their affections.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:23:12 AM

WASHINGTON (DC)
Panel on abuse drops 2 clerics
Boston Globe
By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press, 9/6/2002
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said yesterday they have restructured a committee that drafts policies on how dioceses should discipline priests who molest children.
Two panel members who were criticized heavily by victims' advocates - Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H., and Auxiliary Bishop A. James Quinn of Cleveland - have been removed, and the eight-member panel has been expanded to 15.
The expansion of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse was included in the reform plan the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted in June, in response to the clerical sex abuse crisis.
Patrick McGee, McCormack's spokesman, said he does not believe the bishop was asked to step down. He added that McCormack was pleased to have served on the committee for 10 years and now will focus on the needs of his diocese.
''He was very honored to have served and believes he has contributed to the committee's work,'' McGee said. ''He feels it's a good time for him to move on to working on things in his diocese here.''
The new committee will oversee a review of that plan in two years, and will discuss possible local and national meetings with victims.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:19:24 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Wrong ones have shelter
Boston Globe
By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist, 9/6/2002
SOMERVILLE - They gather on a Cambridge street corner every afternoon of the week, every week of the year - the poor, the sick, the addicted, and the alcoholic, all of them women and all of them in aching, heartbreaking need.
A van then drives them to a stout brick building on the outskirts of Union Square, where they are given shelter, a hot meal, a lounge to watch TV, and a twin bed in a crowded, lavender-colored dorm room. It's no way to live, but it's better than anything else they have.
These days, the people at Catholic Charities, which runs the St. Patrick's Shelter for Homeless Women, have some honorable ambitions. They want to expand the emergency shelter so they won't be turning women away most nights. And they want to help more of these women find jobs, sanity, and, eventually, an apartment of their own.
If it seems like God's work, it probably is. So then you might logically wonder why the Catholic Church, in the form of the Boston Archdiocese, is standing firmly in the way. Not only is the archdiocese preventing an expansion, it is actually imperiling the very existence of a 25-year-old homeless shelter that, night after night, has given refuge to some of the neediest women that Boston will ever know.
In short, Catholic Charities rents the shelter building - a converted convent - from the archdiocese. For the past decade, they've paid $17,000 a year in rent on a tenant-at-will basis, a rate that is significantly below the market value.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/6/2002 07:16:46 AM

Thursday, September 05, 2002



NEW HAVEN (CT)
Italian Priest, An Alleged Frankel Associate, Is Sentenced
Hartford Courant
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- An elderly Roman Catholic priest who is an expert in church law pleaded guilty Thursday to money laundering for his role in an international insurance scam orchestrated by disgraced financier Martin Frankel.
Monsignor Emilio Colagiovanni, 82, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and launder money. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors recommended a reduced sentence because Colagiovanni had taken responsibility for his actions. Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for Dec. 9.
Colagiovanni has been staying with relatives in Ohio while the case was pending. U.S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns said Thursday he would be permitted to return briefly to Rome before he is sentenced. His $500,000 bond is secured by the relatives' property.
"I would remind you that the promise (to return) has not only been made to me, but to a higher authority," she told Colagiovanni.
Colagiovanni, who has served on the board that provides legal counsel to Pope John Paul II, was accused of helping use Frankel's Saint Francis of Assisi Foundation to acquire insurance companies, which were then looted of more than $200 million in cash.
Colagiovanni admitted he falsely told insurance companies and regulators that the charitable foundation he ran had transferred $1.2 billion to the Saint Francis foundation for the purchases.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 03:55:02 PM

SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Ex-bishop suspends ministry
Ties to Joliet: Four people have cited improper conduct
The Herald News
By Ted Slowik
STAFF WRITER
SPRINGFIELD — Daniel Ryan, a former Roman Catholic bishop of the Joliet and Springfield dioceses, has suspended his public ministry amid new allegations that he sexually abused a minor.
Ryan, 72, is accused in a lawsuit of engaging in sexual relations with Frank Sigretto, then 15, at the bishop's Springfield residence in 1984. Ryan has denied the allegations.
Sigretto, 33, is the fourth man to claim in the lawsuit that he had sexual encounters with Ryan. Three others signed statements when the civil suit was filed three years ago; Sigretto's statement was added to the suit in July.
The suit alleges that a Springfield Diocese priest abused a boy in the 1980s, and that Ryan's multiple homosexual relationships created an atmosphere of tolerance for the sexual abuse of minors. Ryan stepped down as bishop when the suit was filed in 1999.
Sigretto met with current Springfield Bishop George Lucas on Tuesday, his lawyer Frederick Nessler said. Nessler said he approached the diocese with the allegations in June when he met with Sigretto, who submitted to a polygraph test.
The polygraph was sent to the Sangamon County state's attorney's office, but officials there did not act on it because the statute of limitations had expired, State's Attorney John Schmidt said.
Priest's allegations
A longtime Joliet Diocese priest told The Herald News that Ryan made a sexual advance toward him about 20 years ago, and that he reported the incident to Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch, who denies the priest's assertion.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 03:29:50 PM NEW ZEALAND
Claims nuns tortured children
nzoom.com
A 61-year-old woman has gone public with tales of torture at the hands of Catholic nuns.
Ann Thompson lived at Nazareth House in Christchurch from ages 10 to 19 where she says she was repeatedly stripped and beaten by nuns.
The nuns claimed she had the devil in her because she was born out of wedlock, says Thompson.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 02:48:08 PM

CHICAGO
Ousted priest sues Peoria diocese
Abuse allegations called defamation
Chicago Tribune
By Bill Glauber
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 5, 2002
PEORIA -- A retired priest filed a defamation suit Wednesday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria, joining a small number of clergy nationally who are waging a legal battle against the sexual misconduct allegations that ended their careers.
Rev. Edward E. Bush, 70, said the allegations that led to his removal from public ministry earlier this year were untrue. His suit, filed in Peoria County Circuit Court against the diocese and two church officials, including the bishop who ousted him, asks for more than $50,000 in damages.
At a news conference Bush stressed that his goal isn't to extract cash, but to prove his innocence.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 12:55:15 PM
PROVIDENCE
Settlement seen in sexual-abuse lawsuits against church
Neither church officials in Providence nor lawyers representing those who brought the suits would divulge a dollar amount of the tenative settlement.
Providence Journal
BY JENNIFER LEVITZ
Journal Staff Writer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has reached tentative financial settlements in dozens of sexual-abuse lawsuits that the church has been fighting for 10 years, according to a source close to the case.
The diocese refused to confirm the settlements yesterday, and acknowledged only that it had entered into mediation with most of the 38 alleged and proven victims of sexual abuse by 11 priests and one nun over three decades.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 12:51:55 PM
LOS GATOS (CA)
Jesuits Settle Case With Abused Men
Courts: Society of Jesus will pay two mentally retarded victims, who worked at a Bay Area retreat center, a total of $7.5 million.
Los Angeles Times
By GLENN F. BUNTING, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The California Province of the Society of Jesus agreed Wednesday to pay a total of $7.5 million to two mentally retarded men who said they were sexually abused for years by Jesuits at a retreat in Northern California, according to sources who participated in the negotiations.
The settlement, which followed more than a year of talks between the Jesuits and attorneys for the two men, is among the largest out-of-court agreements of its kind reached by the Catholic Church. Dioceses in Boston, Dallas and Santa Fe, N.M., have agreed to pay larger amounts, but they were distributed among many more victims.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 12:49:20 PM
PALM BEACH
In finding new bishop,Vatican got profile right
Palm Beach Post
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Editorial: Bishop Sean O'Malley said "they" didn't tell him why he was chosen to succeed Bishop Anthony O'Connell in the Diocese of Palm Beach, but it isn't hard to guess. If "they" had a profile, he fit it.
He comes from Fall River, Mass., where he has spent 10 years cleaning up after the case of James Porter, a priest accused of molesting 99 children. Porter finally pleaded guilty to 28 offenses. Bishop O'Malley set up one of the first reporting systems in the U.S. Catholic Church. He required background checks and sex-abuse training for the 17,000 priests, seminarians and church workers, including volunteers. "No priest accused of child abuse," he reported in April, "is working in any parish of the diocese." He was credible enough that The Boston Herald editorialized: "The Boston archdiocese doesn't have to reinvent the wheel here. The Fall River model works."

