July 31, 2003
Lawyers allege
evidence supports Vatican cover-up
Last week, state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly declined to
press charges against church leaders in the Archdiocese of
Boston who moved accused priests from parish to parish and did
not report allegations of sexual abuse to law enforcement
authorities.... Mr. Durso believe the existence of the secret
Vatican paper will aid authorities in determining that a
conspiracy exists to protect priests accused of sexual abuse.
July 30, 2003
Catholics' priest troubles
spawn variety of Web sites
The allegations of clergy sexual abuse that surfaced in the past
two years have led to creation of a number of Web sites that
provide information on the topic from a variety of viewpoints.
Mary T. Jean of Leominster, leader of the Worcester Voice,
maintains a site at
www.worcestervoice.com. Her site contains her own report on
the extent of the sexual abuse issue in the Worcester diocese.
She also lists resources for victims and provides links to other
sites. She said yesterday the report has been downloaded nearly
1,000 times since it went onto the site about two weeks ago.
Timothy P. Staney of Worcester, who alleges in a civil suit that
he was molested by a priest and a religious education teacher,
has put up his own Web site at
timstaney.net to post news about his court case. Mr. Staney
is a professional Web page designer
July 29,
2003
Vatican document instructed secrecy in abuse cases
.....The
hierarchy of the Catholic church has been instructed by the
Vatican at least since 1962 to keep certain cases of clergy
sexual abuse secret under pain of excommunication........The
document said that because of the great care necessary with
these cases, those investigating "are to be restrained by a
perpetual silence" and are required "to observe the strictest
secret, which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy
Office in all matters and with all persons, under the penalty of
excommunication..."
Voice note: A complete copy of this
Vatican document,
Read "Crimen
Sollicitones:
lower
right hand side of home page, available on line for downloading.
This is a very large file and will take 30 minutes.
July 26,
2003
Reilly forwards
report to Conte
Attorney General Thomas
F. Reilly has sent a copy of his report on sexual abuse in the
Boston Catholic archdiocese to Worcester District Attorney John
J. Conte,as an example of what Mr. Reilly's spokesman said
should be a model for similar investigations.
"The mistreatment of
children was so massive and so prolonged that it borders on the
unbelievable," he said.
Worcester Voice report site
gets 400 hits
Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the Worcester Diocese, said
Mrs. Jean did not have the professional credentials to research
and write such a report and said her presentation was fraught
with inaccuracies and potentially libelous comments.
"How many credentials does it take to count from 1 to 56?" said
David A. Lewcon of Webster, an alleged victim of Rev. Thomas A.
Teczar, and who has been active in some local abuse survivors
groups.
Mrs. Jean posted a note on her Web site to Mr. Delisle, saying
she was saddened the diocesan response to her report was to
attack her.
July 25,
2003
Worcester diocese accused of
blocking investigations
Mr. Reilly, who has so far declined to get involved in the
Worcester Diocese matter, said the Boston Archdiocese engaged in
a "massive, inexcusable failure" to do anything about the
scandal.
July 22, 2003
Worcester Voice report cites 56
allegations of abuse
"I want average Catholics to be able to read the report and
understand for themselves what has happened and is happening,"
she said. The report is being sent to the diocese.
Mr. Delisle,
How sad your response to the clergy abuse report was the
standard Worcester Diocese reaction attack!!!
It again shows when the Worcester Diocese is faced with
the truth it fails to deal professionally with the situation.
My suggestion is take ACCOUNTABILITY.
Any questions please feel free to ask because every piece of
information is verified in the clergy abuse report, but of
course you and the diocese already knew that!!!
Thank you for reinforcing the position that the report was
really necessary, your reaction is proof.
Mary Jean
Worcester Voice
Rev. Szantyr arraignment postponed
July 19, 2003
Rev. Kelley
trial held up for new records review
Braio drops suit vs.
assistant DA
July 18, 2003
Clergy Abuse Report Worcester Diocese
complete
report for downloading
After many months of research and examination of past and
present clergy abuse cases in the Worcester diocese a 41 page
report has been released.
