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Saturday, September 21, 2002
DALLAS (TX)
Bishop let accused priest stay on job
Sex-abuse policy leader to open inquiry, regrets not doing so earlier
Dallas
Morning News
By REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News
The U.S. Catholic bishop who has led efforts to confront clergy sex abuse has
let a priest continue working despite allegations of inappropriate behavior with
boys and adults.
Bishop Wilton Gregory -- a rising star of the U.S. Catholic Church who recently
guided his colleagues to a one-strike-and-you’re-out-of-ministry charter in Dallas
this summer -- said he would ask a review board to re-examine the conduct of the
Rev. Daniel L. Friedman after inquiries this week by The Dallas Morning News.
Bishop Gregory suspended Father Friedman on Friday pending that investigation,
which will be the third church inquiry involving the priest since the late 1980s.
“I regret not having asked the review board to reconsider this matter in light
of the charter immediately after our Dallas meeting,” Bishop Gregory of the Diocese
of Belleville, Ill., said in a written statement Friday afternoon.
Bishop Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had returned
Father Friedman to parish work in 1995, even though the priest had been removed
from a previous post and sent to counseling after complaints.
The bishop said in an interview with The News earlier this week that he reinstated
Father Friedman at the recommendation of the review board, which had investigated
at least one allegation of sexual misconduct between the priest and a minor at
a church youth camp.
Bishop Gregory said he was unaware of several other accusations made against Father
Friedman. But several camp workers told The News that they forwarded the complaints
to the diocese before and after Bishop Gregory arrived in 1994.
Among them: that Father Friedman grabbed the buttocks of a young man who worked
at a diocese-run camp, rubbed his groin against a clothed boy’s backside and insisted
on helping campers dress. He also was sued this year by a woman who said he fondled
her after she went to him for counseling. The woman later dropped her suit.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
09:59:51 AM
DETROIT (MI)
Lawsuit attacks priest's behavior with an adult, creating a dilemma
Detroit
Free Press
September 21, 2002
BY JIM SCHAEFER AND DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
She was his "pure, born-again angel."
He is a priest.
Now there's a lawsuit.
While Catholic leaders struggle to handle misconduct by priests with children,
a new lawsuit filed in Detroit reveals a blind spot in their efforts to combat
sexual misconduct: Church leaders appear to have no consistent policy governing
priests who violate their vows of celibacy with adults.
The Catholic approach, which generally involves a temporary leave for the priest
and counseling, is strikingly different than mainline Protestant denominations
who now consider clergy sexual misconduct with adults as a career-ending violation
of trust.
The issue is framed in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit by Paul
Croft of Hopkinton, Mass. The suit claims the Rev. Charles (Chip) Farrar of St.
Gabriel Catholic Church in southwest Detroit abused his priestly authority and
coerced Croft's wife into an affair beginning in February 2001. That broke up
the marriage, Croft said.
"Farrar intentionally used Catholic doctrine, dogma and religious scripture to
justify the sexual relationship and convince Karen Croft that the relationship
was holy and sanctioned by God," the lawsuit alleges.
It goes on to claim that Farrar, 38, encouraged Karen Croft to seek a divorce
or annulment from her husband of 12 years. She filed for divorce last month and
the case is pending in Massachusetts.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
08:06:05 AM
STATEN ISLAND (NY)
PERV PRIEST CHARGED
IN S.I. SEX ABUSE
New York Post
Associated Press
September 21, 2002 -- A former Staten Island priest, captured two years ago in
an Internet child-sex sting, was arrested again on charges of sexually abusing
a teenager during a 1999 visit to the boy's home, authorities said yesterday.
The Rev. Morgan Kuhl, 35, was charged with touching the 16-year-old's genitals
in August 1999, said Staten Island DA William Murphy.
A Staten Island grand jury indicted Kuhl for endangering the welfare of a child
and sexual abuse after the priest allegedly groped the teen in the basement of
the youth's home. If convicted, Kuhl faces a maximum of one year in jail.
The priest had worked at two Staten Island parishes: Holy Child and St. Mary's
of the Assumption. In April, the Archdiocese of New York turned over information
about the case to the DA's office.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:51:08 AM
MANCHESTER (NH)
Diocese criminal probe
taking longer than planned
The
Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
The criminal investigation into how the Catholic Diocese of Manchester handled
clergy sexual abuse during the past 40 years is taking longer than expected.
The state Attorney General’s office hoped to complete its fact finding by early
October, state prosecutor E. William Delker said yesterday.
But locating and interviewing scores of alleged victims and witnesses — many of
whom no longer live in New Hampshire — has delayed it until mid- to late fall,
added Delker, chief of the criminal justice bureau.
It is too early to say whether the case would ever go to a grand jury, he added.
Investigators so far have interviewed more than 100 people who say they were abused
by Catholic clerics from the 1960s to the present, he said.
State Attorney General Philip T. McLaughlin launched the inquiry into how church
officials handled complaints of child sexual abuse by clerics last spring.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:42:54 AM
Many Bishops Say They're Obeying New Sexual Abuse Policy
The
New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops today released the results of a survey showing
that most of them are complying with the measures they agreed to in June in Dallas
to remedy the sexual abuse scandal engulfing the church.
Seventy-six percent of the nation's 195 dioceses say they have review boards to
evaluate accusations of abuse; 82 percent conduct background checks on clergymen
and volunteers who work with minors; and 92 percent have a written policy on sexual
abuse available to the public.
But the survey found that fewer, about 54 percent, are reporting past cases of
sexual abuse to the civil authorities. The policy the bishops passed at their
meeting in June said only that each diocese should comply with local reporting
laws and discuss procedures with the authorities.
The survey did not ask how many dioceses had suspended or barred from ministering
priests with credible accusations of sexual abuse against them. This provision
was the most disputed part of the new policy, and some dioceses said they would
not comply until the Vatican approved the measures.
Msgr. Francis J. Maniscalco, spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, said the survey did not assess actions against priests because "we wanted
to get the survey out as quickly as possible and this is a complicated question
that might have delayed getting it out."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:38:46 AM
WORCESTER (MA)
Lewcon recounts wild Cape party
Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- David L. Lewcon yesterday described a trip to a home on Cape Cod with
the Rev. Thomas Teczar that involved drinking, smoking marijuana and an incident
in which one of the partygoers claimed to have a gun.
The incident happened about a month after his first direct sexual encounter with
Rev. Teczar, he said. The priest at the time was assigned to St. Mary's parish
in Uxbridge, which was Mr. Lewcon's home parish. Mr. Lewcon was a 16-year-old
high school student.
Mr. Lewcon testified a second day in his civil suit in Worcester Superior Court
against Rev. Teczar. Mr. Lewcon alleges that he was damaged psychologically as
a result of sexual misconduct by Rev. Teczar. The priest, who has not been defrocked,
was placed on leave by the Worcester diocese several years ago and is not allowed
to function as a priest.
Mr. Lewcon said Rev. Teczar invited him to come to his parents' home on Cape Cod.
It was March 1971. He said he received his parents' permission and they were accompanied
by a couple of other people. “I was looking forward to it,” he said.
They left for the Cape, with Rev. Teczar driving, and arrived during the night
after the hour-and-a-half trip. Mr. Lewcon was 16 at the time and helped himself
to a mixed drink of Southern Comfort and ginger ale. He later went to bed when
Rev. Teczar came into the room and sat on the bed. Rev. Teczar rubbed his shoulders
and hugged him, but there was no sexual contact, he said. The following day they
drove and walked around areas of Cape Cod, he said. They were joined by two people
identified as a half-brother and half-sister of Rev. Teczar.
“There was a lot of drinking, a lot of noise. People were having a good time,”
he said. Mr. Lewcon said he drank alcohol and at one point was sitting on the
front porch. He said he became “nervous” because the group appeared to be passing
a marijuana cigarette around and he was asked to partake. “I looked up to Tom
and asked what should I do. He told me to smoke it and I did,” he said.
He stayed on the porch and picked up a conversation in which someone said, “What's
that?” “A gun, stupid,” was the answer. The other person asked what he intended
to do. “The response was 'What else. Shoot.' ” The one who said he would shoot
was identified as a man named Chip. Mr. Lewcon said he got the feeling that Chip
might be intending to shoot him. He got up and went back into the house and upstairs
to his bedroom.
He later fell asleep and was awakened about midnight by Rev. Teczar. He was told
it was not “safe” for them to stay there and they would go to the priest's parents'
house in Worcester.
They arrived in Worcester and he was given a bed at the parents' house, he said.
He went to sleep and got a sensation “that someone was masturbating me. It was
like a dream. Then I woke up. It was Tom masturbating me,” he said. Mr. Lewcon
put his hand down to stop him but he reached orgasm, he said. “I was absolutely
devastated,” he said.
Mr. Lewcon said he was grappling with sexual identity at the time and thought
if he did not reach orgasm during these kinds of encounters that he really wasn't
homosexual. “I was conflicted about that. It was the last thing I wanted to be,”
he said. “I was horrified.”
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:32:13 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Church suits could gain from ruling vs. hospital
Boston
Herald
by Tom Mashberg
In a ruling that could affect scores of sex-abuse suits against the Archdiocese
of Boston, the state Appeals Court has ruled that a nonprofit organization cannot
fall back on the state's $20,000 cap on civil-damage awards in cases where vital
records are missing.
The court ruled in the case of Keene vs. Brigham and Women's that the hospital
must pay $4.1 million to the family of Dylan Keene of Dover, who suffered irreversible
brain damage in the hospital's neonatal unit 16 years ago.
Records relating to 20 pivotal hours of Keene's postnatal care were lost by the
hospital, according to the case record. His family had no option but to sue the
hospital for malpractice, rather than the caregivers whose identities would have
appeared on those records.
Massachusetts is one of nine states that cap liability sanctions on charitable
nonprofits - churches, most hospitals and groups like the YMCA, for example. The
archdiocese has said it would rely on the state's $20,000 cap in abuse suits that
are not settled and become the subject of jury verdicts.
But in its new ruling, the appellate court said a lower court judge was correct
when he entered a $4.1 million ``default judgment'' against Brigham after the
hospital failed to produce documents that were critical to the Keene family's
lawsuit.
``The judge did not find that the defendant's inability to comply was due to .
. . bad faith,'' the court wrote unanimously, ``but rather found it was due to
negligence in failing to preserve records that it was required by law to preserve.''
Lawyers said the ruling was ``very favorable in terms of piercing the immunity
cap'' in lawsuits where an absence of documents on the activities of problem priests
could undermine plaintiffs' claims.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:26:50 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Court rules against Brigham
Says charities law is not a shield
Boston
Globe
By John Ellement, Globe Staff, 9/21/2002
In a ruling that some say could have a major impact on lawsuits against the Archdiocese
of Boston, the state Appeals Court has said that Brigham and Women's Hospital
cannot use a charitable immunity law to shield itself from a $4.1 million verdict
awarded to a Dover family for medical malpractice.