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 08:48:16 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
No Geoghan pact yet, lawyer says
Boston Globe
By Michael Rezendes and Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff, 9/5/2002
The lawyer for 86 alleged victims of convicted pedophile John J. Geoghan yesterday confirmed that his clients are considering a $10 million dollar settlement with the Boston archdiocese but disputed an assertion by Cardinal Bernard F. Law's personal attorney that a deal is all but finalized.
''There is an offer of $10 million. There has been no acceptance. To call it tentative would be inaccurate,'' said Mitchell Garabedian. ''Many of my clients have not yet signed.''
But Garabedian also said that his clients are eager to settle the lawsuits they have filed, even though the latest offer from the church is about half the amount it initially agreed to pay, and then rejected in May. ''People want closure; that's the main theme,'' Garabedian said. ''The amount of trauma here is just too much for these individuals.''
On Tuesday, J. Owen Todd, Law's personal attorney, confirmed to the Globe and other news organizations that the church and Garabedian had reached a tentative settlement of $10 million. A lawyer involved in the discussions between both sides had said Garabedian told archdiocese lawyers that he had the assent of all 86 plaintiffs.
Yesterday Todd backed away from his statement. ''We're all in a position on our side where we're all embarrassed; at least I am,'' Todd said. ''If Mitch wants to take the position that he's still in process and doesn't have it done, I think I should honor that.''


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 08:46:31 AM
INDIANAPOLIS
Archdiocese sued in sex abuse case
Indianapolis Star
By Bonnie Harris
bonnie.harris@indystar.com
September 04, 2002
A southern Indiana homemaker who once worked for the church is suing the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. She says church officials knew a priest molested her when she was a teenager but covered up the allegation for more than three decades.
A lawsuit filed Thursday in Floyd Superior Court alleges that the Rev. John B. Schoettelkotte abused June L. Kochert in the 1960s, beginning when she was 15 and continuing for about three years while Schoettelkotte was assistant pastor at St. Mary in New Albany.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 08:45:42 AM
CHICAGO
Sex assault victim: priest review board "a sham"
ABC7-TV
September 4, 2002 — "I felt--he is a priest--and in my mind he is sort of a stand-in for Jesus, and how do you say no to Jesus?"
This Chicago woman asked that ABC7 conceal her identity to protect her family from the pain her allegations may cause and from legal retaliation by the priest.
"He started kissing me, very strong, and I was flabbergasted."
She says that on numerous occasions in the mid 1960's, beginning when she was 15, the priest took her to a Lake Front Park. First they talked she says, and then he fondled her. She says the ordeal went on for three years.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 08:41:47 AM
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Church Ban Will Backfire
Hartford Courant
September 3, 2002
Editorial: William E. Lori, the Roman Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, has every right to decide which groups may meet on church property.
However, he is making a tactical mistake by banning the national lay group Voice of the Faithful from getting together in any parish facility. His misguided directive is likely to embolden the reform group, which was founded in Boston earlier this year in response to the sexual abuse crisis rocking the Catholic Church.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/5/2002 08:37:36 AM

GREENFIELD (Mass.)
Lavigne documents released
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Wednesday, September 4, 2002 -- (GREENFIELD AP) - A Roman Catholic priest twice took a lie detector test at the request of church lawyers to see if he knew anything about the murder of an altar boy, according to documents released Tuesday by an attorney representing men who say the cleric molested them.
The Rev. Richard Lavigne passed the test on May 9, 1972, the second time he took it. Five days earlier during the first test, the examiner couldn't determine whether Lavigne was telling the truth when he denied killing 13-year-old Danny Croteau of Springfield in April 1972 because of the priest's "erratic and inconsistent responses."
In a letter to Springfield Diocese lawyer William Flanagan, the director of the Chicago firm that administered the lie detector test said Lavigne was ultimately telling the truth when he denied killing Croteau and dumping the body in a river.
The letter, along with other documents the diocese had concerning Lavigne, was released by Greenfield attorney John Stobierski, who is representing a group of men who say they were sexually abused by Lavigne as children.
Lavigne, who pleaded guilty in 1992 to molesting two altar boys at a Shelburne Falls parish in the 1980s, was a suspect in Croteau's murder. But prosecutors closed their investigation in 1995 when they said DNA tests failed to link the priest to a blood sample found at the crime scene.
The case remains unsolved.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 08:35:29 AM

DETROIT (MI)
Ex-priest faces 8 abuse charges
Arraignment asserts he molested relative
Detroit Free Press
BY ALEXA CAPELOTO AND DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Jason Sigler, one of four men accused in Wayne County of abusing children while working as Catholic priests, was arraigned Wednesday in River Rouge.
Sigler, 64, flew to Detroit from his home in New Mexico to face eight felony counts of criminal sexual conduct. Because he appeared voluntarily, 26th District Judge Raymond Charron released him on a $5,000 bond and allowed him to return home. His preliminary examination is scheduled for Sept. 13.
Sigler said little as Charron read the charges that date to 1965-67: four first-degree counts for performing oral sex on a boy younger than 13 and four second-degree counts for abusing the boy between the ages of 13 and 16. Sigler did not enter a plea.
The Free Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
"This could subject you up to life in prison," the judge told Sigler, who voluntarily left the priesthood in 1982.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 08:20:33 AM

QUEENS (NY)
OUSTED PRINCIPAL SLAMS CHURCH
New York Post
By JENNIFER FERMINO
September 5, 2002 -- A Queens Catholic-school principal who sued a priest for sexual harassment charged yesterday church officials retaliated by putting her on indefinite unpaid leave.
"I'm in shock that I was terminated," said Barbara Samide, principal of St. Elizabeth elementary school in Ozone Park. "This is direct retaliation for being a whistle-blower."
Samide sued the parish's former pastor, Rev. John Thompson on June 19, claiming he harassed her by being "vulgar" in her presence and flaunting his homosexuality.
A Queens grand jury is also probing her charge that Thompson engaged in financial hanky-panky with parish funds while living with a male teenager in the parish rectory.
Samide told The Post she was informed she was put on leave at 3 p.m. Tuesday in a memo from a lawyer for the Brooklyn Diocese.
But Frank DeRosa, a spokesman for the diocese, said Samide "requested a leave of absence for health reasons and it was granted." He said he has a copy of a letter from her lawyer making the request.
But she insisted, "I certainly did not ask for this."

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:51:30 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Talk of Accord in Priest Case Is Premature, Lawyer Insists
The New York Times
By PAM BELLUCK
BOSTON, Sept. 4 — A lawyer for 86 people suing Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the case of a pedophile priest said today that archdiocesan lawyers had spoken too soon when they said on Tuesday that the plaintiffs had agreed to a tentative settlement totaling $10 million.
The lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, said that many of the plaintiffs had signed the agreement but that "many have not signed."
Mr. Garabedian added: "There is an offer of $10 million. There has been no acceptance. To call it tentative would be inaccurate."
Still, Mr. Garabedian, whose clients accuse the now-defrocked priest, John J. Geoghan, of sexual abuse, implied that his clients might be ready to accept the offer, even though it is much less than an agreement reached in March for $14.9 million to $29.8 million. The church later scuttled that agreement.
"No one has said no," Mr. Garabedian said about the $10 million offer. "People want closure. They feel as though they have been dragged into this darkness and they can't get out of it. They feel as though they want closure to try to get their lives back together."


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:41:43 AM

QUEENS (NY)
Principal Who Accused Priest Is Placed on Unpaid Leave
The New York Times
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Catholic school principal from Queens who accused her former pastor of financial and sexual wrongdoing was put on an unpaid leave of absence just hours before the new school year started yesterday.
The principal, Barbara Samide of St. Elizabeth's school in Ozone Park, was ordered to leave at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, just after telling church officials that she would reveal more about the former pastor. She was ordered to leave the school immediately and was prohibited from entering school property for the rest of her indefinite leave.
Roman Catholic church officials said they were only responding to Mrs. Samide's request. In a letter dated Aug. 29 she asked to be transferred from the school where she has been principal for two years or placed on a paid leave of absence. She said she felt so upset by the situation that it would endanger her health to to continue as principal.
Mrs. Samide's lawyer, Michael G. Dowd, said, however, that she was removed as retribution. "Call it what you will, she was fired," Mr. Dowd said. "Her threat to expose more of what happened to her at St. Elizabeth's resulted in the victim of these despicable acts being attacked yet again."