The electronic version of this report is located on the side
link button. This version is more detailed with hyperlinks to
provide additional information.
It
is the conclusion of this report that the Worcester dioceses,
under the direction of Bishop Daniel P. Reilly has been actively
hiding past and present clergy abuse since his ordination in the
Worcester Dioceses in 1994.
With the full knowledge that
no legal means of accountability was available for his
prosecution, Bishop Reilly reigned within the Worcester diocese
with uncharitable supremacy leaving many a devastated Catholic
soul in his wake.
NEWS UPDATE
Rev. John J. Szantyr Case
arraignment for this morning continued until July 31, 2003, new
lawyer Edward Ryan of Fitchburg was out of the country.
Rev. Kelly sexual abuse case continued
until August 12, 2003 for status conference. To see if the
defense Attorney has had time to prepare his case based on the
new evidence recently provided to him by Worcester
Diocesan lawyer James G. Reardon Jr.
Kelley's
lawyer wants trial delayed
Lennon questioning on Rueger is shelved
Priest removed from
duties
July 16, 2003
VOICE REPORT ON
CRISIS IN WORCESTER DIOCESES
WILL BE RELEASED THIS WEEK.
Child-rape trial to start for priest
Tewksbury woman accuses Kelley
WORCESTER- Trial is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday in
Worcester Superior Court on child rape charges against the Rev.
Robert E. Kelley.
He was indicted a year ago on five charges that he sexually
abused and raped Heather Mackey of Tewksbury when he was
assigned as priest at St. Cecilia parish in Leominster. She said
the abuse started when she was 4 years old.
July 15, 2003
Diocese argues it has immunity in Braio lawsuit
WORCESTER-
A lawyer for the Worcester Catholic Diocese argued in
Superior Court yesterday that a civil lawsuit charging Auxiliary
Bishop George E. Rueger with rape should be dismissed.
Diocesan lawyer James G. Reardon Jr. said the lawsuit is
incomplete and that plaintiff Sime J. Braio cannot demonstrate
that the diocese is not entitled to the protection of common law
charitable immunity.
July 12, 2003
Man in sex abuse case to sue Conte
A Shrewsbury man plans to sue District Attorney John J. Conte
for $1 million, alleging that a member of the district
attorney's staff told a church official the man had HIV.
Mr. Shea said the conversation between the
district attorney's office and diocese amounted to defamation
per se.
In his complaint to the court, Mr. Shea wrote, "the failure of
the Reagon defendant to act upon the sworn deposition testimony
of the Sullivan defendant, and instead to characterize it as
"mistaken,' is direct evidence of the conspiratorial intent of
these defendants."
Follow complete coverage of this story on the Rueger Link
Lawyer subpoenas Bishop Lennon for
deposition
Bishop Richard G. Lennon of Boston has
been subpoenaed for a deposition, in connection with a lawsuit
that charges Worcester Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger of
rape..... records concerning Mary E. Hickey, who was the owner
of the Scituate house where his client, Sime J. Braio of
Shrewsbury, says he was raped in the 1960s, when he was about
13, by Bishop Rueger. ... also looking for records on other
people who owned the property at 51 Egypt St.
In addition, he is seeking parish records of the former Rev.
John J. Geoghan and his uncle, the late Monsignor Mark Keohane,
pertaining to their residence at 64 Oceanside Drive, Scituate.
July 11, 2003
Alleged abuse victim
says HIV test is negative
In pretrial deposition testimony made public last month,
Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan, diocesan chancellor and liaison to
District Attorney John J. Conte's office, said he was told by
First Assistant District Attorney James Reagon that Mr. Braio is
HIV-positive.