''This is big. This is very big,'' said Carmen L. Durso, a Boston lawyer who says
in a lawsuit that the archdiocese conspired for 50 years to hide abusive priests.
Durso represents 28 people who say they were victimized.
The ruling raises the possibility that the archdiocese, for instance, could lose
its claim of charitable immunity - which limits claims against it to $20,000 -
were it unable to provide key documents in cases involving its handling of allegedly
abusive priests. The charitable immunity law shields institutions and their assets,
but not individuals.
In a complex decision issued Thursday, the Appeals Court lifted the $20,000 cap
on damages against charities like the Brigham. The court said the family of Dylan
Keene, who is now 16 but has the mind of 6-month-old baby due to an untreated
infection shortly after birth, can collect the $4.1 million damages awarded them
by a Norfolk Superior Court jury.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:22:40 AM
Bishops say most dioceses use reform plan
Boston
Globe
By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press, 9/21/2002
A panel of bishops that drafted a national discipline policy on Roman Catholic
priests who molest children said yesterday that its survey found most dioceses
were implementing the three-month-old plan.
Most bishops said they had formed a review board mainly of lay people, had crafted
a written policy on responding to abuse, and had procedures for publicly revealing
complaints against priests, the committee said.
However, the report did not say whether bishops were complying with a key part
of the reforms that has met the most resistance: removing guilty clergy from church
work and, in some cases, the priesthood altogether.
The committee also did not identify which dioceses had failed to implement provisions
of the policy. Monsignor Francis Maniscalco, spokesman for the bishops' conference,
did not return messages left at his office and home late yesterday.
Dioceses are under intense scrutiny over whether they have adopted the plan the
US Conference of Catholic Bishops approved in June to stem the clerical sex abuse
crisis plaguing the American church.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:20:09 AM
DALLAS (TX)
Bishop let priest continue working
Allegations swirl of inappropriate behavior at camp
Boston
Globe
By Reese Dunklin, Dallas Morning News, 9/21/2002
DALLAS - The US Catholic bishop who has led efforts to confront clergy sex abuse
has let a priest continue working despite allegations of inappropriate behavior
with boys and adults.
Bishop Wilton Gregory - a rising star of the US Catholic Church who guided his
colleagues to a one-strike-and-you're-out-of-ministry charter at a meeting in
Dallas this summer - said he would ask a review board to reexamine the conduct
of the Rev. Daniel L. Friedman after inquiries this week by the Dallas Morning
News.
Gregory suspended Friedman yesterday pending that investigation, which will be
the third church inquiry involving the priest since the late 1980s.
''I regret not having asked the review board to reconsider this matter in light
of the charter immediately after our Dallas meeting,'' Gregory of the Diocese
of Belleville, Ill., said in a written statement yesterday afternoon.
Gregory, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, had returned Friedman
to parish work in 1995, even though the priest had been removed from a previous
post and sent to counseling after complaints. The bishop said in an interview
this week that he reinstated Friedman at the recommendation of the review board,
which had investigated at least one allegation of sexual misconduct between the
priest and a minor at a church youth camp.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/21/2002
07:17:58 AM
Friday, September 20, 2002
What caused the crisis?
The Tidings
By Father Richard P. McBrien
The word on the conservative street is that the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic
Church was caused by a lack of fidelity to the church's teachings on human sexuality
-- the underlying assumption being that only "dissenters" fell from grace and,
in the process, caused the biggest scandal that the church has faced in modern
times.
A second assumption is that all of the offenders were homosexuals and that they
were encouraged in their perverse course of behavior in the 1960s by liberal (read:
dissenting) seminary faculty members, who implicitly disparaged the requirements
of clerical celibacy.
According to this view, a gay sub-culture developed in seminaries during that
"permissive" decade which marginalized and disheartened orthodox, heterosexual
seminarians, who then abandoned their quest of the priesthood.
The clergy sex abuse problem goes much deeper than a failure to obey moral rules.
We are dealing here with compulsive and addictive behavior, and, more profoundly,
with the mystery of evil itself.
This is the line taken in Michael Rose's "Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought
Corruption into the Catholic Church," and in George Weigel's forthcoming book,
"The Courage to be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church," judging
by his recent interview with belief.net.
It is also the position taken in various articles, press interviews, and television
appearances by Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things magazine, who
has insisted that there are just three words to describe the solution to this
whole crisis: fidelity, fidelity, fidelity.
The assumption is that no priest or bishop would have engaged in the sexual abuse
of minors, or in any other kind of immoral sexual behavior for that matter, if
they had been faithful to the Commandments of God and their ordination vows.
Which is a bit like saying that we wouldn't have any wars if countries acted peacefully,
or that we wouldn't have any robberies and thefts if people obeyed the commandment,
"Thou shalt not steal," or that we wouldn't have any murders if individuals didn't
use deadly force against one another. The "analysis" is tautological and, therefore,
without value.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:40:03 PM
WORCESTER (MA)
It's politics as usual in 2002
Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
By Dianne Williamson
Telegram & Gazette Columnist
Of politics and plums and priests ...
... John R. Sharry is no longer a member of a committee that was formed at St.
John Church in the wake of abuse accusations against its popular pastor, the Rev.
Joseph Coonan. The Rev. Coonan was placed on leave and has denied the accusations;
the committee was formed to fight the priest's removal from the church.
Mr. Sharry, a parishioner and former county commissioner, was initially one of
Rev. Coonan's most vocal supporters. Then he called one of the priest's alleged
victims, and acknowledged in this column space that he's had a change of heart.
“I've switched gears from blind loyalty to Father Coonan to a commitment to keeping
the parish healthy,” Mr. Sharry said, in a column Aug. 27.
His words did not sit well with many on the committee. Last week, he was called
a “Judas” in a letter to the editor of this newspaper, and was chastised by some
committee members at a meeting Sept. 4.
“I resigned because the committee told me that if I was going to stay on the committee,
I could not talk to any alleged victims and I could not talk to the press,” Mr.
Sharry said. “Neither of those conditions were acceptable to me, so I picked up
my stuff and walked out.”
Asked how he felt about his resignation, he said, “I felt badly that they were
taking that position, but it didn't take me five seconds to reach my decision.
I did and still do consider Father Coonan a good friend. But to be objective about
this, you have to look at the whole picture and listen to everyone, including
victims.
“I recognized that my position would upset people,” he added. “But I didn't think
they would react this strongly.”
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:35:03 PM Article by Vatican official opposes gays in priesthood
Cleveland
Plain Dealer
Rachel Zoll
Associated Press
New York -- A staff member of an influential Vatican office has published an article
arguing that gays should not be ordained as priests in the wake of the clerical
sex abuse scandal.
If a man is gay, "then he should not be admitted to holy orders, and his presence
in the seminary would not only give him false hope but it may, in fact, hinder"
the therapy he needs, Monsignor Andrew Baker of the Congregation of Bishops wrote.
Reached by phone in Rome, Baker would not immediately say whether his superiors
reviewed or approved the article before it was printed in the Jesuit magazine
America that is due out Monday.
Diocese hit by 6 sexual abuse suits
Legal papers allege pattern of cover-up
Toledo
Blade
By MICHAEL D. SALLAH
BLADE NATIONAL AFFAIRS WRITER
Saying the Toledo Catholic diocese covered up years of sex abuse by Dennis Gray,
six people filed lawsuits yesterday accusing the one-time priest of using the
power of the cross and collar to prey on young boys.
The separate suits, filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, represent the largest
number of complaints ever filed against the 92-year-old diocese in a sexual misconduct
case.
"This is just the beginning," said attorney Jeff Anderson during a press conference
at the courthouse. "There are many more victims who are stepping forward."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/20/2002
09:31:44 AM
ALBANY
Albany
Times-Union
EDITORIAL:The Vatican demurs
It should think twice before altering the American bishops' policy on sex abuse
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
This is the time for the Catholic Church to be finally coming to terms with a
sexual abuse scandal that had threatened its very presence in America. The urgency
of no longer tolerating such grotesque assaults on children and teenagers was
expressed just a few months ago, by Pope John Paul II himself. "There is no place
in the priesthood for those who would harm the young," he declared.
Only here's the church leadership, sending unsettling signals about undermining
the firm stance the American bishops took against such behavior within the clergy
at their meeting in Dallas last June. Too inflexible, too punitive, too disproportionate
to the sins and crimes of these priests, the misgivings go.
Some canon lawyers are even advising their bishops to hold off on enforcing the
tenets of the new policy -- expulsion from the priesthood of anyone believed to
be guilty of sexual abuse. Believed to be guilty, that is, based upon credible
accusations.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/20/2002
09:28:37 AM TRENTON
Bishop throws out defamation claim
Times
By KRYSTAL KNAPP
TRENTON - A Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Trenton did not ruin a fellow
priest's reputation when he publicly accused him of sexually abusing him as a
teenager, church officials said.
Bishop John M. Smith has dismissed a case that could have gone to church court
involving the Rev. John Bambrick, pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Church in
Manalapan, and the Rev. Anthony Eremito, a former priest in the Archdiocese of
New York.
Eremito accused Bambrick of defaming him when Bambrick asserted this spring to
church officials and the media that Eremito fondled him during a six-month period
in 1980 when Bambrick was a teenager.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/20/2002
07:54:22 AM
MINNEAPOLIS
Archdiocese tops $115 million in capital fund drive
Star Tribune
Warren Wolfe
Star Tribune
In the nation's fourth-largest capital fundraising campaign of its kind, the Archdiocese
of St. Paul and Minneapolis will report today that it has collected pledges exceeding
its goal of $115 million.
The largest portion of the money, $50 million, will buttress a new fund that guarantees
bank loans to parishes for renovation and expansion of churches and schools in
the growing archdiocese.
"You know, especially given the economy and the [sexual-abuse] problems of the
church, this is quite remarkable," said the Rev. Kevin McDonough, vicar general
of the archdiocese. "It is people in the parishes, responding to the needs of
the parishes."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/20/2002
06:47:21 AM
CONCORD (NH)
School's legal response blames accusers
Claims of molestation against Guertin teachers date to 1970s
Concord
Monitor
By J.M. HIRSCH
A Roman Catholic high school says two men who have accused former teachers of
molesting them as teens are to blame for their own abuse, according to court documents.
The remarks are part of Bishop Guertin High School's legal responses to lawsuits
filed against the school, Brothers Guy Beaulieu and Roger Argencourt, and the
Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the religious order that owns the Nashua school.
"The defendants assert that the injuries suffered by the plaintiff, if any, were
caused by his own failure to exercise reasonable care," the school says in documents
responding to two lawsuits.
Peter Hutchins, lawyer for the alleged victims, said he found it "disturbing that
a school would attempt to blame its own teenage students" for abuse that occurred
on school property.
"Blaming a child for being abused and alleging that they were somehow at fault
for the abuse occurring is simply absurd and repulsive," Hutchins said.