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:38:00 AM

Ending Legal Secrecy
The New York Times
Editorial: One of the most troubling, and least scrutinized, aspects of the child sexual abuse scandal now roiling the Roman Catholic Church is the enabling role played by the court system. In case after case, judges have signed off on secret settlements of child-molestation suits, freeing the offending priests to molest again. In one Boston case, brought on behalf of a boy who was raped by a priest, the judge sealed all the records and the priest moved to New Hampshire, where he later pleaded guilty to abusing two more children.
South Carolina's 10 active federal judges recently struck an important blow against this kind of secrecy when they voted unanimously to ban secret settlements in all kinds of cases. If South Carolina's federal courts formally adopt the rule after a public comment period ends later this month, it will be the nation's strictest ban on secret settlements. Michigan, the only state with such a rule, requires that secret settlements be revealed after two years.
It is not hard to see why secret settlements are popular; they often advance the interests of everyone in the courtroom. Defendants, usually a corporation or a large institution, can dispense with an embarrassing lawsuit without exposing its wrongdoing to public scrutiny. Plaintiffs, by agreeing to remove an obstacle to settlement, can generally get a resolution, and damages, more quickly. For judges, secret settlements make it easier to resolve cases, reducing often overcrowded dockets.
The main loser in secret settlements is the public. Consumers are deprived of information they need to protect themselves from unsafe products. Workers are kept in the dark about unsafe working conditions. And, as we now know, parishioners have been prevented from learning that their priest had been successfully sued for abuse. In 1933, the Johns Manville company settled a lawsuit by 11 employees who had been made sick by asbestos. If that settlement had not been kept secret for 45 years, thousands of other workers might not have contracted respiratory diseases.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:34:38 AM

NORTHAMPTON (Mass.)
Catholics: Faithful want to be heard
Springfield Union-News
By BILL ZAJAC
NORTHAMPTON — Patricia A. Scanlin of Holyoke was present partly out of curiosity and partly out of dismay that the Catholic Church does not look to the laity for input.
Robert P. Neil of Longmeadow was present, hoping to have credibility restored to the church and trying to make sure the clergy is made more accountable.
They were two of the more than 200 people who attended the first meeting of the reform lay group Voice of the Faithful in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
Like Scanlin, most people attended the meeting at the St. Mary of the Assumption Church's parish hall out of curiosity.
"I'm here gathering information. I want to learn more about this. I'm also here to support all the good priests out there," said George M. Campbell of Springfield.
"Wow! That's all I can say about this turnout," said Ann W. Turner, a Williamsburg resident and children's books author who organized the meeting and served as its moderator. She said she expected between 20 and 40 people.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:30:21 AM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Church, lawyers waffle on settlement timetable
Boston Herald
by Tom Mashberg and Eric Convey
The Archdiocese of Boston and a lawyer for 86 alleged victims of pedophile ex-priest John J. Geoghan confirmed yesterday a viable $10 million deal is on the table, but they hemmed and hawed over how near the accord is to being sealed.
Meanwhile, lawyers for some 350 separate clergy accusers said they expected to hear offers from the church soon after the Geoghan deal was done. They anticipated proposals in the range of what the Geoghan plaintiffs would receive.
``Many of my clients have not signed onto the deal,'' plaintiffs' lawyer Mitchell Garabedian said at a news conference yesterday. But he acknowledged the negotiations have been far along for some time.
He added that all 86 must sign to make the tentative pact binding.
The Rev. Christopher R. Coyne, an archdiocesan spokesman, also went to pains to portray the new deal as ``incomplete.''
But ``we are not that far away,'' he said at a mid-afternoon news conference, adding the church felt the matter was firmly in the hands of Garabedian and his clients.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:24:51 AM BOSTON (Mass.)
In Law's corner
Defending the Cardinal, a leading lawyer must roll with the punches
Boston Globe
By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff, 9/5/2002
One night in the early 1950s, the phone rang in the Milton home of Dr. John and Barbara Todd. Their teenage son Owen ran to answer it.
The voice on the other end asked for Dr. Todd, then the chief of surgery at Carney Hospital. When young Owen asked who was calling, the voice answered: ''Cardinal Cushing.'' Rolling his eyes, the teenager retorted: ''Yeah, and this is the pope. Who's calling?'' From the phone came a burst of laughter. ''It is the cardinal,'' said the voice, unmistakably that of the legendary Cardinal Richard Cushing, apparently calling Dr. Todd for medical advice.
The smart-aleck kid who answered the phone is now 66, but he still winces at the memory. ''I almost passed out,'' he says.
Not much has made J. Owen Todd flinch since then. He has spent four decades as a trial lawyer and four years as a judge, winning considerable respect along the way. When he was named the personal attorney for Cardinal Bernard F. Law four months ago, many Boston lawyers thought Todd could win a settlement of the lawsuits against the cardinal that stemmed from the priest sex-abuse scandal.
That may still happen. But at the moment, Todd is feeling some heat. On Tuesday, he told reporters that ''a tentative agreement'' had been reached in which the Archdiocese of Boston would pay $10 million to 86 plaintiffs who are suing defrocked priest John J. Geoghan. Yesterday morning, Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, flatly called that ''inaccurate.''


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/5/2002 07:19:14 AM

Wednesday, September 04, 2002



RICHMOND (VA)
Sad Tidings: Richmond Diocese Has Much Need for Patience and Charity
Richmond Times-Dispatch
A. BARTON HINKLE
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Aug 13, 2002
To say Bishop Walter Sullivan has handled the case involving Father John Leonard less than deftly is something of an understatement. The Bishop bypassed his own sexual-abuse panel, amended the recommendations of the re- port prepared by the investigators appointed by the panel, and cast aspersions on those who accused Leonard of misconduct.
Admitting Leonard's actions were not always appropriate, Sullivan reinstated the suspended cleric four days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved tougher standards of personal conduct for clergymen - partly because the actions allegedly took place some time ago and "it's not fair to judge by today's standards." Several members of the Sexual Abuse Panel, some of whom never saw the investigators' report or recommendations, have quit. With yet another alleged victim now making claims about sexual abuse, Sullivan has requested an investigation by the Goochland Commonwealth's Attorney. The entire affair has thrown the Catholic Diocese of Richmond into turmoil and left parishioners desperate for answers. (Last week Sullivan removed two other priests from the ministry for sexual abuse of minors in keeping with new guidelines from the Catholic Bishops' conference.
All this would be wearying enough. But the cross the laity bears is not confined to the Leonard controversy. The people in the pews also have the Bishop's peculiar politicking to contend with.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 03:59:32 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Plaintiffs' attorney says victims still considering church's settlement offer
Boston.com
By Ken MaGuire, Associated Press, 09/04/02
BOSTON -- The attorney for the alleged sex abuse victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan said today that claims of a tentative $10 million settlement between the Boston Archdiocese and his clients is premature.
In a late-morning news conference, attorney Mitchell Garabedian said, "There is an offer of $10 million. There has been no acceptance," he said. "To call it tentative would be inaccurate."
He said his 86 clients were considering the proposal, but he declined to say how many had agreed to it.
"Many have signed, many have not signed," he said.
The previous deal, estimated to be worth as much as $30 million, was announced in March, but the archdiocese backed out in May when its finance council rejected it.
The new offer, which has been approved by the finance council, was made in late July before the sides went to court to determine whether the earlier settlement was binding, said Law's attorney J. Owen Todd.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 01:05:11 PM

ROANOKE (VA)
Roanoke pastor on leave pending
probe of misconduct allegation
The Catholic Virginian
By Steve Neill
Of The Catholic Virginian
Father Steven R. Rule, who was to begin a new assignment as pastor of St. Gabriel parish in Chesterfield County in early September, has been placed on administrative leave while the diocese investigates an allegation of sexual misconduct.
Father Rule, who was completing his assignment as pastor of St. Andrew parish in Roanoke, is now undergoing psychological evaluation at an out-of-state facility.
Father Pasquale Apuzzo, speaking Aug. 26 at a press conference at the Chancery, said the claim is from an adult who alleges that an incident took place when he was a minor.
“We’re calling it misconduct because we’re not sure it was abuse or not,” Father Apuzzo said.
The incident was alleged to have taken place while the now-adult accuser was a student at St. John Vianney Seminary in Goochland County. The seminary closed in 1978.
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan removed two priests from ministry in early August after they had admitted abusing minors.
One, Julian R. Goodman, was retired from priestly ministry after admitting the abuse of a student at St. John Vianney where the priest was on the faculty in the 1970s.
The other, John P. Blankenship, acknowledged abusing a 14-year-old boy while serving as pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Prince George in 1982.




posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 12:52:07 PM
MIAMI
Miami archbishop criticized for friendship with child abuser
Sun-Sentinel
By Noaki Schwartz
Staff Writer
Every Christmas, while visiting his family home in New Orleans, Miami Archbishop John Favalora sets off on a pilgrimage. From the black-trim house where he grew up, past the halls where he graduated seminary, he heads north to the rolling pinelands near the Arkansas line where one of his dearest friends awaits -- at the David Wade Correctional Center.
The Rev. Robert Melancon is serving a life sentence for raping an 8-year-old altar boy.
"We've known each other for 48 years," Favalora said in a recent interview. "I never did a great deal of soul searching about it. Is it true? Is it not true? Did it happen? Did it not happen? Is his conviction proper? I did not think that my friendship with him should be jeopardized by any of that. The friendship remains."
The ever-growing sex scandal in the Catholic Church strikes a deeply personal note for the archdiocese's leader and top decision maker. Favalora stands by his relationship with a convicted child molester even as critics accuse him of failing to reach out to alleged victims.

posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/4/2002 12:45:34 PM

PALM BEACH (FL)
`Sensitive' Bishop Sent To Heal Diocese Of Palm Beach
Tampa Tribune
P ope John Paul II named Bishop Sean P. O'Malley on Tuesday to lead the Diocese of Palm Beach, a troubled pocket of the Roman Catholic Church where the last two bishops were forced to resign after admitting they had sexually molested minors.
This is the second time the Vatican has deployed O'Malley to heal a diocese torn by a sexual abuse scandal. In 1992, he was assigned to Fall River, Mass., just as that diocese was being sued by dozens of victims of a serial pedophile, the Rev. James Porter.
Under O'Malley, the Fall River Diocese reached a settlement with the victims and instituted a policy for dealing with sexual abuse accusations that has since been used as a model by other dioceses. Advocates for abuse victims praised him Tuesday, calling him the rare prelate concerned more with the pastoral care of victims than with defending the church's image.
``He is far and away the most sensitive person on this issue who could have been appointed,'' said Roderick MacLeish Jr., a lawyer who represented the Porter victims.
O'Malley, 58, wears brown robes and sandals.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 12:39:52 PM

PALM BEACH (FL)
Bishop is brought in to clean up diocese
Pope John Paul II names Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley to lead the Diocese of Palm Beach in the wake of a sex abuse scandal.
St. Petersburg Times
©Associated Press
PALM BEACH GARDENS -- A bishop known for his tough policies on sexual abuse was named Tuesday by Pope John Paul II to lead the Diocese of Palm Beach, replacing a bishop who quit after admitting he molested a student years ago.
Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley had served as bishop in Fall River, Mass., since 1992, when he was called in to clean up a sexual abuse scandal surrounding allegations against a former priest.
O'Malley is credited with establishing a model system for dealing with sexual abuse accusations against priests, which include referring victims to social workers unaffiliated with the church and conducting background checks for all employees and volunteers.
In Palm Beach, O'Malley's appointment follows two pedophilia scandals.
Bishop J. Keith Symons admitted in 1998 that he molested five altar boys decades earlier and quickly resigned. He was replaced by Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell, whose outgoing nature helped the church move forward after Symons' abrupt departure.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 12:37:40 PM NORWICH (CT)
Diocese slashes budgets
Norwich Bulletin
By BRIAN SCHEID
Norwich Bulletin
NORWICH -- Facing a $300,000 drop in donations during a year the Catholic Church was rocked by a sexual abuse scandal, Norwich Bishop Daniel A. Hart asked the directors of his diocese's ministries to reduce their budgets by 10 percent Tuesday.
At a private meeting in the auditorium at The Cathedral of St. Patrick on Broadway, Hart told the directors of the Diocese of Norwich's 27 ministry offices that contributions to the diocese's Annual Bishop's Appeal were about $2.8 million, about 10 percent less than the appeal's goal of $3.05 million. The appeal raised about $3.1 million by this time last year.
Hart attributed the 10 percent drop to "the recession, stock market decline and clergy abuse scandal," according to a statement released by the diocese's communications office Tuesday night.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 08:37:13 AM WORCESTER (Mass.)
2 more say Messier assaulted them
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Two additional men say they were sexually assaulted by the Rev. Raymond P. Messier at his camp in Charlton and at St. Joan of Arc Parish.
The incidents allegedly happened in the late 1970s, when Rev. Messier was assigned to St. Joan of Arc Parish and they were boys involved with the parish-based Boy Scout troop, according to Boston lawyer Carmen Durso. Rev. Messier was diocesan scouting director from 1973 to 1977, when he was replaced by another priest.
The two latest accusers joined another man in filing a civil suit yesterday in Worcester Superior Court against Rev. Messier and the Worcester Diocese. The first accuser said he was sexually assaulted by Rev. Messier when he was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Worcester.
The men are identified in court documents only as John Doe, James Coe and Robert Roe. Mr. Durso said he often recommends that his clients use pseudonyms to protect their families from being stigmatized. The names are made known to parties to the suit, however.
Rev. Messier was removed by Bishop Daniel P. Reilly from his pastorships of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Athol and St. Peter Parish in Petersham in June after the first allegation.
Rev. Messier denied the first allegation and has retained Harvard lawyer Robert Casey to represent him. Many of his parishioners in Athol want him returned to the parish and have displayed a banner of support in front of the Main Street church. Mr. Casey did not return a telephone call yesterday seeking a comment about the new allegations. The diocese does not comment on civil suits.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 08:03:58 AM

GREENFIELD (Mass.)
Lawyer: Papers warned diocese of Lavigne's behavior
Greenfield Recorder
GREENFIELD - Twenty five years before the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne was convicted of child molestation while at his Shelburne Falls parish, the Very Rev. William J. Gormley, a clergy official providing canonical documents for Lavigne's ordination, warned the Springfield Diocese that Lavigne's "emotional stability is not the very best, but falls within the ambit of being safe."
Gormley's letter was among the 168 pages in the Diocese files on Lavigne that were released to Greenfield lawyer John Stobierski, who is representing seven men who claim Lavigne sexually assaulted them between the 1970s until his October 1991 arrest.
Stobierski says the church has about 699 pages of records on Lavigne, and the lawyer intends to file a motion to get the rest of the files, to help prove charges that the church could have done more to protect children, including his clients, from Lavigne.
But in the diocese' statement issued Tuesday, spokesman Michael Graziano said the church has forwarded "all known documents to the attorneys who have filed lawsuits against Fr. Lavigne and the Diocese.
"Some mental health documents ... were claimed by his attorneys to be privileged and on their instruction could not be produced," the statement says.
The diocese asserts that Lavigne was evaluated by a mental health professional in 1986, after a complaint, and Lavigne was found not to pose a threat. "The Diocese had no further complaints until his arrest in 1991," according to the statement.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 08:00:25 AM

GREENFIELD (Mass.)
Lavigne files, letters released
Springfield Union-News
By BILL ZAJAC
GREENFIELD — Diocesan records, including the results of lie detector tests it ordered after the murder of an altar boy, are proof that diocesan leaders were aware the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne was a sex abuser and didn't prevent him from having opportunities to repeat his offenses, according to several of the priest's alleged victims.
The records were released at a press conference yesterday by Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski, who represents seven men who have filed suits in the last five months alleging Lavigne abused them as children.
The documents include two letters detailing the results of lie detector tests ordered by the diocese within weeks of the murder in April 1972 of Springfield altar boy Danny Croteau.
A letter dated May 15, 1972, showed that the results of a lie detector test administered May 4, 1972, showed "erratic and inconsistent responses" by Lavigne to a series of questions regarding Croteau's murder.
"In April 1972, did you strike Danny Croteau's head to cause his death? Answer: No.
"Did you kill Danny Croteau? Answer: No," several questions read.
Because "the examiner is unable to render a definite opinion as to the subject's truthfulness in his answers to the above listed questions," another test was ordered by the diocese. This test five days later concluded Lavigne was telling the truth.
Stephen J. Block, a Springfield man who filed suit against Lavigne several months ago, said the letters are proof that diocesan leaders were concerned about Lavigne's behavior and didn't trust him.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 07:44:01 AM

FALL RIVER (Mass.)
O'Malley goes once more into the breach
Herald News
JAMES FINLAW, Herald News Staff Reporter September 04, 2002
FALL RIVER -- When Bishop Sean P. O'Malley was installed as the sixth bishop of Fall River on Aug. 11, 1992, he inherited a shattered diocese in the throes of the greatest scandal in its history.
The Fall River Diocese was reeling from allegations that former priest James R. Porter had sexually abused scores of children during the 1960s. At the time, more than 70 people had come forward claiming Porter had abused them while he was a priest at St. Mary's Church in North Attleboro, Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River and St. James Parish in New Bedford.
Ultimately, Porter pleaded guilty to 41 counts relating to the molestation of children in New Bedford Superior Court in 1993. He was given a prison sentence of 18 to 20 years.
At a time when sexual abuse cases involving members of the clergy were not making headlines as they do today, the Porter case was a stunning revelation that sent shock waves through the Catholic community. O'Malley stepped directly into the Porter maelstrom.
Upon his arrival from the Virgin Islands, where he had served as a bishop of St. Thomas since 1984, O'Malley immediately began taking steps to resolve the tumultuous situation. He contacted a number of Porter's victims and with their aid, developed a series of policies designed to prevent the Porter tragedy from recurring.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 07:25:56 AM

FALL RIVER (Mass.)
Beloved bishop will be missed
Herald News
KATHLEEN DURAND, Herald News Staff Reporter September 04, 2002
FALL RIVER -- If a diocese could order a bishop from a catalogue, the Rev. Edward J. Healey said Bishop Sean P. O'Malley would be the ideal choice.
Healey, rector of St. Mary's Cathedral, said Tuesday he is personally very sad that O'Malley is leaving Fall River to become bishop of the Palm Beach Diocese in Florida.
"He's been a wonderful bishop for this diocese," he said. Healey said O'Malley came here at a difficult time and he reached out to the sexual abuse victims of former priest James R. Porter, as well as to the poor, to newcomers and to the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Brazilians.
"He's been fantastic. He's a real pastor. He's compassionate and caring," he said. "We are going to genuinely miss him terribly."
Although O'Malley is well-known for the sexual abuse policy the diocese established under his leadership, Healey said those who see the everyday work of the church see other accomplishments he's made here, such as enhancement of the Catholic Social Services department and establishment of an Office of AIDS Ministry.
"He says we don't do it to make them (the people who get the help) Catholic, but because we are Catholic," Healey said of the diocese's efforts to help the sick and the poor.
"He's intelligent, he's kind, he's everything a bishop should be," Healey said. "Palm Beach needs him. I have every confidence he'll bring the same healing to Palm Beach he brought here."


