In a review of the payments accounted for by the Worcester diocese since
the onset of the recent crisis in the catholic church one can determine that
the legal expenses has risen over three hundred percent.
In a January
10, 2003 interview with the Boston Globe then Worcester Bishop Daniel
Reilly stated that since 1950, when the diocese
was established, it has paid $764,833 to settle lawsuits involving sexual
abuse of minors, and its insurance companies have paid $1,384,000.
Additionally, Reilly said "We did not pay out any money for any settlement.
We did pay legal counsel fees of $21,312 to respond to the suits filed
against the diocese and the bishop. We also spent $28,150 to provide
treatment services to those alleging abuse and to establish our Office for
Healing and Prevention."
Bishop Reilly on
February
16, 2004 released his report on clergy abuse with the dioceses.
According to the diocese report, $2,280,833 has
been paid in compensation to victims in settlements of abuses between 1950
and 2003. Of that, $1,469,000 came from insurance and $811,833 was paid
directly by the diocese.
Doing the math this would have resulted in an additional $47,000 dollars
paid out by the dioceses of Worcester as compensation for victims of clergy
sexual abuse within approximately a 13 months time span.
Complete article
listed on link.
February 25, 2005
Teczar hearing begins Worcester
VoiceA hearing on whether to
dismiss a suit brought by two Texas men who said they were sexually abused
by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar, a priest of the Worcester Diocese, began
yesterday in Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth, Texas.
The hearing was adjourned yesterday afternoon and will resume at 9 a.m.
today. February 22, 2005
Two Texas men have accused the Catholic Diocese of
Worcester and the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, of conspiring to help the Rev.
Thomas H. Teczar slip in and out of two states to avoid arrest on criminal
charges of sexually abusing underage boys...........
Ms. Merritt presented the Fort Worth court with her
arguments against a summary judgment, detailing what she called “denial and
cover-up” by the Worcester and Fort Worth dioceses. She maintains that there was
an active plan by church officials to keep Rev. Teczar from having to face
criminal charges.
There
were red flags very early in the career of Rev. Thomas H. Teczar with the
Catholic Diocese of Worcester.............
Bishop Flanagan sent the seminarian to Immaculate Heart of
Mary Parish in Winchendon to be evaluated by Monsignor David M. Elwood. By June,
the monsignor told Bishop Flanagan that he saw “many frequent instances of poor
judgment” and his giving free reign to “his own impulses.” He also told the
bishop in his report that he showed a propensity to “exclusive companionship
with young boys,” and he feared this behavior would “break out again.” He
recommended against ordination of Mr. Teczar.
Leaving Winchendon, Mr. Teczar went to work at the Nazareth Home for Boys in
Leicester in the summer of 1967, but he was later fired for sexual misconduct
with boys. The information was obtained from a deposition from Peter Trainor, a
counselor who worked with Mr. Teczar that summer at Nazareth.
Voice note more information on Rev
Teczar is available under the published case link. Including
Trial coverage
Wednesday September 18,
2002.
Father
John J. Szantyr was unable to attend a scheduled
court hearing on February 17, 2005.
Attorney Edward P. Ryan Jr., of Fitchburg
appeared
on his behalf.
In room 411 of Worcester Central District court,
Attorney Ryan informed Worcester Central Court Judge Sarkis Teshoian that his
client was unable to attend do to his current condition.
Attorney Ryan presented to the court a medical
evaluation of Fr. Szantyr in reference to
his competencyhowever portions of the medical evaluation had been
redacted to preserved confidentiality.
Judge Teshoian
acknowledged that the redaction made the evaluation rather difficult for the
court to comprehend.
Worcester ADA Joseph Reilly told Judge Teshoian
he had not had the opportunity to read the document completely and was not
prepared at this time.
complete article
listed on link
February 16, 2005
Court orders Rev. Paul M. Desilets, to return to United States to stand
trial.
Worcester
Voice
The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld Justice Minister Irwin
Cotler's decision last May to extradite the Rev. Paul Desilets, according to La
Presse of Montreal. They have ordered that the indicted Worcester
catholic priest return to the Worcester to stand trial.
The Rev. Paul M. Desilets, was Indicted by a Worcester County grand jury for
allegedly molesting several boys in Bellingham. Rev. Desilets waived his
right to a full extradition hearing in Canada.
Evidence was presented to the grand
jury in April and May. The grand jury returned indictments charging the
priest with 18 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14,
10 charges of indecent assault and battery on a person age 14 or older and
six counts of assault and battery. (Our Lady of
Assumption Parish)
Rev. Desilets was indicted on a total of 32 charges.
Members of the Bellingham Police Department
investigated reports from the 18 complainants. The defendant is charged
with committing the offenses while assigned as an Associate Pastor
with the Assumption Parish of Bellingham, MA. The
complainants were all youths involved as alter servers in the church
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --A judge sentenced Paul Shanley on Tuesday to 12 to 15
years in prison for child rape, condemning the defrocked priest for using
his revered status to prey on a vulnerable little boy.
(KRT) - When Paul Shanley is escorted out of the Cambridge, Mass., courtroom
Tuesday after his sentencing for the serial rapes of a Sunday school student in
the 1980s, he will be marching toward his death......
Our legal system hinges on reasonable doubt, and it abounds in this case.
Rather than in the courtroom, Shanley's real trial was held in a hotel ballroom
three years earlier, where a lawyer playing judge, jury and executioner wowed a
throng of journalists and live TV audience with a PowerPoint presentation of
voluminous church files to deem the priest as the devil incarnate.