Dona Feeney, the school's lawyer, did not immediately return a telephone call.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:16:52 AM
CONCORD (NH)
Accused Bishop Guertin teacher says he was abused as a child
Foster's
Daily Democrat
By J.M. HIRSCH
Associated Press Writer
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A former Bishop Guertin High School teacher accused of molesting
a teenage student says he was abused as a child, according to court documents.
Brother Roger Argencourt’s statement is contained in written responses to questions
by a lawyer for Jeffrey Linton, an Afton, Va., man who says Argencourt sexually
assaulted him in 1974 at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua.
"I was abused by a neighbor when I was 10 or 11 years old," Argencourt wrote.
"He was four or five years older, I believe, and this he did only once."
Argencourt could not be reached for comment.
Linton says Argencourt raped and molested him as many as 40 times, once in front
of another teacher. Argencourt admitted to the abuse in his responses. He was
not charged in the case because the statute of limitations had expired.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:12:45 AM
MANCHESTER (NH)
Bishop’s actions key
in scandal - attorney
The
Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
BOSTON — A Boston attorney yesterday said he doesn’t have to show that Manchester
Bishop John B. McCormack agreed to hide pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese
to prove he was involved in an alleged conspiracy to cover up their abuses.
“We don’t have to prove that Bishop McCormack and Bishop (Thomas V.) Daily got
together and said, ‘Hey, let’s hide this stuff.’ It’s enough to show by their
actions they hid this stuff,” attorney Carmen L. Durso said.
Durso filed civil suit in a Boston court Wednesday alleging the Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard F. Law, and three of his former top aides
— including McCormack — conspired to cover up 50 years of criminal sexual abuse
by Boston clergy.
It isn’t necessary to show two individuals conspired to commit a wrongful act
“so long as its existence can be plausibly inferred from the words and the actions
of the individuals involved,” Durso said at a news conference at his Boston law
office.
Durso pointed to thousands of pages of church personnel files for more than a
dozen priests — including the Revs. Paul R. Shanley, Bernard J. Lane, Joseph E.
Birmingham and Ronald H. Paquin — the courts made public this year.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:10:18 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Catholic Charities restructuring, scaling back services
Springfield
Union-News
The Associated Press
9/20/02 5:57 AM
BOSTON (AP) -- Catholic Charities, the social service arm of the Archdiocese of
Boston, will scale back some services and reduce the number of sites where it
delivers services to six from 52, in a restructuring announced Thursday.
The agency, which provides services to 175,000 people annually, making it one
of the state's largest service providers, said it is already refocusing on its
core mission of assisting families, children, and refugees.
Neal F. Finnegan, chairman of the charity's board, and its president, Joseph Doolin,
told The Boston Globe that the agency will no longer offer residential programs,
such as those for AIDS patients, homeless families, and people receiving substance
abuse treatment. But they pledged to make sure other agencies take over those
services.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:06:44 AM
PORTLAND (ME)
County DA investigates Rev. Talbot allegations
Portland
Press Herald
By GREGORY D. KESICH, Portland Press Herald Writer
The Jesuit priest arraigned Thursday on criminal charges of sexual abuse of minors
in Massachusetts is also under investigation on similar charges in Maine, Cumberland
County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson said Thursday.
The Rev. James F. Talbot, who taught and coached at Cheverus High School from
1980 to 1998, was charged in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston with one
count of rape and five counts of indecent assault and battery. Prosecutors allege
the crimes occurred when Talbot was a teacher at Boston College High School in
the 1970s.
Talbot is the first priest with Maine ties to be charged criminally since the
national scandal of sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests broke in January.
In addition, Anderson's statement Thursday is the first acknowledgment in Maine
of a criminal investigation into allegations against an identified Catholic priest
since prosecutors received personnel files from the Diocese of Portland in May.
Talbot has already been the subject of a civil suit here concerning the sexual
abuse of a student in Maine, and a Massachusetts attorney said Wednesday that
he represents two other former Cheverus students who are contemplating similar
lawsuits.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
06:03:23 AM
EVANSVILLE (IN)
Board suggests priest's return
Schroering case in bishop's hands
Courier
& Press
By MAUREEN HAYDEN Courier & Press staff writer
maureenh@evansville.net
The local board appointed to review allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Evansville
diocesan priests is recommending that the Rev. Francis Schroering, 69, be "immediately"
reinstated into active ministry.
The board released its recommendation Thursday, after notifying both Schroering
and the two women who had accused him of sexual misconduct.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/20/2002
05:54:06 AM
State Supreme Court hears arguments over sealed documents
The
Courier-Journal
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
Sept. 18, 2002
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Peppering the lawyers with questions, justices of the state
Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments on whether portions of a Lexington lawsuit
alleging sexual abuse by priests should be open to the public.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington is fighting to keep sealed portions of
the lawsuit that allege sexual misconduct by priests. The Courier-Journal and
the Lexington HeraldLeader argue that the material should be open to the press
and public, as two lower courts have ruled.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/20/2002
05:51:32 AM BOSTON (MA)
Geoghan victims get $10M: Judge oddly praises all parties
Boston
Herald
by Tom Mashberg
Friday, September 20, 2002
An emotional Superior Court judge yesterday praised the courage of the victims
in the John J. Geoghan abuse suit, but surprised some onlookers by also lauding
Geoghan's former Archdiocese of Boston supervisors for their actions in the bitter
three-year case.
After formalizing a $10 million payout for 86 people abused by Geoghan dating
to the 1960s, Judge Constance M. Sweeney gazed past a phalanx of lawyers and into
the teary faces of the defrocked and jailed cleric's victims, near the rear of
her Suffolk County courtroom.
``You are to be admired for the fact that you stayed the course, you got to this
point,'' she told them. ``I hope you are able to recognize in yourselves not just
the hurt that was done to you but your own resilience, your courage.''
But after a long and heartfelt speech praising the Geoghan victims for forcing
the church to open its eyes to child abusers in its ranks, Sweeney offered a nod
to the very supervisors who oversaw Geoghan during his reign of abuse.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
05:49:54 AM BOSTON (MA)
Catholic Charities plans to cut services, consolidate
Boston
Globe
By Walter V. Robinson and Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff, 9/20/2002
Plagued by chronic deficits and antiquated management systems, Catholic Charities,
the social service arm of the Archdiocese of Boston, announced yesterday that
it will shed some of the services it now provides as part of a major restructuring
that will, within five years, reduce the number of sites where it delivers services
from 52 to six.
The transformation of the agency was announced to the Globe the day after its
board, appointed by Cardinal Bernard F. Law and containing some of his strongest
supporters, voted unanimously at a private meeting for a proposal that would give
the board some autonomy. The cardinal can fire its members at will and even change
the charity's bylaws without board permission.
The vote, taken with the knowledge that the cardinal does not favor such a change,
amounted to a quiet act of defiance, according to board members who spoke on condition
that they not be identified. They said yesterday that some board members have
talked of resigning if Law does not agree to the change.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
05:45:34 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Settlement doesn't heal victims' hearts
After Geoghan case, plaintiffs feel defeat
Boston
Globe
By Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff, 9/20/2002
They were the little boys who long ago knelt at altars with John Geoghan, the
smiling cleric who took them out for ice cream and lured them upstairs to his
darkened rectory bedroom.
Geoghan's victims had watched their former parish priest lose his Roman collar,
his reputation, and his freedom. And yesterday, when church lawyers delivered
$10 million to settle an epic civil lawsuit with 86 plaintiffs, they struggled
to register the event.
There was an emptiness, a melancholy, a sense of resignation and exhaustion. But
no victory. It felt, they said, more like defeat.
All those zeroes on that check will not salve their souls, they said.
''The money is not going to change my life,'' said Patrick McSorley, 28, who was
molested by Geoghan at age 12. ''My heart is always going to be broken because
of this. I mean these are people my family once loved. And they let something
go tragically wrong.''
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
05:43:44 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Ex-coach, Jesuit priest pleads innocent
Boston Globe
By Associated Press, 09/19/02
BOSTON — A Jesuit priest and former coach who was accused of sexually abusing
three of his Boston College High School students during the 1970s pleaded innocent
Thursday.
The Rev. James Talbot is charged with one count of rape, one count of assault
with attempt to rape and five counts of indecent assault and battery of a person
over 14.
Talbot is also accusing of molesting students at Cheverus High School in Portland,
Maine. He was transferred there in 1980.
Bail has been set at $3,500 cash, and it was not immediately known whether he
has posted it. A call to the Department of Corrections was not immediately returned.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
05:40:44 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Archdiocese charged with conspiracy in new lawsuit
Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- A new lawsuit charges the Archdiocese of Boston with conspiring to cover
up 50 years of alleged sexual abuse by a dozen priests.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by attorney Carmen Durso on behalf of 27 plaintiffs,
says church officials didn't respond to complaints of sexual abuse, then tried
to hide evidence of the abuse.
Durso said he decided to file the conspiracy claim because of the long pattern
of conduct by church officials.
Similar lawsuits alleging conspiracy by church officials have been filed in other
states.
Among those named as defendants in the suit were Cardinal Bernard Law and three
of his former top Boston aides: Bishop John B. McCormack of the Manchester, N.H.,
diocese; Bishop Robert J. Banks of the Green Bay, Wis., diocese and Bishop Thomas
V. Daily of the Brooklyn, N.Y. diocese.
The suit also names 12 priests, including the Rev. Paul R. Shanley and the Rev.
Robert V. Gale, both of whom have pleaded innocent to criminal charges of child
rape. The only active priest named in the suit is the Rev. John McLaughlin, pastor
of St. Benedict Church in Somerville.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/20/2002
05:37:42 AM
Thursday, September 19, 2002
The Word From Rome
Vatican view on the sex abuse charter; no Catholic support for a war on Iraq;
on more cardinals and papabili
National Catholic
Reporter
Column by John L. Allen Jr.
jallen@natcath.org
In this week’s print edition of NCR, I report on the Vatican review of the American
sex abuse norms adopted in Dallas in June. The bottom line seems to be that while
the Vatican will affirm the intent of the U.S. bishops to protect children and
young people, they are not going to approve the norms without revisions. Rome
will invite the U.S. bishops into dialogue as to how the measures approved in
Dallas can be made consistent with the universal law of the church.
The Vatican is expected to make its reaction public in early October.
The result has been widely expected and reported. In fact, I published a story
the day of the Dallas vote, June 14, indicating that the norms would have trouble
in Rome. Other media outlets have made the same point, including the New York
Times last Saturday.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/19/2002
11:05:37 PM
Rome expected to reject Dallas norms
National
Catholic Reporter
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
While affirming the intent of the U.S. bishops to protect young people from sexual
abuse, the Vatican will not grant legal approval to new American norms adopted
in Dallas June 14. Instead, sources say that Rome will invite U.S. prelates to
discuss how those rules can be harmonized with the church’s universal law.
Vatican sources said that formal notice of this decision is likely to be issued
in early October. The result means that, as a matter of law, the Dallas norms
will not yet be binding on American dioceses. Moreover, elements that differ from
the Code of Canon Law, such as the statute of limitations for sexual abuse, may
not be enforceable, or could be subject to reversal should a case be appealed
to a church court in Rome.