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 07:23:51 AM

FALL RIVER (Mass.)
Bishop reassigned
Herald News
KATHLEEN DURAND, Herald News Staff Reporter September 04, 2002
FALL RIVER -- Bishop Sean P. O'Malley, who has endeared himself to thousands during the 10 years he has led the Fall River Diocese, has been named bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach in Florida by Pope John Paul II.
The announcement Tuesday by the papal representative to the United States took people in the Fall River Diocese by surprise. According to diocesan spokesman John Kearns, no date has been set yet for O'Malley's installation, but it is expected to take place within the next two months.
The Palm Beach Diocese has been hurt by a sexual abuse scandal involving two of its former bishops, thus O'Malley will find himself in the familiar role of healing a diocese torn apart scandal.
When he was installed as bishop of Fall River on Aug. 11, 1992, the diocese was reeling from revelations that James R. Porter, a former priest, had sexually abused numerous boys during the 1960s when Porter was serving at parishes in Fall River, New Bedford and North Attleboro, and that the church had moved too slowly in response to the case.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 07:21:31 AM

PALM BEACH (FL)
Scandal-Torn Palm Beach Diocese Gets Bishop
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Pope John Paul II named Bishop Sean P. O'Malley yesterday to lead the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., a troubled pocket of the Roman Catholic Church where the last two bishops resigned after admitting that they had sexually molested minors.
This is the second time that the Vatican has deployed Bishop O'Malley to heal a diocese torn by a sexual abuse scandal. In 1992, he was assigned to Fall River, Mass., just as that diocese was being sued by dozens of victims of a serial pedophile, the Rev. James Porter.
Under Bishop O'Malley, the Fall River Diocese reached a settlement with the victims and instituted a policy for dealing with sexual abuse accusations that has since been used as a model by other dioceses. Advocates for abuse victims praised him yesterday, calling him the rare prelate concerned more with the pastoral care of victims than with defending the church's image. "He is far and away the most sensitive person on this issue who could have been appointed," said Roderick MacLeish Jr., a lawyer who represented the Porter victims.
Bishop O'Malley, 58, is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a branch of the Franciscans, and as bishop has continued to wear his order's brown robes and sandals.
His task is to reconstruct a diocese still reeling from the resignation of Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell, who left in February after a former student at a Missouri seminary disclosed abuse by him. Bishop O'Connell had succeeded Bishop Joseph Keith Symons, who resigned in 1998 after admitting that he had molested five boys earlier in his career.


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/4/2002 07:14:26 AM
CLEVELAND
Accused priest's parish defends him fiercely
The Plain Dealer
09/03/02
David Briggs
Plain Dealer Reporter
He is a man so revered for his devotion to a traditional church that some of his followers compare him to Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. The nickname "Father God" is sometimes whispered in the halls of St. Rose of Lima Church in Cleveland.
Yet the Rev. James Viall is one of 15 active priests suspended by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland after they were accused of sexual misconduct.
Viall, 73, was placed on leave July 3 after two families told the diocese and the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services that they had discovered inappropriate photos of minors and that Viall had been providing alcohol to children.
Two successful professional men later told prosecutors Viall abused them in the 1950s and '70s. One of them has sued Viall.
The case is a striking example of the two faces of the priesthood confronting Catholics across the nation.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/4/2002 07:10:40 AM

BOSTON
Tentative deal set in abuse suits
86 plaintiffs would share $10 million in
Geoghan cases
Boston Globe
(By Stephen Kurkjian and Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff)
The Archdiocese of Boston and a lawyer for 86 plaintiffs suing defrocked priest John J. Geoghan have reached a tentative accord that would pay the plaintiffs $10 million - about half the amount the archdiocese first agreed to, then rejected in May.

Man drops claim against two priests
Boston Globe
(By Sacha Pfeiffer and Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff)
Amid growing doubts about the credibility of his charges, a Winchendon man yesterday withdrew a lawsuit accusing two Boston priests of sexual abuse, and prosecutors for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley are reviewing the case for evidence of criminal conduct in filing a possibly unfounded claim.

A false accusation
Boston Globe
Editorial: THE CLERGY SEXUAL abuse scandal, because it was kept hidden from view for so long, was bound to produce false accusations once it exploded into public notice this year. Fortunately for one priest, the Rev. Michael Smith Foster, a spurious accusation against him was withdrawn yesterday only three weeks after it was made public...
The Catholic Church in the United States brought this scandal on itself by putting the prerogatives of priests above the protection of children. Now it must be careful not to make scapegoats of priests to shield higher-ranking officials from the consequences of their cover-up.

Diocese releases priest's files
Boston Globe
(By Matt Carroll, Globe Staff)
The Diocese of Springfield allowed the Rev. Richard R. Lavigne to continue to work in parishes and with altar boys from 1972 until 1991, even after he was twice given lie detector tests about his suspected role in the 1972 murder of an altar boy, according to documents released yesterday by a lawyer pressing sexual abuse claims against the priest.

Fall River bishop to head Fla. diocese
Boston Globe
(By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff)
A decade after instituting pioneering policies on clergy sexual abuse, Fall River Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley was named by Pope John Paul II yesterday to lead a Florida diocese whose two previous bishops resigned after admitting that they had molested boys.

Geoghan victims settle with church: $10M deal OK'd
Boston Herald
by Tom Mashberg and Eric Convey
Lawyers for the Archdiocese of Boston and 86 plaintiffs in the John J. Geoghan sex abuse suit have agreed to a ``tentative'' $10 million settlement after the judge overseeing their case urged them to cut a deal, a key attorney said last night.

Fall River's bishop reassigned to run Palm Beach diocese
Boston Herald
by Eric Convey
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
The bishop who steered the Diocese of Fall River out of the chaos created by serial pedophile priest James Porter and had been considered a possible successor to Bernard Cardinal Law in Boston is headed to Florida

Accuser drops suit against monsignor
Boston Herald
by Robin Washington
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
A child sex abuse suit against a high-ranking Boston monsignor was withdrawn yesterday on the eve of a scheduled court appearance by the plaintiff before a judge who said she had ``significant concerns regarding the good faith'' of the charges.



posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/4/2002 06:59:31 AM
SAN FRANCISCO
Apology, or not?
San Francisco Examiner
BY WARREN HINCKLE
Examiner Associate Editor
READERS of journalistic tea leaves are perplexed by serial stories in the Chronicle last week.
The serial stories actually began Aug. 16, when a story prominently displayed on the local news page reported that a well-loved and very well-known San Francisco priest had been placed on administrative leave by the archdiocese because of recent allegations that he had molested two boys "some 40 years ago."
The story, by staff writer Jaxon Van Derbeken, not only named the priest -- who will not be named here for reasons that soon will become evident -- but ran a photograph of him. No civil lawsuit or legal action of any kind had been filed against the man.


