| Bishop acknowledges he knew priest advocated
sex with boys
By GILL DONOVAN
Bishop Thomas Daily said he regrets his decision to appoint Fr.
Paul Shanley acting pastor of a Newton, Mass., parish even after he knew of
complaints that Shanley advocated sex between boys and men.
Daily expressed his regret during a deposition in a lawsuit
brought by dozens of people who say Shanley abused them. The deposition was
given in August and released to the public Oct. 28. Daily is one of the
defendants in the lawsuit.
Daily, 75, now heads the Brooklyn, N.Y., diocese, the
nation’s fifth largest. In 1983, while serving in Boston as auxiliary
bishop and vicar general, he led that archdiocese for a brief period after the
death of Boston Cardinal Humberto Medeiros and before the installation of
Medeiros’ successor, Bernard Law. One of his executive decisions was to
appoint Shanley as administrator of St. Jean’s Parish in Newton.
The decision was made despite Daily’s knowledge of complaints
to the archdiocese that Shanley publicly endorsed sex between men and boys. A
letter written by a disgusted Catholic layperson to Medeiros and made available
to Daily said Shanley had said he didn’t think sex with minors was
harmful, nor was incest or bestiality (NCR, April 19). Daily maintained
in his deposition that he had no knowledge that Shanley had abused anyone when
he promoted him.
In Daily’s deposition, he often said he could not remember
details about his supervision of Shanley, but questions by Roderick MacLeish
Jr., attorney for Shanley’s victims, did lead Daily to provide some
succinct answers:
“You went ahead and appointed [Shanley] despite the fact that
you had information before you that suggested Paul Shanley had attended and
quite possibly endorsed the views of the NAMBLA [North American Man Boy Love
Association]?” MacLeish asked.
“Correct,” said Daily.
“And you regret that?”
“I regret that,” he said.
Shanley, 71, was assigned to St. Jean’s from 1979 to 1989. He
faces 10 charges of raping a child and six indecent assault and battery counts
that are alleged to have occurred during the time he was assigned to the
parish. He has pleaded not guilty to the counts and is being held in policy
custody pending trial.
A deposition, also released Oct. 28 in another lawsuit alleging
multiple counts of sexual abuse by a priest, sheds further light on
Daily’s mishandling of abusive priests as archdiocesan vicar general.
Gerald Perry, a former Nahant, Mass., police officer, testified
that in 1977 he once found Fr. Edward Kelley partially undressed in a parked
car with a 19-year-old man. Nahant’s police chief at the time, Joseph
Melanson, and Perry decided to contact Daily, who drove to the scene from
Brighton. Though the police suspected Kelley of sexual misconduct, they
released him to Daily under the provision that Kelley receive mental health
treatment. After the incident, however, Kelley continued his ministry in area
parishes. An Oct. 29 Boston Globe story says he didn’t undergo
treatment for 16 years. In that time he is alleged to have committed dozens of
counts of sexual abuse of minors.
Gill Donovan is an NCR writer. His e-mail address is
gdonovan@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, November 08,
2002
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