The outcome has been widely expected, given a spate of critical comments on the
American approach from Vatican officials both before and after the June vote.
(NCR, May 31).
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/19/2002
11:03:25 PM
Assault trial for former nun now under way
Canada.com
By ANDY WALKER
CHARLOTTETOWN -- The role of the media was the dominant topic as the trial of
a 78-year-old former nun accused of assaulting five children at a religious commune
in Fredericton, P.E.I., got under way in Supreme Court Monday.
Mr. Justice David Jenkins heard a motion from Zia Chisti, the lawyer for Lucille
Poulin, to have the trial closed to the public.
Chisti also wanted a sweeping publication ban, citing concerns about the safety
of his client.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/19/2002
08:45:01 AM
3 bishops dumped off panel on abuse
All faced criticism for their handling of priest cases
Chicago
Tribune
By Flynn McRoberts
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 18, 2002
Three bishops criticized for their handling of clerical sex abuse in their dioceses
will no longer serve on a committee charged with helping the American Catholic
Church implement new policies to protect children.
The three prelates include John J. Myers, who served as bishop of the Peoria diocese
before Pope John Paul II promoted him to archbishop of Newark last year. The head
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had named Myers to the Ad Hoc Committee
on Sexual Abuse only five months ago.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/19/2002
08:23:56 AM
BELLEVILLE (IL)
More men accuse Schwaegel of misconduct
Sex allegations lawsuit set for trial in October
Belleville
News-Democrat
By Beth Gansmann
BGANSMANN@BND.COM
An affidavit in federal court states a former Belleville Diocese monsignor has
at least three more men accusing him of sexual misconduct.
The affidavit, which was signed by Vicar General James Margason, was filed in
a U.S. District Court lawsuit against Monsignor Joseph Schwaegel and the diocese.
The case is set for trial in October.
Margason confirmed Friday that at least three other men -- who were all adults
at the time of the allegations -- have come forward to diocese officials and accused
Schwaegel, the former pastor of St. Peter's Cathedral in Belleville. The men accused
him of ``improper sexual activity.''
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/19/2002
08:21:40 AM
EVANSVILLE (IN)
Rev. Graehler back on duty despite objections
Evansville
Courier & Press
By MAUREEN HAYDEN
Courier & Press staff writer
September 19, 2002
An Evansville diocese priest accused of sexual misconduct will be returned to
active ministry by Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger, despite a recommendation from the
bishop's newly appointed review board that the priest remain on administrative
leave.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/19/2002
08:09:11 AM
BOSTON (MA)
$10 Million Accord Backed by Plaintiffs in Boston Case
The
New York Times
By PAM BELLUCK
BOSTON, Sept. 18 — A lawyer for 86 people suing Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese
in the case of a pedophile priest said today that all the plaintiffs had agreed
to accept a $10 million settlement from the church. The decision will apparently
end one of the most notorious chapters of the scandal over sexual abuse by clergy
members.
The plaintiffs, who accuse the now-defrocked priest, John J. Geoghan, of sexual
abuse, initially accepted a settlement of $14.9 million to $29.8 million in March.
But the church backed out of that agreement, saying it could not afford it because
hundreds of other lawsuits charging sexual abuse by priests had been filed in
recent months.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, had asked Judge Constance M. Sweeney
of Suffolk Superior Court to require the church to abide by the March agreement.
But in late July, the archdiocese proposed the $10 million settlement. Two weeks
ago, the church announced that both sides had accepted that proposal, but Mr.
Garabedian said that many plaintiffs had not agreed to it.
Today, Mr. Garabedian said all 86 had accepted the terms, after spending the last
two weeks discussing their options with him.
"Some people were reluctant, but ultimately their desire for closure was the governing
factor," Mr. Garabedian said. "They knew that even if they prevailed with Judge
Sweeney that the matter would just be appealed and continued for five years."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
08:03:43 AM
HARTFORD (CT)
Abusive Priest Flees Island
Facing Immigration Charges, Brett Hurriedly Quits St. Maarten
Hartford
Courant
By ERIC RICH, Courant Staff Writer
Abusive priest Laurence F.X. Brett has left the Caribbean island where he lived
secretively for nearly a decade, fleeing just days before local police descended
on his lagoon-side villa.
The authorities on St. Maarten, reacting to a report in The Courant, had planned
to detain the disgraced priest on immigration violations while they determined
whether U.S. prosecutors intended to extradite him on charges of sexually abusing
children, a local official said.
But police found Brett's villa deserted early this month, the official and another
man, Brett's landlord, said Wednesday. Investigators later learned that Brett
stopped briefly on a tiny island nearby, Saba, before leaving there for an unknown
destination.
In an odd twist, after he arrived on Saba, Brett was given a ride from the airport
by the island's top immigration official, Cletus Johnson. Johnson learned only
later - after seeing Brett's photo in a local newspaper - that the man he had
just met was a notorious pedophile priest on the run.
Brett's flight is likely to complicate any effort to have him returned to the
United States for prosecution.
Still, the public prosecutor in St. Maarten said Wednesday that his office is
actively investigating the case and that he has been in contact with authorities
in the United States. The prosecutor, Cornelius Merx, declined to identify the
U.S. authorities or to disclose the substance of the communications.
"I cannot give you that information because it's part of the investigation," Merx
said. "We are working on the case, but I cannot give details."
Brett, who traveled widely while working as a priest in the Bridgeport diocese,
allegedly abused more than two dozen children in four states before he vanished
from Baltimore in 1993. Subsequent searches for Brett by the FBI and a private
investigator were unsuccessful.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:52:45 AM
NEWARK (NJ)
N.J. ARCHBISHOP QUITS SEX-ABUSE PANEL
New York Post
September 19, 2002 -- CHICAGO - The archbishop of Newark, N.J., is leaving a panel
formed to implement the church's new sex-abuse rules, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, formerly bishop of Peoria, is the latest member
to leave the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Assault, which drafted a policy to punish
and expel abusers, the Chicago Tribune reported. It was previously announced that
Auxiliary Bishop A. James Quinn, of Cleveland, and Bishop John McCormack, of Manchester,
N.H., would leave the panel.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:49:07 AM
WORCESTER (MA)
Testimony begins in priest's trial
Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- David L. Lewcon said he felt emotional conflict after the Rev. Thomas
Teczar raised what he thought was a platonic friendship to a sexual level.
Mr. Lewcon, now 48 and living in Webster, said that at the time he was 16 and
was having difficulty accepting that he was homosexual. He saw Rev. Teczar as
a friend and a priest and felt deep conflict once the priest attempted sexual
encounters with him.
Mr. Lewcon testified yesterday in Worcester Superior Court on the opening day
of his civil lawsuit against Rev. Teczar.
In his opening statement, Laurence E. Hardoon of Boston, who represents Mr. Lewcon,
told the jury that he intends to show that Mr. Lewcon, a teenager with few friends,
was sexually abused by Rev. Teczar, and this abuse altered Mr. Lewcon's life.
Mr. Lewcon said he has suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress and
has taken antidepressant medication.
Michael C. Wilcox, who with co-counsel Louis P. Aloise is representing Rev. Teczar,
told the jury that the allegations involve “a couple of back rubs.” Mr. Wilcox
said Mr. Lewcon and Rev. Teczar became friends after the priest came to St. Mary
Parish in Uxbridge. The priest gave Mr. Lewcon a back rub on three or four occasions,
according to the lawyer. He told the jury that Mr. Lewcon was at the legal age
of consent at the time these back rubs occurred.
Mr. Wilcox said he intends to show that Mr. Lewcon had a sexual relationship with
another man who worked at the House of Affirmation and later had other sexual
relationships with men. He showed photographs taken of Mr. Lewcon and Rev. Teczar
together when Mr. Lewcon visited the priest at his parish in Gardner several years
later. He added that Mr. Lewcon had gone to several therapists and did not immediately
mention alleged abuse by Rev. Teczar.
Rev. Teczar, now 61 and living in the Dudley area, is still a priest, but was
placed on administrative leave by the Worcester Diocese several years ago. He
is barred from performing any priestly duties.
Mr. Hardoon said Mr. Lewcon grew up with his parents, but had “minimal social
life” and had no previous sexual encounters before meeting Rev. Teczar. “The whole
family was active in the Roman Catholic Church,” he said. Mr. Lewcon's life was
“altered” by the experience with his parish priest, but he did not realize his
problems were because of past abuse until 1993 when media reports surfaced about
the Rev. Thomas A. Kane and his alleged molestation of a young person. Mr. Lewcon
began talking with other people and realized where his own problems might have
started, Mr. Hardoon said.
Mr. Lewcon said he lived in the country with his family and had few friends. He
changed schools a couple of times, which made meeting other young people difficult.
He attended religious education classes beginning in first grade, and later transferred
to a Catholic school.
The jurors were told by Mr. Lewcon that Rev. Teczar's predecessor at St. Mary
Parish in Uxbridge was Rev. Kane, who later headed the House of Affirmation.
Mr. Lewcon said he first met Rev. Kane when his father, who owned a construction
business, renovated St. Mary's rectory. He said he helped his father on the project.
Rev. Kane would stop by to greet the teenagers. “He started asking questions about
my life,” Mr. Lewcon said. He took him on a trip to visit a boys school and then
started talking about issues with sex.
“I didn't feel good at all about it,” Mr. Lewcon said. They took a trip to the
Southbridge area, and Rev. Kane asked him in the car where he “wanted to experiment”
with sexuality. “I don't know. I don't know,” he said he answered.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:39:50 AM
WORCESTER (MA)
Panelists blast church over sex abuse issue
Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
By Mark Melady
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- The sex scandal racking the Catholic Church is about the abuse of
power as much as it is the pathology of pedophilia, Catholic activists said, but
there is little hope the church membership will be offered power-sharing any time
soon to make things right.
A request made five months ago to Worcester Bishop Daniel P. Reilly to create
a lay advisory council to help deal with the issues has been ignored, said Marybeth
Kearns-Barrett, assistant chaplain at the College of the Holy Cross, during a
panel discussion at Assumption College last night.
“The bishops still do whatever the hell they want to do,” Ms. Kearns-Barrett said.
She called the Catholic clergy a sexist culture and its leaders too arrogant to
apologize for the moral depravity of abusive priests.
“Had there been women and married men at the table when this issue first came
up 20, 30, 40 years ago, there would have been a different result,” she said.
The scandal is also about crime in God's house, reminded another panel member.
“Soul murder,” Mary Jane Doherty, a member of the Boston Archdiocese's Commission
for the Protection of Children, called sexual abuse of children by priests.
“The survivors have become teachers of the church,” said Ms. Doherty, who called
the scandal “a pastoral failure of massive dimensions.”
Church officials, she said, didn't see the scandal coming, didn't get it when
it was upon them and then acted instinctively and deceptively to protect the church.
By so doing, Ms. Doherty, an assistant to the president of Regis College, said
the bishops “wrapped themselves in cords of deceit.”