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/4/2002 06:42:29 AM

Tuesday, September 03, 2002


BOSTON (Mass.)
Lawyer: Tentative settlement reached with Geoghan victims
Boston.com
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press, 08/23/02
BOSTON -- The Boston Archdiocese and alleged sex abuse victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan have reached a tentative $10 million settlement, Cardinal Bernard Law's attorney said Tuesday.
"Tentative is the operative word," attorney J. Owen Todd said of a deal that could end civil suits brought by 86 people shortly before a judge planned to rule on the validity of a previous settlement worth up to $30 million.
Church lawyers made the latest offer in late July, Todd said, before the sides went to court to determine if the previous settlement was binding.
Todd said that Mitchell Garabedian, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told him Tuesday morning that all but one of the plaintiffs had agreed to the settlement. All plaintiffs must agree for the deal to be finalized.
Garabedian did not immediately return a call to comment on Tuesday night.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 09:46:54 PM

KLAMATH FALLS (Ore.)
Nun murdered on bike path
Suspect charged for assaults near A Canal
Klamath Falls News and Herald
By Peter Martini
A Catholic nun who was out for an early-morning prayer walk on the A Canal bike path Sunday was raped and beaten to death, and a man who was traveling through the area has been accused of murdering her.
A second nun who was assaulted was treated and released following the incident that occurred behind Kiger Stadium.
Authorities said Sister Hel-en Chaska, 53, Bellevue, Wash., was reciting the Rosary while walking on the bike path about 2 a.m. Sunday when she was attacked and killed.
Chaska and Sister Linda Schoenhoefn, 52, were in Klamath Falls conducting mission work.
Authorities said both women were raped by the attacker. Schoenhoefn was treated at Merle West Medical Center and released.
The women had been staying at the Best Western at 4061 S. Sixth St., an employee with the motel said.
The suspect was identified as Maximiliano Cilerio Esparza, 32, address unknown. Authorities said Esparza was traveling through the area, and was staying at the Cimarron Motor Inn.




posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 04:27:25 PM

KLAMATH FALLS (ORE)
Nun sexually assaulted, strangled with rosary beads; companion also attacked
Boston.com
By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press, 9/3/2002 16:13
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) Police charged a man with sexually assaulting a nun and strangling her with her rosary beads as she took a late-night stroll with another nun. The other woman was also sexually assaulted, police said.
Sister Helen Chaska, 53, became the first homicide victim in Klamath County this year when she was attacked while reciting the rosary as she and her companion strolled down a bike path just after midnight Sunday.
An autopsy showed that she was strangled with her rosary beads, which became embedded in her neck.
The other woman was treated at a hospital and released.
Maximiliano Cilerio Esparza, 32, was charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, assault, sodomy, sexual abuse and possession and delivery of a controlled substance. He was being held without bail at the Klamath County Jail.



posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 04:23:20 PM

FALL RIVER (Mass.)
Fall River bishop named to head Palm Beach diocese
Boston.com
By Associated Press, 09/03/02
FALL RIVER -- Fall River Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, who is credited with establishing a model system for dealing with sexual abuse allegations against priests, on Tuesday was named to replace the bishop in Palm Beach, Fla., who resigned in a sex abuse scandal.
O'Malley succeeds Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell who resigned in March after admitting he molested a seminarian more than 25 years ago.
O'Malley, 58, has been bishop of the Fall River Diocese since 1992, when he was called in to clean up a sex abuse scandal surrounding allegations against the former Rev. James Porter.
Porter, who was accused by 99 people of molesting them while they were children in the 1950s and 1960s, pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting 28 children and was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison.
Under O'Malley's system, abuse victims are referred to a social worker unaffiliated with the church. The social worker has a group of mental health and legal professionals that sits as a a review board to decide what kind of action could be taken against the priest and what kinds of services are needed to help the victim.
In 1995, the Diocese of Fall River said, O'Malley made it mandatory that any priest, seminarian, employee or volunteer whose position involved access to children take part in an abuse prevention workshop, complete a detailed questionnaire about his or her past, and agree to a criminal records check. More than 17,000 employees and volunteers have met those requirements, the diocese said.
In the Porter cases, the diocese paid for therapy, medication and residential treatment for the victims.
"Bishop O'Malley was incredibly empathetic to the victims. He was not only empathetic, but he listened to the victims," said Roderick MacLeish, a lawyer who represented victims in civil lawsuits filed in the Porter case.




posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 02:08:23 PM

BOSTON (Mass.)
Lawsuit against monsignor dropped after questions arise over validity of claims
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, 09/03/02
BOSTON -- A former altar boy who had alleged that a high-ranking church official molested him in the 1980s withdrew his lawsuit Tuesday, after questions arose about the validity of his claims.
Monsignor Michael Smith Foster, the chief canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of Boston, had maintained his innocence and said he was devastated by the accusations.
In a lawsuit filed last month against Foster and the archdiocese, Paul Edwards, 35, claimed Foster molested him repeatedly in the 1980s when Edwards was a teenage altar boy in Newton.
Edwards, through his attorney, on Tuesday filed a dismissal of his lawsuit. The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled later, said Ellen Martin, a lawyer representing Foster.
Last week, Edwards's former lawyer, Eric J. Parker, withdrew from the case saying "issues arose, central to the allegations" by Edwards.
A hearing on whether the lawsuit should be dismissed had been scheduled for Wednesday.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 02:05:16 PM

RICHMOND (VA)
Many of seminary's grads can't fathom abuse
The Virginian-Pilot
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
Yearbook photos from a quarter-century ago portray a cheerful, intimate boarding school where mop-haired teenage boys studied, played and worshipped under the guidance of live-in priests.
Jump shots on the basketball court, amateur thespians posturing on stage, candid shots of teachers at work in the classroom; a safe haven.
Each image of normal, happy times at St. John Vianney Seminary helps explain the astonishment among alumni of the former Catholic high school as they try to make sense of allegations that their classmates were sexually abused by priests who were their teachers.
In the 1978 yearbook, the Rev. Julian B. Goodman, a quiet, gifted music teacher, is a picture of concentration at the keyboard as he directs a rehearsal.
A shot from one book captures the Rev. Steven ``Randy'' Rule, a history teacher, handsome in a school letter jacket and looking nearly as young as some students.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 06:50:43 AM
VATICAN
Pope names Massachusetts prelate new Palm Beach bishop
Springfield Union-News
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope John Paul II named a new bishop for the Palm Beach, Fla., diocese Tuesday, replacing a bishop who resigned in a sex abuse scandal.
Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley of Fall River, Mass., will take the Palm Beach post.
He succeeds Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell, who resigned in March after admitting he molested a seminarian more than 25 years ago.
O'Malley, 58, born in Lakewood, Ohio, served as bishop in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, before his transfer to Fall River in 1992.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 06:35:06 AM
SEATTLE
Priest waits to find out if one night 24 years ago will cost him his career
Seattle Times
By Ray Rivera and Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporters
Nearly 25 years later, they can't agree how dark the cabin was.
Patrick D'Amelio remembers it being pitch black, the kind of dark you get when you pull the sleeping bag over your head and close your eyes tight. The Very Rev. David Jaeger remembers the dim glow of moonlight peeking through the open window.
Even haunting memories come in versions.
And what D'Amelio remembers as a shameful sexual assault at the hands of a priest he idolized, Jaeger remembers as a misguided massage that "crossed a boundary."


posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/3/2002 06:34:29 AM
BOSTON (Mass.)
Editorial: Tapping the archdiocese's real estate
The MetroWest Daily News
Even the most angry critics of the handling of the clergy abuse scandal by the Archdiocese of Boston regret the draining of resources sorely needed by church-related charities. Even the most ardent defenders of Cardinal Bernard Law agree that real victims of sex abuse deserve some compensation.
That's why the issue of a settlement, worth up to $30 million, with the victims of John Geoghan is so difficult. Walking away from the settlement isn't fair to the victims who have already suffered for too long; paying out millions in settlements could impoverish the archdiocese and its charities, creating a new class of victims while leaving some clergy abuse victims uncompensated. Citing financial problems, the archdiocese withdrew the settlement offer amid warnings the archdiocese may have to file for bankruptcy protection.
But an investigation by the Boston Herald indicates that while the archdiocese may be short on cash, it is far from poor.
Herald reporters spent three months examining real estate records in 144 cities and towns in the Archdiocese of Boston. They tallied the assessed values of nearly 2,000 properties listed as owned by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston. Omited from the list are properties owned by Catholic Charities, the housing development office of the archdiocese, independently incorporated churches and schools, and various Catholic orders.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/3/2002 06:21:17 AM