After the deposition, Mr. Braio denied that he had HIV or that
he ever told anyone he had been infected. After reading the
deposition testimony, Mr. Reagon denied telling Monsignor
Sullivan that Mr. Braio had HIV.
In the deposition Monsignor Sullivan said, "He (Mr. Reagon) told
me that he (Mr. Braio) was a very sick man. That he, you know,
has heart - had heart problems, was HIV-positive. You know, had,
you know - we already knew he had a criminal record."
Voice note: On
Monday July 14, 2003 there will be a hearing in Room 16 at the
Worcester Superior Court house in front of Judge Kern at 2
o'clock, to address a motion filed by Worcester Diocesan
Attorney, James G. Reardon Jr for the defendant
Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger
to dismiss the civil
case
filed by Mr. Sime Braio of Shrewsbury.
As of today the
criminal trial of Robert E. Kelley was also still on schedule
for July 21, 2003
July 9, 2003
After Reilly, who'll lead
diocese?
Catholics interviewed talk of Sullivan,
Lennon
WORCESTER- With Bishop Sean P. O'Malley due
to be installed as head of the Boston archdiocese at the end of
this month, speculation is turning to who will replace retiring
Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of the Worcester diocese.
"I think people will be surprised," said Owen J. Murphy Jr., an
author and former editor of The Catholic Free Press.
Mr. Murphy said the Vatican needs to "make a statement that the
old boys network is dead." The Vatican may have started making
that statement with the appointment of Bishop O'Malley, a
Franciscan friar, to Boston, he said. "They are going to have to
make that statement with the next two or three appointments.
Alleged abuse
victim arrested on drug charges
Patrick McSorley, an alleged victim of
clergy sex abuse who became one of the most visible spokesmen
for childhood victims of abuse, was arrested last night on drug
charges, the Herald has learned.
A Hyde Park native, McSorley drew public attention last month
when he spent several days in a coma after being pulled from the
Neponset River. He later said he had slipped and fallen in
accidentally.
Voice note: This is
the sad reality of many a clergy abuse victim. Violated by
the Catholic church, hyped by big times lawyer like Mitchell
Garabedian, how could any person ever be expected to cope?
July 3, 2003
Where will Lennon go?
Three months after temporarily taking the reins of the
scandal-plagued Boston Archdiocese, Bishop Richard Lennon
unofficially ceded his position to Archbishop-elect Sean
O'Malley this week......Interim west region vicar
Monsignor Francis Strahan yesterday predicted Lennon will be
tapped to lead one of a handful of New England dioceses which
may soon see resignations.
"There are a number of dioceses that are opening because of
bishops who are retiring," he said. "He could easily be tapped
to be one of the bishops in those dioceses."
Among the dioceses Strahan mentioned were the Worcester
and Brooklyn, N.Y., dioceses.
July 2, 2003
Reilly: O'Malley is 'man
of deep faith'
WORCESTER-Bishop Daniel P. Reilly yesterday
extended his congratulations and best wishes to Bishop Sean
Patrick O'Malley on his appointment as archbishop in Boston.
Bishop Reilly said he and Bishop O'Malley - then in Fall River -
had worked together as members of the Massachusetts Catholic
Conference, which represents the four Catholic dioceses in the
state. "He is a highly intelligent man of deep faith and has
always been a truly pastoral bishop," he said.
July 1, 2003
Here are some key dates in the abuse
crisis in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church:
1984 - Bernard Law appointed archbishop of the
Archdiocese of Boston. Elevated to cardinal the next year.
1985 - Louisiana priest Gilbert Gauthe pleads guilty
to molestation charges involving 11 boys. Draws national
attention to clerical sex abuse for the first time.
1985 - U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets
behind closed doors in Collegeville, Minn., to discuss sex abuse
by priests.
1992 - Allegations surface that the Rev. James Porter
of the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., molested children in five
states in the 1960s and 1970s. The next year, he pleads guilty
to 41 sex assault counts.