The commission, created by Cardinal Bernard F. Law, will make its recommendations
to the cardinal next month, Ms. Doherty said.
“It will be the first platform for radical change,” she said. “There will be no
turning back.”
But Phil Saviano, regional director of the Survivors Networks of those Abused
by Priests, said Cardinal Law has lost the moral authority to deal with the scandal.
Dozens of children were put at risk to predator priests because of the cardinal's
inaction, Mr. Saviano said. “To think he can lead us out of this is hard to understand.
It's an extreme level of arrogance.”
Mr. Saviano recalled being assaulted as an 11- to 12-year-old by David Holley,
then a priest in his Douglas parish.
“For a year and a half he tried to corner me every chance he got,” Mr. Saviano
said.
Ten years ago, when he was 40, Mr. Saviano read a news account of Rev. Holley's
arrest for abusing children in New Mexico where he is currently serving a 275-year
sentence.
Until then, Mr. Saviano said, it had never occurred to him that Rev. Holley was
still a priest, that he abused other children and that his own emotional problems
as an adult could be related to his abuse by Rev. Holley.
“I filed a suit against the Worcester Diocese and in the process found out that
over 30 years, six bishops in four states knew he was a molester and just sent
him to a new church or transferred him to another state,” Mr. Saviano said.
The reactive attitude of church officials, said Assumption theology professor
Marc Guerra, has been to manage the crisis rather than attempting to understand
and deal with its root causes.
“They have been dancing on the edges in a managerial fashion,” he said.
“As the mother of four children, this crisis sickens me,” Ms. Kearns-Barrett said.
“More than anything else I want my children to be rooted in God.”
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:20:30 AM
BOSTON (MA)
BC speaker suggests laity have role in picking bishops
Boston
Herald
by Eric Convey
The Roman Catholic Church could work through the clergy molestation scandal in
part by establishing ``new criteria for choosing and judging bishops,'' the keynote
speaker launching a two-year series on the problem told about 4,000 people last
night.
Church tradition allows for giving clergy a role in choosing bishops, and that
voice could be ``extended to the laity as well,'' said Kenneth Woodward, religion
editor at Newsweek magazine for nearly 40 years. Under current practice, bishops
are named by the Vatican in consultation with bishops.
Woodward, a practicing Catholic, also said the Catholic Church is working through
the clergy molestation scandal with neither a sense of how extensive the problem
is nor a grasp of ``long-term solutions.''
Jack Connors, one of the country's leading advertising executives and a one-time
member of Bernard Cardinal Law's inner circle, said, ``Leaders who made a series
of bad judgments and who continue to hold onto their title will be leaders in
title only.''
The Rev. William P. Leahy, Boston College's president, said the school is hosting
the two-year series of lectures and symposiums on the sex abuse crisis because
``the current situation calls for healing, and healing requires not only work
of the heart but also work of the mind.''
Leahy said the discussions surrounding church governance and the relationship
of lay people and clergy may involve ``disagreement and controversy.''
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:16:08 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Suit claims archdiocese conspired to hide abuse
Boston
Herald
by Robin Washington
A Boston lawyer filed suit yesterday charging the Archdiocese of Boston with conspiracy
in covering up sexual misconduct by 12 priests over more than 50 years.
The suit, entered in Suffolk Superior Court by Carmen Durso on behalf of 27 plaintiffs,
claims church officials knew of criminal acts by eight living and four deceased
priests but failed to stop them, and enabled them to abuse again.
``For at least the past 50 years, and continuing to the present time, defendant
archbishop, along with others, has engaged in a conspiracy to conceal criminal
acts of sexual abuse which were committed by individuals whom it recruited, hired,
trained, supervised and retained as clergymen,'' the suit states.
Named in the suit are the Revs. Richard T. Coughlin, Robert V. Gale, Edward T.
Kelley, Bernard J. Lane, Paul J. Mahan, John E. McLaughlin, Paul R. Shanley and
Patrick J. Tague, and the late Revs. Leonard Stanton, Paul Moriarty, Thomas F.
Dempsey and Joseph W. Kenney.
Earlier this year, Minneapolis attorney Jeffrey Anderson filed similar suits,
including one against the archbishop of Los Angeles, charging conspiracies under
the federal RICO, or racketeering, statutes.
But Durso said his action differed from Anderson's in that he is not calling the
church a criminal organization.
``This is a civil conspiracy that's being alleged, not a criminal conspiracy,''
he said of the suit, which charges the church violated the plaintiffs' civil rights
by allowing the abuse to continue.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:13:56 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Ex-BC High priest to turn self in on abuse charges
Boston
Herald
by Eric Convey
A Jesuit priest accused of sexual assault by a dozen former Boston College High
School student-athletes is expected to turn himself in for arraignment on related
charges this afternoon.
The Rev. James Talbot was indicted earlier this week on seven counts: one each
of rape and assault with intent to commit rape, and five counts of indecent assault
and battery on a person age 14 or older. The charges involve three alleged victims.
``We all hope that Father Talbot will be behind bars,'' said James Higgins, one
of Talbot's accusers in an unrelated case. ``Our lives were changed drastically.
We hope that Father Talbot's life will be changed drastically as well.''
``It's a good day,'' said Roderick MacLeish, a lawyer representing a dozen alleged
Talbot victims.
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the indictment followed
a lengthy investigation.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:11:15 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Geoghan plaintiffs agree to $10M deal
Boston
Herald
by Tom Mashberg
After the intense last-minute courtship of a lone holdout, attorney Mitchell Garabedian
will tell a judge today he has all the signatures needed to finalize a pivotal
$10 million settlement in the Archdiocese of Boston abuse scandal.
The deal is expected to be cemented this morning in Suffolk Superior Court after
the judge overseeing the case, which involves 86 alleged victims of defrocked
and jailed pedophile John J. Geoghan, approves it on behalf of the one minor involved
in the lawsuit.
``If all goes according to plan, I will hand them the 86 releases in court and
they will hand us a certified check,'' Garabedian said. Superior Court Judge Constance
M. Sweeney yesterday scheduled the hearing for 11:30 a.m. today.
The final holdout, Janet Green of Saugus, mother of two of the 86 plaintiffs,
yesterday blasted the church over its ``unfair'' final offer in the Geoghan case
- a deal being scrutinized by attorneys for some 350 other plaintiffs suing the
church for alleged abuse by scores of clerics dating back 40 years.
Green said the deal leaves her sons, both alleged rape victims, barely $200,000
apiece - before Garabedian's fees of one-third and his legal expenses are subtracted.
By comparison, the archdiocese frequently settled individual rape suits for twice
that amount in the 1990s - years during which the church was also paying for silence
by routinely insisting on confidentiality agreements before payouts.
``I feel we have all been manipulated into seeing this as the only way out of
this mess,'' said Green, who is to receive $10,000 for ``loss of consortium''
- a phrase for the harm to her relationship with her children caused by alleged
abuse.
``Basically,'' she said, ``we're being told, `sign now and you'll have a check
in two weeks, or else we'll be in court for five more years.' ''
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:09:07 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Teacher to be arraigned today
Attorney praises BC High officials
Boston
Globe
By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff, 9/19/2002
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley yesterday formally announced the criminal
indictment of the Rev. James F. Talbot on charges that he sexually abused three
students at Boston College High School while he taught and coached at the school
in the 1970s.
Talbot, 64, a Jesuit priest who has been living for the past two years at the
Campion Center, a Jesuit residence in Weston, is expected to turn himself in to
prosecutors this afternoon and be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court.
Talbot, as the Globe reported yesterday, has been charged with one count of rape,
one count of assault with intent to rape, and five counts of indecent assault
and battery. The indictment alleges the crimes took place on Saturdays in the
locker room at BC High, where Talbot conducted ''aggression drills'' by wrestling
one-on-one with student athletes, often clad only in jockstraps, and then forcibly
molested them.
The alleged victims, who ranged from 14 to 17 and lived in Dorchester, Milton,
and Quincy, were sometimes given beer by Talbot before the matches, said Conley,
who called the allegations ''a shocking breach of trust by a man who was a figure
of educational, athletic, and spiritual authority for the young men he allegedly
assaulted.''
After one assault, Conley said, Talbot - who graduated from BC High in 1955 and
worked at the school from 1972 to 1980 - allegedly told his victim not to tell
anyone because no one would take his word over Talbot's.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:05:36 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Geoghan victims agree to $10m settlement
Boston
Globe
By Walter V. Robinson and Michael Rezendes, Globe Staff, 9/19/2002
After months of bitter back-and-forth and the collapse of one agreement the Archdiocese
of Boston embraced but then rejected, 86 plaintiffs in sexual abuse lawsuits against
defrocked priest John J. Geoghan and church officials have agreed to accept $10
million to settle their claims, the plaintiffs' attorney announced yesterday.
Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney, said he expects Suffolk Superior Court Judge
Constance M. Sweeney to ratify the agreement at a hearing this morning. If Sweeney
goes along with the agreement, Garabedian said, he will hand archdiocesan lawyer
Wilson Rogers Jr. settlement documents with 86 signatures and Rogers will hand
him a check for $10 million.
But, he said, it will be a settlement without reconciliation: There will be no
formal apology by the church for Geoghan's serial abuse, and no opportunity for
statements in court by the victims, who will end up receiving, on average, about
half of what the church agreed to pay in March. In May, the archdiocese's Finance
Council voted down the agreement, declaring it too expensive.
''My clients,'' Garabedian said, ''feel that the archdiocese just does not care
about them, and it's time for them to leave this darkness and move on with their
lives. They have no faith in what the archdiocese says.'' Even if there were to
be an apology, he added, ''it would be too little, too late.''
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:03:01 AM
NEWTON (MA)
BC trustee: Church lost ability to lead
4,000 attend project launch
Boston
Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 9/19/2002
NEWTON - One of Boston's most prominent Catholic philanthropists said last night
that he has been withholding financial support from the archdiocese because of
his unhappiness over the church's handling of sexually abusive priests, and he
suggested other local Catholics consider doing the same.
''The laity controls the oxygen for most of the activities of the church - your
money and our money,'' Jack Connors Jr., the chairman and chief executive officer
of the advertising firm Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc., said at a forum
on the future of the church at Boston College.
''I'm very uncomfortable with those who have decided they're going to stop supporting
the activities of the church ... but one part of the temple of power is money,
and that's an important asset that needs to be redirected where it's going to
do the most good, and for the moment that may be at the local level.''
Connors, a onetime confidant of Cardinal Bernard F. Law and one of the city's
most influential power brokers, said in an interview after the forum that he has
not given any money to the archdiocese since shortly after the scandal broke in
January. He said he has refused to contribute to a $300 million capital campaign
being run by the archdiocese, or to the annual Cardinal's Appeal that finances
archdiocesan operations. Instead, he has redirected his philanthropy to his parish
and to Catholic educational and social service organizations.