BOSTON (MA)
More strain for Koch
Boston Globe
By Carol Beggy and Stephanie Stoughton, Globe Staff, 9/3/2002
A REAL HANGOVER Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Co., can't wait for his ''Opie and Anthony'' nightmare to fade away. Until then, the man who seems to relish talking about his antics has quieted down. Boston Beer, which brews Samuel Adams beer, ran into trouble when Koch recently joshed with the two shock jocks on the ''Opie and Anthony'' radio show as it broadcast an account of a couple allegedly having sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. His involvement angered Catholic leaders and some local bar owners, who had refused to sell his beer. The racy stunt also cost Greg ''Opie'' Hughes and Anthony Cumia their jobs. Boston Beer spokeswoman Sally Jackson said she hopes that ''running an apology will be the last chapter.''
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/3/2002 04:04:17 AM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Diversity, protest mark opening of Los Angeles cathedral
Fresno Bee
By SANDRA MARQUEZ, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The newest U.S. cathedral opened Monday amid prayers and controversy as protesters condemned the $195 million cost and Roman Catholics continued to struggle with a national sex abuse scandal.
Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral was dedicated during a three-hour service that incorporated the many ethnic backgrounds of the community's faithful, from Vietnamese singing to African drumming to children in traditional Mexican dress.
Cardinal Roger Mahony led a procession of some 3,000 people, including more than 560 priests, bishops and other clergy, through the sweltering 90-degree heat of the courtyard, past the 25-ton bronze doors and into the cool stone interior.
Mahony and supporters see the cathedral a symbolic new beginning for the nation's largest archdiocese, one of many that has suffered from the scandal of sexual abuse allegations against priests.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/3/2002 03:47:00 AM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
New Los Angeles cathedral opens its doors amid difficult times for Catholic church
San Francisco Chronicle
PAUL WILBORN, Associated Press Writer
The massive bronze doors of a new cathedral opened Monday in what the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese hopes will signal a new era for a church hurt by a sex abuse scandal.
Our Lady of the Angels, a $195 million, 11-story cathedral, was dedicated during a three-hour service that incorporated the many ethnic backgrounds of the community.
The hymn "Allegria" sounded from the cathedral's immense organ as Cardinal Roger Mahony led more than 560 priests, cardinals and others from a plaza outside the thick, adobe-colored walls, through the 25-ton doors and down a 333-foot nave.
"Welcome," Mahony told a crowd of thousands inside the huge building.
But outside, dozens of protesters decried the church's handling of priests accused of sexual abuse. A large paper-mache effigy of Mahony held a sign saying: "Suffer the little children."
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/3/2002 03:42:40 AM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
L.A. Cathedral Is Dedicated
Ceremony: During the four-hour service, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony calls the downtown church an 'anchor for the ages.'
Los Angeles Times
September 3, 2002
By LARRY B. STAMMER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels was dedicated Monday, amid ancient prayers and pageantry, as a cathedral for the ages and a house of prayer for all people.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony led a procession through the cathedral's 25-ton bronze doors to a four-hour service steeped in Catholic ritual dating to the 4th century. Three thousand invited guests expressed their devotion, then watched a sacred dance—a modern innovation in the Western church—and the traditional anointing of the altar and the building with aromatic holy oil.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/3/2002 03:17:32 AM

Monday, September 02, 2002



MIDDLETON (Mass.)
Reardon leaves guilt in wake: Victim's mom haunted by serial abuser
Boston Herald
by Tom Farmer
Two years after her son was molested by convicted serial pedophile Christopher J. Reardon, a North Shore mother still finds herself overcome by two emotions - guilt and disbelief.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, spent years telling her son and other children to be wary of strangers. She carefully monitored their activities, never dreaming one of her kids would be violated by a trusted friend.
``It's like a death in the family,'' she said. ``You have to go through a whole grieving process. The biggest word of all is guilt, the tremendous guilt I feel that I hadn't done anything (to prevent it).''
Reardon, 30, is serving a 40-to-50-year sentence after pleading guilty to 75 of 129 criminal counts in August 2001 involving 29 pre-pubescent boys he targeted through his jobs as a youth worker at St. Agnes Church in Middleton and a swim instructor and camp coordinator at the Danvers YMCA.
Reardon married the year before his June 2000 arrest and the North Shore mother said she is now convinced he did it in part to enhance his credibility with parents.
``He was a master of disguise,'' she said. ``(The marriage) was all more of a coverup for him to make him more accessible and legitimate. You have to trust your instincts. If there is a guy hanging around with the your kids for an inordinate amount of time, it's a huge red flag. In this case, there were no red flags. I really did not see them.''

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 03:23:46 PM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA's cathedral opens amid troubled times for the church
San Francisco Chronicle
PAUL WILBORN, Associated Press Writer Monday, September 2, 2002
The opening of the first new U.S. Cathedral in 25 years comes as the Roman Catholic church deals with economic problems and a sex abuse scandal, but leaders say the landmark building is just what is needed during these turbulent times.
The $195 million Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral -- intentionally a foot longer than New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral -- was scheduled to open Monday at a dedication that was to draw on the diverse backgrounds of the community.
Cardinal Roger Mahony, the leader of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, said the cathedral is symbolic of the church's ability to withstand the turmoil.
"A cathedral is timeless in terms of human joys and difficulties," Mahony said. "We've had over the course of time and history many saints and sinners in the church. The cathedral stands as its own reflection of God's presence."
Protesters angered by the church's handling of sex abuse allegations were expected among the thousands of priests and visitors during the dedication ceremony outside the cathedrals' thick, adobe-colored walls.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/2/2002 01:17:57 PM
ROANOKE (VA)
St. Andrew's Catholic Church congregation hears message from Lynchburg pastor
'Hold onto hope,' priest tells parishioners
The church's priest was placed on leave after a former student at a now-defunct school accused him of sexual misconduct.
The Roanoke Times
By CODY LOWE
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Parishioners packed services at St. Andrew's Catholic Church this weekend, the first after their priest, the Rev. Steven "Randy" Rule, was accused of sexual misconduct.
"None of us wants to hear bad news. We'd rather it go away," said the Rev. Kenneth Rush, pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Lynchburg who led services at St. Andrew's this weekend.
He said the parish must decide how it will react to such news, however.
"What shall you and Father Rule do with the anger, the disillusionment, the pain and the frustration that you feel?" Rush asked. The choices are "to sink into despair, or hang onto hope."
"As believers, our only real option is to hold onto hope," he said, including the hope that Rule will be exonerated.
Rule was placed on leave a week ago after a former student at a now-defunct all-male high school made the accusation. The Diocese of Richmond has not released any details of the accusation, except that the incident is alleged to have happened while Rule taught at St. John Vianney school in Goochland County. He worked there from 1975 until the school closed in 1978.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 09:19:37 AM

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Suits accusing dead priests raise tough issues for church, families
The Courier Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Accusations of sexual misconduct against nine dead priests raise some of the more emotionally and legally thorny issues in the growing list of cases against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville.
Relatives and supporters of these priests say it's traumatic to hear of the accusations when the priests cannot defend themselves, and church officials say it's difficult to evaluate such claims without knowing the priest's side of the story.
The priests, who have been dead for periods ranging from one to 36 years, include a cathedral pastor, a superintendent of Catholic schools, a director of Catholic Charities and the longest-serving American priest of his era.
Since April the archdiocese has been sued by 184 people; the suits allege that church officials covered up sexual abuse by 24 priests, two religious brothers, two teachers and a church volunteer.
Relatives and others close to the deceased priests -- people who worked with them, were cared for by them and in some cases nursed them on their deathbeds -- said the accusations are particularly painful.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 08:02:14 AM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Cathedral rises above it all
Washington Times
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 25-ton bronze doors of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral will swing open today to the first dedication of a new U.S. cathedral in a quarter-century.
Protesters angered by the church's handling of accusations of priestly sexual misconduct are expected among the thousands of priests and visitors during the dedication ceremony outside the cathedrals' thick, adobe-colored walls.
Cardinal Roger Mahony, leader of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, said the landmark cathedral, like the Roman Catholic Church itself, will rise above the turmoil.
"A cathedral is timeless in terms of human joys and difficulties," Cardinal Mahony said. "We've had over the course of time and history many saints and sinners in the church. The cathedral stands as its own reflection of God's presence."
The $195 million cathedral — intentionally a foot longer than New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral — is Spanish architect Rafael Moneo's postmodern interpretation of California's original Spanish missions, including sloping floors, high ceilings and muted tapestries that depict saints and worshippers.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 07:46:21 AM

WASHINGTON (DC)
Accused Priests' Flocks Unshaken
Claims of Abuse Hastily Judged, D.C. Worshipers Say
Washington Post
By Serge F. Kovaleski and Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 2, 2002; Page B03
At the historic St. Augustine Church in Northwest Washington yesterday, parishioners expressed a defiant sense of allegiance to their pastor, Monsignor Russell L. Dillard, who stands accused of molesting a teenage girl nearly 20 years ago.
And across the city at St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill, congregants spoke protectively, if not defensively, about their beloved parish and long-esteemed pastor, the Rev. Paul E. Lavin, who is alleged to have abused two boys more than 25 years ago.
The Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal was again weighing on members of both parishes following a determination by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick that their priests should not return to ministry and should remain barred from performing priestly functions. His decision, disclosed last week, came after a review board found that the allegations against Dillard and Lavin were credible and fit within the parameters of a charter adopted by the nation's bishops this summer. The decision can be appealed to a special panel within the Vatican.
But Tom Cunningham, 71, who has been a congregant at St. Augustine for 53 years and attended a midmorning Mass there yesterday, said Dillard has been unjustly and hastily judged as part of a process driven by media pressure.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 07:43:37 AM
JOLIET (IL)
Grand jury hears priest evidence
Unclear if any indictments will result
Daily Southtown
September 1, 2002
By Allison Hantschel
Staff writer
DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett has convened a grand jury to consider indictments of Roman Catholic priests accused of molesting children.
The grand jury is hearing the testimony of witnesses in several decades-old sex abuse cases involving Joliet diocese clergy, sources tell the Southtown.
While the Joliet diocese covers seven counties, the majority of the sex abuse claims have originated in DuPage County.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/2/2002 07:40:05 AM

