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August 30, 2003
District Attorney Conte makes payment to retired monsignor
accused of sexual abuse out of campaign funds.
District Attorney John J. Conte reports payment ending
05/31/2003 from campaign
fund to accused retired priest.
Vendor:
Leo Battesta
Address:
35 Julio Dr. Shrewsbury, MA 01545
Amount:
$100.00 Date:
05/01/2003
Purpose:
Cont. Refd.
Code:
Other
Check Number:
3788
Monsignor Leo Battista – The former director of
Catholic Charities is named a defendant in a lawsuit filed in July 1992, by
a former nun who claimed "Battista sexually assaulted and abused her while
she was undergoing psychotherapy as his client." Previous allegations
by another nun had led to the suspension of his license to practice social
work in 1991. (2/9/93)
August 28, 2003
Ex-city priest arraigned for assault
WORCESTER- The Rev. David L. Blizard, who
left the Worcester diocese in 1988, was arraigned yesterday in
Brockton Superior Court on a charge of indecent assault and
battery of a person over age 14.
Rev. Blizard, a native of Whitinsville, studied for the
priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and was ordained
in 1974 by Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan. His first assignment was
at St. Roch Parish, Oxford.
He was transferred in 1978 to Our Lady Immaculate Parish, Athol,
and served there until going to Christ the King Parish,
Worcester. In 1982, he went to Holy Angels Parish, Upton.
Rev. Blizard left parish work in 1983 to teach religion at St.
Bernard's Central Catholic High School, Fitchburg. He also
taught at Holy Name High School.
No excuses
Details of Geoghan murder raise more questions
August 27, 2003
Rev. David Blizard was arraigned today in Brockton Superior
Court. Rev Blizzard appeared in a self-surrender action today
before the court, on one charge of indecent assault and battery
on a person over 14. The incident is to have allegedly
occurred on July 25, 1988 in Wareham. Rev Blizzard was released
on personal recognizance and returned home to Howey-in-the-Hills,
Fla. These new pending charges were brought by an investigation
conducted by the State police in Worcester, under the direction
of Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte. Rev Blizzard is
due back in court on October 2, 2003 for a pre-trail conference.
Conte hits staffing
at prison
1 guard, 22 inmates when Geoghan died
Mr. Conte yesterday sought to clarify his role in the
investigation, which is to focus on preparing a criminal case
for a grand jury next month.
The district attorney said he will
concentrate on interviewing witnesses and on evidence discovered
in an inquiry headed by Assistant District Attorney Lawrence
Murphy.
The Rev. Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the Boston
Archdiocese, said that only a handful of people know about
funeral arrangements for Geoghan.
Geoghan's relatives do not want the service to "turn into a
media sideshow," Coyne said. "He's being buried in a Catholic
funeral service, but when and where I won't tell you."
August 24, 2003
Suspect Planned
Priest's Killing, DA Says
Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday appointed a panel headed by state
police Maj. Mark Delaney to conduct an independent
investigation.
``Right now we are going to do a thorough review and
re-evaluate all of our policies and procedures,'' state Public
Safety Secretary Ed Flynn said. ``We cannot escape the fact that
an inmate died while in the care of the Department of
Correction.''
Flynn said
surveillance cameras were rolling in the protective custody unit
while the attack took place. ``The films are being reviewed
right now to ascertain what was on those films,'' he said.
"In the prison culture, a pedophile is at the bottom of the
ladder and Geoghan was not a normal pedophile but a celebrity
pedophile who was constantly in the news," said the Rev. Richard
P. McBrien, chairman of the theology department at the
University of Notre Dame.
"Why wasn't he protected from this sort of incident?" said
McBrien, who contends Geoghan should have been institutionalized
rather than put into the prison system.
Geoghan's alleged abuse of nearly 150 young boys while a
priest with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston shook the
foundations of the church in the United States and revealed the
extent of its cover-up of allegations of abuse.
Vietnamese priest takes over
historic French-Canadian church in Fitchburg
The 42-year-old priest begins his stewardship of the Walnut
Street church just as Worcester County District Attorney John
Conte says a months-long criminal probe into the parish's untold
amounts of missing funds is nearly complete.
The bishop has since placed Ouellette, who lives in
Worcester, on administrative leave, rather than medical leave,
according to the diocesan chancellor, Monsignor Thomas Sullivan.