Connors was one of five prominent Catholics who spoke at the opening event of
a multiyear Boston College program examining the future of Catholicism in the
aftermath of the clergy sex abuse scandal. So many people came to the event -
Boston College estimated the crowd at 4,000 - that it was moved from a lecture
hall to the hockey rink, Conte Forum.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
07:00:51 AM
PORTLAND (ME)
Ex-Cheverus priest faces new claims
Portland
Press Herald
By DAVID HENCH, Portland Press Herald Writer
A former Cheverus High School teacher due in court this morning on molestation
charges in Massachusetts now faces accusations that he abused at least three students
at the Portland school.
The Rev. James Talbot, a Jesuit priest, is being arraigned today on charges that
he sexually abused three students at a Boston preparatory school in the 1970s.
Maine's statute of limitations may preclude criminal charges for the alleged crimes
here, although lawyers are exploring the possibility.
Talbot had been sued in 1998 by former Cheverus student Michael S. Doherty, who
accused the priest of molesting him in 1984 and 1985 after Talbot was transferred
to Portland from Boston.
For years, Doherty was the only one to step forward and accuse Talbot, a popular
coach and charismatic teacher, of sexual impropriety. Talbot was suspended from
teaching after the suit was filed, but Doherty and his family encountered disbelief
and ostracism from fellow Catholics.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
06:57:14 AM
CHICAGO (IL)
Rev. Joseph Fession SJ: Bishops' Dereliction Made This Spiritual Crisis Possible
Catholic Citizens
of Illinois
By Karl Maurer
Chicago, IL - Commenting on the current crisis facing the Catholic Church, and
how to navigate a way out of it, Father Joseph Fessio S.J. appeared in Chicago
at the invitation of Catholic Citizens of Illinois on September 13th at a luncheon
attended by 130 of the group's friends and members.
The Crisis of Spiritual Abuse
Father Fessio observed that while sexual abuse is an abomination, the most damaging
aspect of the current Catholic crisis was, in his view, spiritual abuse, which
he defined as the widespread failure by American Catholic Church leaders to teach
and defend Catholic truth. It is a crisis that has many facets. "What we are seeing
today is a crisis in fidelity to Catholic truth: in accepting that truth on the
part of the faithful and the priests, and on enforcing and defending that truth
on the part of Bishops."
Father Fessio was quick to point that "the crisis in the Church today is not pedophilia."
Indeed, the overwhelming majority of abuse cases involve homosexual priests molesting
teenage boys barely under the age of eighteen. In the past decades, hundreds of
problem priests have simply been shuffled back and forth from parish to parish,
leaving trails of abuse across the country.
"It's not just a problem of priests who are homosexuals", cautioned Father Fessio,
"but Bishops who are derelict in their duties. These scandals have been covered
up, lies have been told, and lies have become a culture in some areas." He also
noted that while hundreds of priests have been defrocked, the colossal failure
of the Bishops to root out and correct sexual deviancy in their own dioceses has
yet to result in any Bishop being removed.
Faithful Catholics see the cause of the sex abuse crisis as the rejection of the
Church's traditional teaching on sexual morality by American society, including,
sadly, most Catholics. But the Faith was lost first. St. Paul says of those who
lost their Faith, "they were turned over to their lusts". Father Fessio noted
that the crisis of dissenting Catholic laity, priests and Bishops was born in
the rejection the Church's teaching in Humanae Vitae, published in 1968, which
reinforced long held Catholic values in the midst of the hedonistic revolution
known as 'the Sixties.'
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/19/2002
06:51:52 AM
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
CHICAGO (IL)
Three bishops leaving panel considering sex abuse rules
Boston.com
By Associated Press, 9/18/2002 10:24
CHICAGO (AP) Three Catholic bishops criticized for their handling of sex abuse
allegations in their dioceses are leaving a panel formed to implement the church's
new sex abuse rules, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The bishops leaving the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Assault, which drafted a policy
to punish and expel abusers, are Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, formerly bishop
of Peoria; Auxiliary Bishop A. James Quinn of Cleveland; and Bishop John McCormack
of Manchester, N.H., the Chicago Tribune reported.
Myers' successor in Peoria, Bishop Daniel Jenky, removed seven priests for alleged
abuse last May, and some parishioners said Myers had left the problem for Jenky.
Cleveland and New Hampshire also have undergone extensive investigations of sex
abuse.
''We're not saying these are bad men,'' the Rev. Richard McBrien, a University
of Notre Dame theology professor, told the Tribune. ''But when we're in the kind
of crisis we're in, you have to bend over backwards to make sure that everybody
who is representing the church and in this case the bishops is carrying no baggage
whatsoever.
''John Myers left a very messy situation in Peoria,'' McBrien added.
David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network for Those Abused by
Priests, said it was wise to remove the bishops.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/18/2002
06:40:10 PM
BOSTON (MA)
Alleged Geoghan victims agree to $10 million settlement
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, 09/18/02
BOSTON -- Alleged sexual abuse victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan have tentatively
agreed to a $10 million settlement proposal from the Boston Archdiocese to drop
their lawsuits, their attorney said Wednesday.
The money will be divided among 86 plaintiffs, including people who say they were
molested by Geoghan when they were children, parents of some of the children and
some who say Geoghan exposed himself to them.
The deal comes six months after the victims and the archdiocese announced a settlement
worth up to $30 million. The archdiocese backed out of that deal in May, saying
it could not afford the deal as hundreds of other lawsuits were being filed.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the alleged victims, said they agreed
to the lower figure because they want to try to put the abuse behind them.
"They want closure and they understand that the church does not really care about
their emotional well-being," Garabedian said. "It's time to move on and try to
heal as best they can, if at all."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/18/2002
06:37:52 PM
'He was so angry, upset, and ashamed. I know it affected his whole life.'
Boston
Globe
(By Bella English, Globe Staff)
CANTON - At first, Mary McDonough thought her son Kevin was just going through
a rough adolescence. He had been such a joyful, joking child - ''the happiest
of my four boys,'' she says - and a constant tease to his twin brother, Barry.
360 investigated in 50 years in Cleveland diocese
Boston
Globe
(By Associated Press)
CLEVELAND - Prosecutors have investigated 360 people, including 100 priests, accused
of sex abuse in the city's Roman Catholic Diocese in the last 50 years.
BC High ex-coach to face charges
Boston
Globe
(By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff)
The Rev. James F. Talbot, a Jesuit priest who was transferred under a cloud of
suspicion in 1980 from his teaching and coaching job at Boston College High School
to an all-boys school in Maine, was indicted yesterday on charges that he sexually
abused three students at the prestigious Boston preparatory school in the 1970s.
Ex-BC High coach to face child sex counts
Boston
Herald
by Tom Farmer
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
A Jesuit priest who taught and coached at Boston College High School is expected
to surrender on a child rape charge tomorrow following his indictment yesterday
for allegedly molesting three students more than two decades ago, officials said
last night.
The Rev. James Talbot, who was nicknamed ``Mad Dog'' by BC High students when
Talbot taught and coached at the school between 1972 and 1980, is scheuled to
appear in Suffolk Superior Court tomorrow for arraignment. He faces one count
of child rape, one count of assault with intent to rape and five counts of indecent
assault and battery, according to David Procopio, a spokesman for Suffolk County
District Attorney Daniel Conely.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/18/2002
07:19:51 AM
TULSA
Two state priests won't face sex abuse charges
The
Oklahoman
By Larry Levy
The Oklahoman
TULSA -- No criminal charges will be filed in Tulsa County against two Roman Catholic
priests accused of sexually abusing boys, District Attorney Tim Harris said Tuesday.
Harris said he thinks the statute of limitations precludes him from prosecuting
anyone because of a law in effect in the mid-1990s -- when most of the acts were
alleged to have taken place. That law calls for prosecution "no later than five
years after the discovery of the alleged crime."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/18/2002
07:17:40 AM
CLARKS MILLS (WI)
Two priests face accusations: Conrad resigns after admitting to relationship
with minor
Manitowoc
Herald Times
Sept. 17, 2002
By Charlie Mathews
Herald Times Reporter
CLARKS MILLS — Kathy Berres wants Father John Conrad to know exactly how she and
her family feel.
“We love you Fr. John” is the message on the marquee outside Immaculate Conception
of Mary Catholic Church, which was rocked Sunday by the resignation of Conrad,
who resigned after admitting he had a sexual relationship with a minor more than
25 years ago.
Berres with her husband, Ray, and children, Daniel and Zachory, posted the message
Sunday afternoon.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/18/2002
07:13:41 AM
LOS ANGELES
Bishops Conspired, Says Abuse Plaintiff
Courts: Alleged victim charges U.S. Catholic leaders with protecting pedophile
priests.
Los
Angeles Times
By WILLIAM LOBDELL, TIMES STAFF WRITER
In one of the first legal attacks on the nation's Roman Catholic leadership, an
alleged molestation victim has filed suit contending that bishops conspired over
the past 30 years to protect priests who sexually abused children to "avoid detection,
public disclosure and scandal."
The lawsuit filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court alleges that the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops even conducted seminars to show bishops and dioceses
how to discourage and discredit claims of child sexual molestation, how to conceal
or "sanitize" damaging records of accused molesters, and how to quietly transfer
the suspected molesters without raising suspicion among congregants.
Some experts say the suit is an innovative legal strategy to hold U.S. bishops
accountable for a national wave of molestation cases involving priests that has
tarnished the reputation of the church over the past year. Others call it a legal
grandstanding ploy with no credibility.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/18/2002
07:11:27 AM
WORCESTER (MA)
Trial on abuse charges against priest under way
Worcester
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER-- Opening statements are scheduled today in the trial of a civil lawsuit
brought by a Webster man who alleges he was sexually abused as a teenager by a
Catholic priest.
David Lewcon, 48, of Webster filed his suit in 1996 against the Rev. Thomas Teczar
alleging he was sexually abused by Rev. Teczar in 1971 and 1972, when the priest
was assigned to St. Mary Church in Uxbridge and Mr. Lewcon and his family were
members of the parish.
Rev. Teczar, 61, has denied engaging Mr. Lewcon in any acts of sexual abuse or
mistreatment. While he remains an ordained priest, Rev. Teczar was placed on administrative
leave several years ago and cannot perform any priestly duties.
Mr. Lewcon maintains he suffered emotional harm as a result of Rev. Teczar's alleged
actions and did not begin to understand the damage caused to him until 1993.
The Catholic Diocese of Worcester was also named as a defendant in the case, but
Mr. Lewcon's claims against the diocese were dismissed about two years ago, after
a settlement was reached.
A 14-member jury, including eight women and six men, was chosen yesterday in Worcester
Superior Court to hear the case. Judge Peter A. Velis will preside over the trial,
which is expected to last about a week.
Mr. Lewcon is represented by Boston lawyer Laurence E. Hardoon. Rev. Teczar is
represented by Worcester lawyers Michael C. Wilcox and Louis P. Aloise.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/18/2002
06:09:24 AM
ARLINGTON (VA)
A Letter from the Bishop
Arlington
Catholic Herald
The following letter from Bishop Paul S. Loverde was read at all Masses the weekend
of Sept. 14-15..