JOLIET (IL)
Ex-diocese priest may yet be prosecuted — if he can be found
Philippine priest ducked first sex abuse charges in 1980s, but when more came, he vanished
Daily Southtown
August 30, 2002
By Allison Hantschel
Staff writer
A Philippine Catholic priest who served in the Diocese of Joliet fled the United States for his native land in disgrace a decade ago, but his story still haunts parents who say he abused their children.
A mom and dad at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in west suburban Elmhurst went to their pastor this spring and told him their child was molested by the Rev. Leonardo Mateo, who served at the church for five years beginning in the late 1970s.
"When I learned that an occurrence of clergy misconduct had taken place at IC, and that there were victims among us," wrote the pastor, Rev. Jim Murphy, in a message to parishioners, "I was filled with many emotions ranging from compassion for the victims to shame, hurt, and anger at what others have done."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/2/2002 07:37:27 AM

NEW YORK CITY
ST. PAT'S ‘SEX' MAN FACES JAIL IN VA., TOO
New York Post
By DAREH GREGORIAN
September 2, 2002 -- EXCLUSIVE
An alleged sex romp in St. Patrick's Cathedral could wind up being anything but a quickie for a Virginia man.
Brian Florence is already facing up to a year in a New York jail if convicted on charges stemming from his alleged liaison with girlfriend Loretta Lynn Harper inside of St. Pat's. And, The Post has learned, the sacrilegious sex stunt for WNEW-FM's "Opie and Anthony Show" could land Florence behind bars in a Virginia prison as well.
That's because Florence, 37, was on probation when he and Harper were arrested on lewdness and obscenity charges inside of the church on Aug. 15.
Florence was given a two-year suspended sentence and placed on probation last Nov. 16, after pleading guilty to obtaining a forged prescription, a felony, said chief prosecutor Robert Horan of Fairfax County, Va.
The case has at least one similarity to the St. Patrick's case - "a detective caught him in the act," Horan said.
At the time, Florence, who is "reported to be of the Baptist faith," was using a fake prescription slip to obtain a generic form of the painkiller Percocet, the prosecutor said.

posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 07:34:51 AM

QUEENS (NY)
Vandals rock church
Topple 7-foot statue of saint in Queens
New York Daily News
By ALICE McQUILLAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The pastor and parishioners of a Catholic church in eastern Queens were stunned yesterday by the destruction of a massive statue of their patron saint by vandals.
A 7-foot-tall marble statue of St. Gregory the Great, a Bellerose landmark, was toppled from the pedestal where it had stood since 1964.
Parishioners wept when they found the 1-ton statue on the ground Saturday morning, broken into four pieces.
"I'm very saddened," said Thomas Savasta, 36. "I'm used to seeing that statue. Vandalism is one thing, but churches are supposed to be immune. It's very disrespectful."
"The community is angry," said the Rev. Joseph Cunningham, pastor of St. Gregory. The vandalism, he said, "touched something that is of sacred value to us."


posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/2/2002 07:29:41 AM

AMARILLO (TX)
Amarillo Diocese Hit Hard by Sex Abuse
Quarter of Priests Have Resigned
Washington Post
By Betsy Blaney
Associated Press
Monday, September 2, 2002
AMARILLO, Tex. -- Few places have been hit harder by the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church than the Diocese of Amarillo, where eight priests have resigned after being accused of abuse.
Eleven of the 35 parishes in the sprawling 26-county diocese do not have full-time priests. Retired priests are celebrating Mass on Sundays and hearing confessions, and deacons are assisting with administrative duties to serve the diocese's 56,000 Catholics.
Many priests are roving to cover responsibilities at more than one church.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/2/2002 03:00:43 AM

HONOLULU (HI)
Hawai'i experts see forgiveness as balm
Honolulu Advertiser
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer
Best-selling author Dr. Gerald Jampolsky knows that forgiveness can be both a spiritual and physical salve.
A physician for more than 40 years, Jampolsky recalls how people with back aches, ulcers, high blood pressure and even cancer saw their symptoms abate when they learned to forgive.
"When people hold on to grievances, they're holding on to anger," said the Kailua-based Jampolsky, who with his psychotherapist wife, Diane Cirincione, wrote 1999's "Forgiveness, the Greatest Healer of All" and whose best-selling 1988 book, "Love is Letting Go of Fear," is a self-help staple.
Forgiveness is a hot-button topic these days as the Roman Catholic church grapples with its sex-abuse scandal, battles flare in the Mideast and the ripple effects of Sept. 11 continue to be felt.
The two forgiveness experts and a local priest agree that the healing process begins with a unilateral shift and a letting go of anger.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/2/2002 02:48:21 AM

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Cathedral to Open for Challenged Church
Dedication offers time to reflect on demands of enormous, diverse population.
Los Angeles Times
By TERESA WATANABE, TIMES STAFF WRITER
After years of lavishing his attention on the new Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony recently put the matter into blunt perspective. Asked if the cathedral marked the most significant achievement of his 17-year tenure as archbishop of Los Angeles, the cardinal dismissed it as no more than a "footnote."
"It is," Mahony said, "just a building."
For him and many others, Monday's cathedral dedication will be a celebration of the living church and the 5 million Roman Catholics who constitute Southern California's largest religious group.
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/2/2002 02:27:47 AM

FAIRFIELD COUNTY (CT)
Replacement Priests Celebrate Mass
New York Times
By MARC SANTORA
Replacement priests celebrated Mass yesterday in the Fairfield County churches of two parish priests who were stripped of their duties for aiding a fugitive priest accused of child sex abuse. The diocese wants the fugitive priest, the Rev. Lawrence Brett, who is accused of molesting at least a dozen altar boys and other children, to surrender to the civil authorities. The two priests, the Rev. Gerald T. Devore, above, and the Rev. David W. Howell, told no one that Father Brett, 65, had fled to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten after he was suspended from the priesthod in 1992. In Stamford, at St. Maurice Parish, the Rev. Bernard A. Keefe celebrated Mass and said he would oversee the parish instead of Father Devore. At St. Joseph Parish in South Norwalk, the Rev. Gilbert D'Souza said he would take over for Father Howell. On Saturday, Bridgeport Bishop William E. Lori said he had ordered Father Devore, 65, and Father Howell, 60, to a religious house for an indeterminate period of prayer and reflection. Bishop Lori said he was "gravely disappointed."
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/2/2002 02:13:50 AM

COLUMBIA (S.C.)
South Carolina Judges Seek to Ban Secret Settlements
New York Times
By ADAM LIPTAK
South Carolina's 10 active federal trial judges have unanimously voted to ban secret legal settlements, saying such agreements have made the courts complicit in hiding the truth about hazardous products, inept doctors and sexually abusive priests.
"Here is a rare opportunity for our court to do the right thing," Chief Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. of United States District Court wrote to his colleagues, "and take the lead nationally in a time when the Arthur Andersen/Enron/Catholic priest controversies are undermining public confidence in our institutions and causing a growing suspicion of things that are kept secret by public bodies."
posted by Jayson Landeza on 9/2/2002 02:07:12 AM

Sunday, September 01, 2002

BOOK REVIEW
Sins of the Fathers
'Betrayal' by the Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe and 'The Courage to Be Catholic' by George Weigel
Washington Post
Reviewed by Margaret O'Brien Steinfels
BETRAYAL
The Crisis in the Catholic Church
By the Investigative Staff Of the Boston Globe
Little Brown. 274 pp. $23.95
THE COURAGE TO BE CATHOLIC
Crisis, Reform, and the Future Of the Catholic Church
By George Weigel
Basic. 246 pp. $22
A nor'easter hit the Catholic Church last January with the Boston Globe revelations about clerical sexual abuse. Though the storm has moved on, the Archdiocese of Boston and its leader, Cardinal Bernard Law, are paralyzed by the damage. The cardinal and the Globe long enjoyed bad relations, and some readers suspected that the newspaper was out to get Law. But the story of the archdiocese's response to the sexual abuse of children was there to be gotten. The Globe's news stories, collected and enlarged in Betrayal, are a testament to intrepid local reporting, though some suffer from the born-today breathlessness of the evolving exposé and from the tendency to feign objectivity by quoting two contending sources. Rushed into print, Betrayal leaves a lingering sense that there's more to the story.

Bishops Urged to Halt Lawsuits
Abuse Victims Group Complains About Defamation Cases
Washington Post
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
August 31, 2002
A support group for sexual abuse victims urged the nation's Roman Catholic bishops yesterday to stop priests from filing defamation lawsuits against people who accuse those priests of child molestation.
Calling such lawsuits "brutal," "un-Christian" and "vengeful," leaders of the 4,100-member Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests argued that priests should defend themselves by less intimidating methods.



posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/1/2002 01:52:34 PM

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