Maybe Shanley did do it. And whether he did or not, his life or death behind
bars for crimes for which there is a degree of doubt engenders about as much
sympathy as Al Capone's trip upriver for tax evasion. But for all the pain and
lies and betrayal victims have endured, those seeking healing will find little
solace in a questionable verdict and another dead ex-priest.
Voice note: Sadly the inside of a court room has never
been seem by clergy abuse victims in Worcester. DA John Conte to this date
has not sought prosecution of any Worcester clergy from his so called 2002 Grand
Jury subpoena. John J. Conte has been Worcester DA for 28 years.
A former Worcester
teacher and police chaplain, Father John J. Szantyr, will have a competency
hearing on February 17 in Central District Court, Worcester.
Fr. Szantyr, 73, of
55 Birch Place, Waterbury, Connecticut, faces charges of indecent assault
and battery on a child under 14. The alleged abuse occurred between January
1, 1986 and December 12, 1987, according to court records. During that time,
Father Szantyr was a priest at Our Lady of Czestochowa parish in Worcester.
This priest has
been the subject of controversy since the onset of the 2002 crisis in the
Catholic church. The father of the alleged victim, Mr. Richard Chesnis of
Worcester, early on told Worcester Telegram reporters that he tried to have
Father Szantyr arrested for the sexual assault of his son.
WORCESTER—
Bishop Robert J. McManus of
the Catholic Diocese of Worcester yesterday acknowledged that a “great
injustice” was done to victims of clergy sexual abuse in this diocese, and he
pledged to continue working for healing and restoration of trust.........
Daniel Dick, victim support coordinator for the
diocese-wide Voice of the Faithful, said the organization of lay Catholics is
interested in more openness in the church. VOTF supports outside audits to see
if dioceses are adhering to the charter, which was adopted by the American
bishops in 2002, but he said Catholic lay people need to know more about the
process.
“We have never seen what the Diocese of Worcester submitted to the National
Review Board so we can verify the veracity of what they are saying,” Mr. Dick
said. “We need to be sure that the audit is legitimate.”
Many Catholics press for self-determination
I
hope that Catholics were paying attention to the president’s State of the Union
speech, in which he talked so forcefully about the aspiration of people for
self-determination, about a direct role in choosing the form of government, the
right to participate in the decisions of that government, and a real voice in
writing and ratifying the constitution on which that government is based.
A growing number of Catholics are pressing for such a government in their
church. The days of arbitrary and capricious decision-making by a self-chosen
select few are drawing to a close.
The biggest obstacle in the way has been the current pope and the members of
the hierarchy who give him blind obedience.
In the early days of office, the pope came out strongly in support of the worker
movement in his native Poland to overthrow the dictatorship in place and replace
it with a democratic form of government. Since then, however, he has turned
about-face by trying to stifle similar movements for freedom in the Americas,
has stubbornly opposed the needed reforms in the church and has persisted in
denying women their rights given in baptism.
The good he has done will unfortunately be tarnished by this record of
suppression.
Catholics who live in the modern world will not wait for a papacy to wake up. As
Lee Iacocca said, “If you can’t lead, follow, and if you can’t follow, get the
heck out of the way.”
Ms. Geske spoke about restorative justice last night at the College of the Holy
Cross. The program was sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture
as part of its “Beyond Brokenness: Healing, Renewal and the Church” series.
Daniel Dick of Worcester, victim support coordinator for Voice of the Faithful
in the Worcester Diocese, and at least one victim of clergy sexual abuse have
been talking with the Worcester Diocese about bringing the program here.
Ms. Geske received applause when she said that people in
parishes also are not helping to bring about healing when they treat clergy
sexual abuse victims as “pariahs” in their parishes.
“You hit the nail on the head,” said Mr. Dick, who has said he is finding that
some lay people of the Worcester diocese are shunning victims and their families
rather than reaching out to help them.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious
figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, was convicted
Monday of raping and fondling a boy at his Roman Catholic church during the
1980s.
In reviewing documents
from Worcester Superior Court in the case where Kallin Johnson is alleged to
have sexually abused a female student at Notre Dame Academy in Worcester, it
becomes apparent that Mr. Johnson at one point was a business partner with the
wife of the attorney representing Notre Dame, Kevin Byrne.
The records also show
an appalling lack of action on behalf of the district attorney, John Conte.
District Attorney
Conte allowed Mr. Johnson, a music teacher at Notre Dame, to remain in the
school after the
allegation against him was supported by the Massachusetts Department of Social
Services and his name was placed on their
registry for sexual offenders. This information was provided by Attorney Wendy
Murphy.
Mr. Conte filed a
motion to compel the stoppage of depositions being conducted by Roy A.
Bourgeois, a Notre Dame defense attorney, so that the criminal case could be
fully investigated. On May 14, 1995, Attorney Bourgeois filed an Affidavit of
counsel with Worcester
Superior Court pointing out several notable concerns with Assistant District
Attorney Mary E. Sawicki’s presentation in the case. Attorney Bourgeois noted
that ADA Sawicki could not identify any “sensitive” witness or witness who was
being threatened or intimidated. Mr. Bourgeois then inquired as to the
difference in a six-week delay. ADA Sawicki replied, “Look, I am being told to
take this position, so I’m taking it.”
complete article
listed on link
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