Sept. 14, 2002
Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I am deeply distressed by the report on Channel 7 on Monday evening and the article
which appeared in The Washington Post on Sept. 13. Most of the clergy, religious
and laity of this diocese are faith-filled, enthusiastic about living out their
call to holiness and earnest in their efforts to overcome the sinfulness in their
lives through ongoing repentance and conversion. Every situation in which an allegation
of misconduct has been brought forward against a priest has been looked into and
dealt with in appropriate and proper ways. This was so in terms of the two priests
referred to in the Channel 7 report and in the Post article. I took steps immediately
in each instance.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/18/2002
05:59:47 AM
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
PRAIRIE VILLAGE (KS)
Prairie Village pastor denies sexual abuse allegation
The
Kansas City Star
By DIANE CARROLL
The Kansas City Star
The pastor of a Catholic church in Prairie Village who has been placed on administrative
leave said today that he is innocent of a sexual abuse allegation.
The Rev. William Haegelin of St. Ann Catholic Church was placed on paid leave
a week ago after the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas received a two-page
letter accusing him of sexually abusing a minor in the 1980s. The archdiocese
made the allegation public last Tuesday.
Haegelin said in a statement today that he "would like to state publicly and unequivocally
that the accusations made by the person in question are false."
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/17/2002
09:24:12 AM
BALTIMORE
Letter to the Editor: State law impedes abuse victims' healing
Baltimore
Sun
By William A. Au
September 16, 2002
I RECENTLY received a frantic call from a parishioner, a woman in her 40s, who
had been going for pastoral counseling at a local Catholic center for spiritual
direction, where she had told the deacon counseling her, as she had previously
told me, that she had been sexually abused as a child by a family member.
Now she was told that the center was going to report this to the state authorities,
despite her adamant objections, because Maryland law requires counselors and clergy
to report all sexual abuse, even if the victim revealing the abuse is now an adult
and even if the perpetrator is deceased...
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/17/2002
09:22:11 AM
Catholic Review Board to name holdout bishops
The
Oklahoman
By Carla Hinton
The Oklahoman
The American public soon will know the names of Roman Catholic bishops who refuse
to comply with the U.S. Catholic Church's zero-tolerance policy on priest sex
abuse.
The National Catholic Review Board, led by Gov. Frank Keating, promised Monday
during a meeting in Oklahoma City it will make public a list of dioceses that
fail to follow the strict anti-abuse guidelines adopted in June by Catholic bishops.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/17/2002
09:17:11 AM
APPLETON (WI)
Accused priest arrested in California
The
Post-Crescent
The Associated Press
APPLETON — A priest accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old altar boy who
came to him for confession has been taken into custody in California, said Outagamie
County Dist. Atty. Vince Biskupic.
Biskupic said former priest John Patrick Feeney was arrested at his home in Los
Angeles today around 7 a.m., Pacific time.
A criminal complaint charges Feeney, 75, with separate counts of the attempted
sexual assault of the same youth and the attempted sexual assault of the boy’s
brother, who was 13 at the time.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/17/2002
08:55:43 AM
SPOKANE (WA)
Church speaks no evil
``He took advantage of our innocence, our virtue and our parents' trust.''
Spokesman-Review
By Jonathan Martin
Staff writer
Boys at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin parish knew there was something different
about their priest.
The Rev. Patrick G. O'Donnell took them on off-road rides in his Willys Jeep.
He took keen interest in their sports. He had a great stereo.
But two former Assumption students said O'Donnell also ordered the middle school-aged
boys to strip naked, or to their jock straps, and sponge off on the half-court
line of the parish's gym, while he watched.
The Roman Catholic priest rarely prayed with them, but did show them pictures
of adults in sexual positions.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/17/2002
08:49:06 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
Use Bishops' Policy on Abuse, Lay Panel Tells Catholic Orders
The
New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 16 (AP) — A national panel appointed by the nation's Roman
Catholic bishops to help dioceses enforce a tough policy for dealing with sexually
abusive priests urged religious orders today to comply with that policy.
The panel, the National Review Board, said it would ask the Conference of Major
Superiors of Men to reconsider its August decision to let most abusers continue
in church work away from parishioners.
The nation's bishops agreed three months ago to remove guilty priests from church
work and in some cases from the priesthood.
The Conference of Major Superiors represents religious orders, like the Franciscans
and Dominicans, that supply about a third of the nation's 46,000 priests. The
conference said the bishops' approach violated the Catholic belief in redemption
and ignored research indicating that some molesters can be rehabilitated.
But Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma, the chairman of the review panel, said he
and the board's vice chairwoman, Anne Burke, an Illinois judge, would write the
conference with the "urgent request that they implement precisely the same policy
that the bishops approved in Dallas."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/17/2002
08:37:57 AM
BROOKLYN (NY)
B'KLYN CHURCH HIT IN BIZARRE GRAFFITI ATTACK
New York Post
By LARRY CELONA and GILL SMITH
September 17, 2002 -- Parishioners of a popular Brooklyn church were sickened
yesterday to find their house of worship desecrated.
At the Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in Marine Park, swastikas were spray-painted
in orange on the walls and doors while obscene messages - including the threat,
"It's Getting Personal" - were sprayed across the windows.
"This person is so crazy, but I'd rather have them do this to a building than
kill someone," said Monsignor Thomas Brady. "For this to happen on Yom Kippur
is very scary."
Brady called the police after being alerted to the vandalism by a church worker
who arrived at the parish shortly after 7 a.m.
Two swastikas were spray-painted on the door while sexual drawings and the message,
"I'm retarded," were smeared across the church walls.
A statue of the Virgin Mary was spray-painted orange.
The graffiti had been removed by lunchtime thanks to a group of cleaning workers
who volunteered their services.
Cops are continuing to investigate the incident.
The church is a popular place of worship for firefighters and cops.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/17/2002
08:34:35 AM
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Locations given for alleged abuse
Springfield
Union-News
By ELIZABETH ZUCKERMAN
The three men who have said they were sexually abused as teens by the Rev. John
A. Koonz said the assaults occurred in Dalton and the Millers Falls section of
Montague, according to officials of the Catholic church and the district attorney's
office.
The Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield,
told the congregation of St. Agnes Parish in Dalton of the complaints Sunday and
said the retired priest had been suspended from public ministry. He said Koonz's
departure from the parish several months ago was due to medical reasons and that
the priest has denied the accusations.
Dupre said two men said the incidents took place at the St. Agnes rectory. The
third was said to have occurred in Millers Falls, according to Berkshire County
District Attorney Gerard D. Downing.
The complaints were filed with the Diocesan Misconduct Commission. The commission
found credible the three against Koonz, who had served at St. Agnes for more than
20 years.
A message left at Koonz's West Springfield phone number yesterday was not returned.
The three allegations "applied to a period of time between 1969 and 1982," Dupre
said.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/17/2002
08:24:08 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Archdiocese's reversal on Foster creating confusion on abuse policy
Boston
Herald
by Tom Mashberg
The weekend reversal by the Archdiocese of Boston in the case of Monsignor Michael
Smith Foster has created confusion over the church's new policy for confronting
abuse claims, lawyers, advocates and plaintiffs said yesterday.
Many are asking how the church could have suspended the priest in the first place
without having met with his accuser - in this case, a Winchendon man named Paul
R. Edwards, whose credibility has been attacked from many quarters.
Others are asking the opposite: How could Foster have been briefly reinstated
given the church's strict new policies on abuse allegations, which call for archdiocesan
officials to interview accusers to assess the viability of their claims?
``They are saying one thing and doing another,'' said attorney Nance Lyons, who
represents dozens of alleged victims of clergy abuse. ``Of course, there will
be accusations and denials. The policy at a minimum is to hear both sides before
exonerating a priest.''
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/17/2002
08:18:00 AM
Monday, September 16, 2002
DURHAM (UK)
A priest who wore a mask
The
Tablet
Annabel Miller
Fr Adrian McLeish, former parish priest of St Joseph's, Gilesgate, in Durham,
was last year sentenced to six years in gaol. He had been found to own one of
the world's largest collections of Internet pornography, and to have abused four
children. A Tablet assistant editor visited Durham to talk to those he left behind.
When police cars came to St Joseph’s presbytery just over a year ago, Jackie Franklin
thought the place had been burgled. Then the parish priest, Fr Adrian McLeish,
a close family friend, told her that something had been sent to him over the Internet,
"something that shouldn’t be there".
But there was more to it than that. At the end of his trial, Jackie found out
that Fr McLeish had been running one of the biggest collections of Internet pornography
in the world. He had also abused four children, one of whom was her own son, Tom.
When I met Jackie recently, at a solicitor’s office in Durham, I was struck by
how strong she looked and by the resigned, unemotional way in which she described
what had happened. "After the computers were taken away, we thought there was
something Fr McLeish was not telling us", she said. "We knew he was very worried,
so we were looking after him."
Then Jackie was contacted by another mother, who said that her child, also a boy,
was saying that McLeish had interfered with him. Ja ckie told another priest,
and a diocesan representative, Fr Dennis Tindall, told the police. "The same day
that McLeish was arrested, I had to question my child", Jackie told me. "I asked
if anything had been done which he thought was not right." Before speaking to
Tom, she had confronted McLeish about the allegations of child abuse. "He looked
relieved more than anything and thanked me for my generosity."
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
07:09:51 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
Catholic review board wants religious orders to follow the lead of bishops
on abuse policy
Boston.com
By Richard N. Ostling, Associated Press, 09/16/02
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A national review panel waded into a church conflict over disciplining
sexually abusive priests Monday, urging religious orders to comply with the discipline
policy adopted by America's Roman Catholic bishops.
Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, chairman of the bishop-appointed National Review
Board, said his group will formally ask the Conference of Major Superiors of Men
to reverse its August decision to allow most abusers to continue in church work
away from parishioners.
U.S. bishops agreed three months ago to remove guilty priests from all church
work -- from celebrating Mass to working in a Catholic soup kitchen -- and in
some cases from the priesthood altogether.
The Conference of Major Superiors represents religious orders such as the Franciscans
and Domincans, which make up about a third of the nation's 46,000 priests. The
conference said the bishops' approach violated Catholic belief in redemption and
ignored research indicating that some abusers can be rehabilitated.
But Keating said he and board Vice Chair Anne Burke, an Illinois appellate judge,
will write the conference with the "urgent request that they implement precisely
the same policy that the bishops approved in Dallas." Having the orders signed
on would ensure that there's a uniform policy for all U.S. priests.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
06:58:58 PM
BALTIMORE (MD)
State law impedes abuse victims' healing
Baltimore
Sun
By William A. Au
I RECENTLY received a frantic call from a parishioner, a woman in her 40s, who
had been going for pastoral counseling at a local Catholic center for spiritual
direction, where she had told the deacon counseling her, as she had previously
told me, that she had been sexually abused as a child by a family member.
