Special
Report Pressure over abuse cases mounts
By CHUCK COLBERT
Boston
Sex abuse of minors by priests continued to dominate the news and
the conversations of Catholics here into the early days of March as banner
headlines daily competed with lead radio and television broadcast reports.
For starters, Cardinal Bernard Law graced the cover of
Newsweek magazine, under the headlines: Sex, shame, and the
Catholic Church -- 80 priests accused of child abuse in Boston and new
soul-searching across America.
Since the history of child sex abuse practiced by defrocked priest
John Geoghan was told in the media in January, Boston papers have reported that
as many as 200 people have hired lawyers claiming abuse by other Boston
priests.
The besieged Law also was apparently forced into fuller
cooperation with regional law enforcement officials investigating allegations
of child sexual abuse.
For weeks, local law enforcement officials expressed
dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the churchs response to
requests for information. We are unable to proceed until the Boston
archdiocese provides the names of victims, Anson Kaye, spokesperson for
the Middlesex County district attorney, told reporters.
The accord reached March 1 came only after mounting public
pressure. The accord was hammered out during a 90-minute, face-to-face meeting
between Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and attorneys for Law
in which the archdiocese said it would waive victims confidentiality
agreements.
The pressure included the threat of a grand jury
proceeding, according to a Boston Herald editorial. It is
truly unfathomable that years of cover-ups by church officials of wrongdoing
should be followed by needless weeks of stonewalling, the Herald
editorialized. The paper went on to credit Reilly, along with five county
district attorneys, for making the church do the right thing. But
some raised their voices in protest of the decision to hand over names,
claiming priests were being denied due process inside the church.
For its part, the archdiocese agreed to release 50 years
worth of records, personnel files and legal records, including the names of
victims of clerical sexual abuse, to law enforcement officials. Church
officials agreed to a two-week extension to turn over the relevant information,
with a deadline of March 18.
Donna M. Morrissey, the spokesperson for the archdiocese, promised
to improve the flow of information, adding that anyone with
information regarding allegations was released from any previous legal
constraints and could talk to prosecutors.
On the other hand, prosecutors said they would not seek a
prosecution without the consent of a victim, according to The Boston
Globe.
In a related story, Fr. George Spagnolia publicly denied
allegations that he sexually abused a 14-year old boy 31 years ago. At that
time Spagnolia served at St. Francis de Sales Church, located in the Roxbury
neighborhood of Boston.
Of the 10 priests removed from pastoral ministry in the Boston
archdiocese, Spagnolia has been the first to refuse to go away without a fight.
He not only fought his dismissal as parish pastor, but also resisted eviction
from his home in the parish rectory of St. Patrick in Lowell, Mass., where he
has been serving.
Spagnolias suspension from pastoral ministry (NCR,
March 8) comes under Laws zero-tolerance policy for priests
accused of abusing children. The cardinal, who announced that policy a month
ago, said recently that seven of the first eight priests who were suspended
from active ministry had acknowledged responsibility for the accusations
against them.
Spagnolia addressed hundreds of parishioners and supporters,
speaking from a written text, at a news conference in St. Patrick Church.
I have done nothing wrong, said a defiant Spagnolia.
When I was ordained in 1964, my embracing the joys, responsibilities, and
burdens of the Catholic priesthood did not abrogate my rights as an American
citizen, he added. I demand due process.
In a later interview with a Boston Globe reporter,
Spagnolia volunteered that during his two-year leave of absence from the
priesthood, he had remained faithful to his vow of chastity.
In an abrupt reversal two days later, however, he told print and
broadcast outlets that he had lied about remaining celibate. While the
64-year-old priest maintains his innocence regarding the charges of alleged
sexual abuse, he acknowledged having had two same-sex relationships, one
lasting a year between 1981 or 1982 and the other lasting four years.
It was never my intention to deceive anyone, Spagnolia
said, during a news conference. I honestly thought that I could keep
private that brief period of time during my leave of absence, which now has
been made public.
Spagnolia addressed the connection some draw between homosexuality
and the cases of sex abuse of children. My having a straight or gay
relationship remains an irrelevant tangent to the facts of the present
situation as they pertain to truthfulness of my denial or any allegations of
sexual abuse, he said.