August 24, 2003
Geoghan is killed in prison
Pedophile priest dies after being
attacked
SHIRLEY Defrocked pedophile priest
John J. Geoghan, whose case helped set the stage for the
resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law of the Boston
archdiocese, died yesterday shortly after reportedly being
attacked in the state prison here
Joseph L. Druce, 37, who was serving a life sentence at the
Souza-Baranowski prison, was charged with murder in connection
with the former priest's death, according to District Attorney
John J. Conte.
Mr. Geoghan died at UMass Memorial - HealthAlliance Leominster
Campus after being strangled at the prison shortly before noon,
Mr. Conte said, adding that he will seek a murder indictment.
Voice note: The criminal background of Joseph
L. Druce, 37 is,
while still going by his birth name, Darrin Smiledge, he
brutally killed George Rollo of Gloucester. According to
affidavits in that case, Rollo picked Smiledge up hitch-hiking.
Smiledge then beat Rollo and stuffed him in the trunk of Rollo's
car. Smiledge later strangled Rollo with a rope before dumping
his body near the North Shore Music Theatre off Route 128 in
Beverly.
If convicted, his punishment is
likely to be of little consequence.
August 23, 2003
Convicted Pedophile Priest Geoghan Dies in Prison
BOSTON (AP) - Former priest John Geoghan, the convicted child
molester whose prosecution sparked the sex abuse scandal that
shook the Roman Catholic Church nationwide, died Saturday after
being attacked in prison.
Preliminary indications are that Geoghan, 68, was strangled,
Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said. An autopsy will
be conducted Monday.
Conte said fellow inmate Joseph L. Druce, 37, attacked
Geoghan shortly before noon Saturday. Geoghan died at 1:17 p.m.,
shortly after he was taken to UMass Memorial Health Alliance,
Leominster Campus, Conte said.
Braio's lawyer
tries to withdraw
WORCESTER- Lawyer Daniel J. Shea is seeking to withdraw as
counsel for a Shrewsbury man in a pair of lawsuits against
officials in the Catholic Diocese of Worcester.
In motions filed Aug. 14 in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Shea
said he had been discharged as the lawyer for Sime J. Braio and
asked the court to allow his withdrawal as Mr. Braio's legal
counsel in the two pending cases. No action had been taken on
the motions to withdraw as of yesterday.
August 21, 2003
Lawyers
challenge stance on abuse
The U.S. attorney told Mr. Shea last week that he is studying
the document. The lawyers are asking that the federal government
investigate what they see as an international conspiracy by the
Catholic church to cover up cases of sexual abuse by clergy.
August 20, 2003
Worcester VOTF has released their letter
dated August 3, 2003
to the Worcester Dioceses Pastoral Council, whose members were
all hand pick by Bishop Daniel Reilly.
Lay members are: Ronald Arcieri of St. Louis, Webster;
Nicholas Argento of
St. Luke the Evangelist, Westboro; Barbara Avery, Sacred Heart, Webster;
Edward Clasby, Our Lady of Loreto, Worcester; Edward Cronin, St. Bernard,
Fitchburg; Sheila Donnelly, Our Lady of Good Counsel, West Boylston;
Fanny
Escobar, St. Paul Cathedral, Worcester; Robert Gazaille, Good Shepherd,
Linwood; Stephen Grassechi, Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Ann, Worcester;
Rhonda Hamer, Prince of Peace, Princeton; William Hobey, Our Lady of the
Assumption, Millbury; Stephen Jackson, St. Catherine of Sweden, Worcester;
Wayne Jyringi, St. Aloysius-St. Jude, Leicester; Lawrence Kulig, St. Anne,
Southboro; Robert Lineham Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas, West Warren;
Yvonne Mazakowski, Christ the King, Worcester; Lori Pandiscio, St. Anthony di
Padua, Fitchburg; Thomas Royer, Holy Cross, East Templeton; Anne Sullivan,
St. Leo, Leominster; Dr. John Zawacki, St. Rose of Lima, Northboro
August 15,
2003
Tape says
Kelley confided in Medeiros
The report on the tape said
Rev. Kelley told state police: "I did confide in another priest
and Cardinal Medeiros. Cardinal Medeiros told me not to go near
little girls. I made it stop with Jennifer. I realized I had to
stop. I continued to go over the house."