Now she was told that the center was going to report this to the state authorities,
despite her adamant objections, because Maryland law requires counselors and clergy
to report all sexual abuse, even if the victim revealing the abuse is now an adult
and even if the perpetrator is deceased.
Naturally, she was traumatized and felt that she was now going to be violated
a second time by the people and the church to whom she turned for help in dealing
with the legacy of abuse.
Several weeks before this event, the Archdiocese Of Baltimore held a special mandatory
conference at which the clergy were told of their obligation to make such reports
to state authorities, even though, as some objected, it would be a fundamental
violation of their obligation of confidentiality to those people seeking their
spiritual guidance and counseling.
The intent of the law to have current abuse of children reported so that these
children can receive protection and help is laudable. Yet to require clergy or
other counselors to report revelations of past abuse on the part of their adult
parishioners and clients is absurd, cruel and destructive to the people who are
seeking help in dealing with the legacy of abuse.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
10:09:28 AM
HAMPDEN (MD)
Restoring faith after a difficult year
Most pupils are back at a city Catholic school shaken by sexual abuse
Baltimore
Sun
By John Rivera
Sun Staff
The first week of school began as usual at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School
in Hampden, with excited children arriving with new notebooks, getting to know
their new teachers and attending a welcoming Mass in the parish church.
But something unusual took place in the fifth-grade classroom on the second floor,
where the Rev. James P. Farmer sprinkled holy water in the room and intoned a
blessing on the rows of children seated before him. It was his effort to purge
the awful memories of the abuse that had happened there.
St. Thomas was shaken early this year by revelations that its fifth-grade teacher,
a popular figure whose son attended the school, fondled at least 11 girls in his
classroom and in his home.
A media onslaught followed that found Farmer and his faculty struggling to defend
their reputation and the integrity of a parish that has served the community since
shortly after the Civil War. At one low point, Farmer, a thoughtful, soft-spoken
pastor and former criminal defense attorney, was dismayed to see a local television
station briefly and mistakenly identify him as the abuser.
With the start of a new school year, the people of St. Thomas are trying to move
on. The teacher, David Czajkowski, received a five-year sentence the day before
the children returned. A new group of pupils and teacher occupy his old classroom.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
09:03:07 AM
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Springfield priests to attend retreat
Springfield
Union-News
By BILL ZAJAC
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield will be without almost all of its priests
for several days this week.
All 125 or so active diocesan priests will be attending a two-day convocation
at The Cliff House resort in Ogunquit, Maine, from Tuesday-Thursday.
The absence of priests means there will be fewer daily Masses in the diocese and
funeral services may be postponed until priests return.
"Parishioners have been told by their parish priests about the changes and funeral
directors have been notified," said the Monsignor Richard S. Sniezyk, vicar general
of the diocese.
A similar first-time, two-day retreat was held two years ago at The Cliff House.
"Priests appreciated the opportunity to gather and share some collegiality — to
have an informal dialogue in an informal setting," Sniezyk said.
"The Wellness of Priests" is the theme of this year's gathering, at which sex
abuse expert the Rev. Stephen J. Rossetti and spiritual wellness director Brother
James R. Zullo will be the featured speakers.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
08:46:31 AM
DALTON (MA)
Parish is told of abuse probe
3 men accuse former Dalton priest of abuse
Boston
Globe
By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff, 9/16/2002
Bishop Thomas Dupre of the Diocese of Springfield yesterday told a Dalton parish
that one of its former priests has been suspended amid allegations of sexual abuse.
However, Dupre told congregants at St. Agnes Parish that the departure of the
Rev. John Koonz several months ago was not related to the allegations, which Koonz
has denied. Three men have accused Koonz of abusing them when they were teenagers
between 1969 and 1982.
In a statement he read during Mass, Dupre said he had to ''walk a fine line''
in the matter.
''I must be conscious of the need of any alleged victim for understanding,'' he
said. ''At the same time, I must also be conscious of the fact that every priest
is a human being who has his human and civil rights, which must be respected.''
Koonz will not minister in public while an investigation is conducted. He left
St. Agnes for health reasons.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
08:40:13 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Web site categorizes clergy involved in sexual abuse cases
Boston
Herald
by Eric Convey
A new Web site is lifting some of the secrecy surrounding Roman Catholic clergy
accused of molestation.
Survivorsfirst.org is operated locally but organizers plan to build a national
database on alleged perpetrators.
The site lists priests who are the target of allegations, placing each in one
of three categories. The first category includes those against whom legal action
has been taken. The second lists priests removed from parishes by bishops and
the third gives details of clergy involved in settlements.
``The victims have asked us (for this) because it helps them locate abuser-specific
support groups,'' said site operator Paul Baier. Representatives of parishes also
support the idea because it will make it easier to tell whether a current or former
priest was accused of abuse, he said.
Baier is a leader of Voice of the Faithful, which wants to democratize some parts
of church operations. But he said survivorsfirst.org is legally distinct from
the organization.
``I'm doing this as an individual right now, but we hope to incorporate it into
the SNAP or Link-up or Voice of the Faithful,'' he said. SNAP, or the Survivors
Network for those Abused by Priests, and Link-up are groups that work to help
victims of abuse.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
08:33:57 AM
BOSTON (MA)
BC opens campus to debate on faith
Leahy touts queries on Catholicism
Boston
Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 9/16/2002
Boston College says it will set no limits on the views of speakers or the topics
up for debate as it launches the most extensive scholarly effort to explore the
future of Catholicism in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.
Despite ongoing questions from bishops and conservative Catholics about the Catholic-ness
of America's Catholic colleges, and despite the insistence by church leaders that
many religious teachings are not open to debate, Boston College's president, the
Rev. William P. Leahy, says he is committed to a freewheeling discussion of the
most controversial subjects facing the church, including power and sex.
''I don't think there are going to be any kinds of restrictions - people can pose
the questions as they will,'' Leahy said. ''Some of the speakers we bring on campus
may not reflect official church teaching, but that's how it is. By no means do
I anticipate screening those who come on to campus ... And I have no difficulty
if a bishop across the country or some local pastor may say that's not Catholic
teaching - that's fine. We're trying to get at the large issues and stimulate
thinking, encourage dialogue.''
In a lengthy interview, Leahy described the college's ''Church in the 21st Century
Project,'' which begins with a forum Wednesday, as an act of service to the church,
not of dissent.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
08:30:51 AM
BOSTON (MA)
Church meets dissenting voices with silence
Boston
Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 9/16/2002
In a university dining hall on Friday, several hundred local priests gathered
to discuss sexuality and the church. All last week over the Internet, leaders
of a Catholic lay group debated the role of authority in Catholicism. And this
week, the region's premier Catholic college kicks off a multiyear examination
of power, sex, and faith in the world's largest religious denomination.
Eight months after the clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded in Boston, many of
the region's Catholic pastors, parishioners, scholars, and students are engaged
in a broad and wide open debate over the future of their church.
But the traditional power structure of the archdiocese - Cardinal Bernard F. Law
and his auxiliary bishops - is not participating in that debate. Instead, priests
and lay people say, chancery officials are privately attempting to marginalize
participants in the discussions while publicly saying almost nothing.
Law has refused to comment publicly on Voice of the Faithful - a group that involves
thousands of local Catholics seeking change - except to say that he won't accept
any money they raise; Voice of the Faithful leaders say they are getting reports
from members that at least one of Law's auxiliary bishops is encouraging pastors
to bar the group from church property.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
08:27:26 AM
LEWISTON (ME)
Priest sex abuse cases unlikely to go to court
Portland
Press Herald
Associated Press
LEWISTON — Prosecutors in most of Maine's 16 counties say they do not expect to
bring sexual assault charges against any of the Roman Catholic priests whose names
were contained in documents from the diocese. Earlier this year, investigators
for Attorney General Steven Rowe and Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie
Anderson reviewed church records that contained allegations against priests going
back 75 years.
The Attorney General's Office then turned the information over to the eight district
attorneys responsible for prosecuting crimes at the state level.
The information has not been released publicly, but prosecutors have said that
some of the accusations were against priests who are now dead.
Five of the district attorneys said a preliminary review of allegations yielded
no cases they could bring to court for successful prosecution, largely because
too much time has elapsed since the alleged crimes occurred.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/16/2002
08:22:30 AM Catholic board to meet today
The Oklahoman
By Carla Hinton
The Oklahoman
The U.S. Roman Catholic National Review Board led by Gov. Frank Keating will meet
at the Governor's Mansion today for its second official meeting.
• Boston monsignor placed on leave 2nd time
The 13-member board of lay Catholics, charged with monitoring the U.S. Roman Catholic
Church's response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, will begin the day with a 7:30
a.m. Mass presided over by the Rev. Bruce Natsuhara of St. Joseph Old Cathedral.
After that, the group has a full roster of issues it must address, Keating said.
posted by Bill Mitchell on 9/16/2002
06:32:04 AM
Sunday, September 15, 2002
LEXINGTON (KY)
Papers, church to argue before state high court
Lexington diocese wants lawsuit sealed
The
Courier-Journal
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to unseal portions
of a Lexington lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by priests.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington is fighting to keep sealed certain portions
of the lawsuit that allege sexual misconduct by priests. The CourierJournal
and the Lexington Herald-Leader argue the material should be open to the press
and public, as two lower courts have ruled.
Both sides will get an equal amount of time to argue their cases before the
court, and the newspapers will split their time, despite a last-minute effort
by the Herald-Leader to get all the time the court had allocated.
In an unusual motion filed last week, lawyers for the Herald-Leader argued that
as the first party to get involved in the case -- and because they differ on
some points with The Courier-Journal -- they should be allowed the full 15 minutes
originally set for arguments.
However, the court ruled Thursday that the diocese and the newspapers each will
get 20 minutes; Courier-Journal lawyer Jon Fleischaker said the newspapers are
to share their 20 minutes.
posted by Kathy Shaw on 9/15/2002
03:32:32 PM
WASHINGTON (DC)
Pondering His Fall Within the Church
Priest Offers Defense, Plans to Appeal
Washington
Post
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
He is living in his childhood home, the brick duplex in Northeast Washington
where he made his final decision to become a Roman Catholic priest. He's reluctant
to go out in public, fearful he might run into old friends. And for the first
time in his 54 years, Monsignor Russell L. Dillard is looking for a job.
But the former pastor of St. Augustine's, the capital's largest African American
Catholic parish, said that what most consumes him is wondering how he ended
up this way. He wonders how it could be that, after devoting most of his life
to the church, he is now barred from ministry and regarded as a pariah.
"Right now, I feel like I'm nothing . . . and after 24 years of trying to do
the best I could do, looking forward to my 25th anniversary [as a priest], I
never thought that I would feel like garbage," Dillard said, his voice becoming
a whisper. "I never thought that I could say that the church doesn't want me."
The Archdiocese of Washington removed Dillard from St. Augustine's in March
after two women said he had kissed and fondled them in the early 1980s, when
they were teenagers and he was youth minister at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic
Church in Northeast Washington. Last month, he was formally dismissed from active
ministry by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.
posted by