There is a heck of a lot of difference. Being gay
doesnt mean youre a pedophile, Spagnolia said, according to
news reports of the local ABC affiliate. I am saying, yes, I have had gay
relationships, but I have never harmed a child.
At the same time, Spagnolia said he would continue to fight to
clear his name, although he no longer opposes being assigned to administrative
leave. On March 3, he moved out of his home in the rectory of St. Patrick.
I am not being pious, but I think the parish will heal
faster and so will I if I am not within the confines of the city,
Spagnolia said, according to the Globe.
I am going to take a leisurely drive and see where the
spirit takes me, he said.
Just as the drama of Spagnolias confrontation with the local
hierarchy settled down, another flared up -- this time inside the Cathedral of
the Holy Cross March 3, during Mass. Striding down a cathedral aisle, Steven
Lynch, who alleges that he was abused nearly 30 years ago by a priest now
deceased, said to Law, as he was beginning his homily:
Im standing before you, Cardinal, and Im taking
my power back that your church stole from me, according to news
accounts.
Law stood still and silent, the Globe reported, as
plainclothes police took the 42-year old Lynch into custody. He was arrested
and charged with two misdemeanors, disorderly conduct and disturbing a
worshiping assembly.
Under the watchful eyes of a Swedish film crew, a handful of
protestors outside the cathedral chanted: Prison for Law and
Full disclosure, complete accountability.
Inside, Law thanked Hispanic backers, both in English and Spanish,
for their marching to show their support the night before.
I wish to express my gratitude for the support of your
prayers, particularly last night, he said, according to the Globe.
This source of prayer for reconciliation and peace within the archdiocese
at this time is so precious, he said.
The peace seemed very short lived. Public attention next turned to
headlines in Bostons papers saying that the local priest pedophilia
crisis may cost the archdiocese $100 million.
The reports said that based on estimates from Laws advisers
and others familiar with church financing, the combination of all past,
pending, and future claims could cost the archdiocese more than $100
million.
Following those reports, two financial advisers interviewed by the
Herald under condition of anonymity said that the church could pay no
more than $50 million. The archdiocese is negotiating with Mitchell Garabedian,
a lawyer representing dozens of victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan
(NCR, Feb. 1) to settle all the cases for a combined $20 million,
leaving about $30 million for the estimated 100 claims made against other
archdiocesan priests.
One of the archdioceses advisers said that if plaintiffs do
not agree to settlement terms, the cases could go to trial where the
states charitable immunity statute that caps each claim at $20,000 would
be invoked.
One lawyer representing 14 people who allege abuse by church
worker Christopher Reardon and more than a dozen other plaintiffs against
archdiocesan priests seemed dismissive of that possibility.
Lawyer Jeffrey A. Newman told the Herald, If this
church wants to leave as its legacy that it allowed priests to molest kids and
destroy lives and then refused to pay judgment on its employees even though
their supervisors knew it was going on, let them try and well see them in
court.
Pressure continues to mount for Law to resign over his handling of
pedophile priests. The British Catholic magazine The Tablet reported
March 2 that it had received a letter to Law signed by 10 Catholic professors
at Harvard University calling for him to step down. In the letter, they accused
Law of giving comfort to those who despise the church and see it as a
fossilized institution of repression, secrecy and hypocrisy. Laws
resignation, they said, would serve as an act of penance for all the pain
inflicted on the laity, clergy and, most important, on children abused by
priests.
On March 6, the Globe reported that three Jesuit priests
have been removed from duties following allegations that they molested students
at Boston College High School two decades ago. The suspensions marked the first
time Jesuit priests had been linked to the scandal in Boston.
Whatever the continued fallout of the clergy sex abuse scandal,
one thing appeared clear at press time: Business as usual, as well as ministry
as usual, is a thing of the past.
As one layperson, who asked not to be identified, put it,
This is a 911 Enron moment for the Catholic church.
Freelance journalist Chuck Colbert writes from Cambridge,
Mass.
National Catholic Reporter, March 15,
2002
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