Voice note: This tape may be viewed on the
Call to Action show with Laurie Letourneau on local access
TV channel 3 in Worcester please call
Tracy Foley at WCCA 755-1880 for exact times and dates.
"I'll surrender, or
you resign,' clergy-abuse case lawyer says
Houston lawyer Daniel J. Shea, under
investigation by the Worcester district attorney's office, has
offered to surrender to authorities.
In a letter to District Attorney John J. Conte dated yesterday,
Mr. Shea offered to surrender "at a time and place of your
designation. The alternative is your immediate resignation."
Rev.
Kelley pleads guilty in rape cases
Clergyman says he wants 'closure for these people'
"I'm guilty," he said. "I want closure for these people."
breaking
news
Robert E Kelley
plea bargains rape charges:
The Rev Robert Kelley,
pleads guilty today in Worcester Superior court to:
4 counts unnatural
rape of a child
2 counts of rape of
child
This plea was in
agreement of all the criminal victims. The majority of
Rev. Kelley victims have no legal standing in this court due to
Massachusetts Statute of limitations.
Rev Kelley has been
sent for an evaluation he will be sentenced October 1, 2003.
We note the sudden
change of Superior court Judge and the meeting between the
district attorney office and this new Superior Court Judge John
McCann yesterday to put him "up to
Speed" on this case.
It now appears,
Worcester District John J. Conte has made an agreement in
regards to a trial which would expose the Worcester Diocese
Catholic church for gross negligence in the Rev. Robert E.
Kelley Case. ADA William McGourty and ADA Kathy Dellsotritto
represented Worcester County in theses proceedings.
Voice note: Father of the first Rev Robert Kelley victim to seek
prosecution felt he had no choice but to accept the plea in
first conviction of Rev Robert E. Kelley.
August 14, 2003
Leominster priest abuse trial
may be delayed
WORCESTER -- The trial of a former
Leominster priest charged with child rape may be delayed again
while lawyers review one of the victim's psychiatric records
"These haven't even been reviewed yet," Salerno said about
some of the documents, the specific contents of which he would
not reveal but has said may help his client. "I have to see if
there's anything in there that's going to lead us to another
document. It's almost like a domino effect."
Tuesday, August 12,
2003
Secrecy called Vatican mind-set
Although a 1962 Vatican document detailing how certain sexual
abuse allegations are to be handled shows the mind-set of
secrecy of the Catholic hierarchy, it may not be as crucial as
some people want to believe, according to the Rev. Thomas P.
Doyle.
"The Vatican document did not cause the clandestine mode of
dealing with clergy sex abuse," he said.
August 9, 2003
Clergy-abuse
lawyer scrutinized
A lawyer representing
alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse wants to read state
police reports he believes would show that Worcester District
Attorney John J. Conte is conducting a criminal investigation
against him.
"I'm dumbfounded that the state police have confirmed that Conte
has been pursuing two criminal investigations against me," said
Houston lawyer Daniel J. Shea, who represents some local alleged
abuse victims.
August 3, 2003
Judge denies motion to delay civil lawsuit
Daniel Shea, a Houston-based lawyer
representing Sime Braio, filed an emergency motion in Superior
Court on July 21 citing a rule in the state’s canon of ethics
for lawyers. The rule addresses situations in which a client is
incompetent or unable to maintain a normal lawyer-client
relationship, according to James G. Reardon, diocesan lawyer.
In his motion, he said that “matters of a confidential nature
have arisen that mandate immediate and emergent action.”
“The plaintiff’s ‘verified’ motion cites no case law and
provides no facts which may be verified by the court or the
defendants,” Mr. Reardon said in his opposition.
In other words, Mr. Reardon said in a telephone interview
Tuesday, Mr. Shea “has not done what he is supposed to do. He
hasn’t offered any evidence to support his claim.”
August 1, 2003
Judge rejects lawyer's
attempt to delay trial of Rueger
Worcester Superior Court Judge Leila R. Kern denied the motion
yesterday. Diocesan lawyer James G. Reardon included the
interrogatories with his response to the court. The documents,
signed by Mr. Braio July 3, expand upon the allegations he made
against Bishop Rueger in his lawsuit against the cleric.
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