October 20, 2004

 
Justice denied: bishops and the law

Carolyn B. Disco, NH Catholics for Moral Leadership

The Red Mass, a tradition dating from the thirteenth century that marks the opening of the courts of law, will be celebrated today at St. Joseph Cathedral by Bishop John McCormack. He will wear red vestments as a sign of the Holy Spirit, whose guidance is sought for those involved in the study and administration of justice in New Hampshire.

A worthy goal, but the irony is stark: a bishop who escapes criminal prosecution in Massachusetts only because of inadequate laws, and who to this day, denies lying, deceiving or covering up sexual abuse, is honored by the presence of judges, lawyers and other officials. 

Neither John McCormack, nor Francis Christian, nor Odore Gendron, nor any bishop in New Hampshire or elsewhere has been held accountable in a court of law for knowingly endangering children, for obstructing justice, or for the failure to report allegations. Indeed, bishops have been rewarded with plum assignments for protecting the institutional church while displaying gross disregard of their most basic pastoral obligations to children. This is justice denied and justice defiled. 

Why is this so? Inadequate laws, the statute of limitations, ingrained deference to clergy, judges who sealed documents, prosecutors who failed to indict, police officials who overlooked crimes, lawyers who used hardball tactics against victims, all played a part. Straining the gnats of procedure, and jurisdiction, and technicality, and interpretation, and liability left victims abandoned, bishops unaccountable, and the law mocked.

When McCormack was handling abuse allegations in Boston, there was no requirement for clergy to report abuse to the authorities. The church had the power to influence legislators to block such a mandate. While there was a reporting law in New Hampshire since 1971, there is no record of Francis Christian or Odore Gendron reporting the abuse of a minor to the authorities.

Contrary to diocesan statements that bishops always abided by the law, the Attorney General notes that, "The evidence gathered during the investigation reveals instances where the Diocese 'had reason to suspect,' if not direct proof, that a child was being abused by a priest, yet, it did not report the conduct to the Department of Health and Human Services."

The most damaging obstacle to the criminal prosecution of bishops or a diocese is the statute of limitations. Authorities had one year in which to learn of failures to report abuse, but given the secrecy that marked the church's handling of predatory priests, that was impossible. When a caring pastor once told Christian of a five-year old child having been molested years before, Christian's dismissive comment noted that the statute of limitations had passed, eliminating the danger of legal jeopardy for the diocese. Such was his focus. The man died at peace in his early 30’s, due to the pastor’s, not the bishop’s loving ministry.

For his part, the best McCormack can do is boast of not being indicted in Massachusetts or New Hampshire. He can crack open a bottle with colleagues and legal counsel to celebrate that under existing secular law there would be no criminal proceedings to taint his record. Acting the part of the unjustly maligned prelate he complains that all his good deeds are forgotten. Adopting measures forced by exposure of the scandal hardly negates decades of malfeasance. (see http://www.bishop-

ccountability.org/NH-Manchester/) Despite his summons to a grand jury, the many civil lawsuits naming him as a defendant, and a documentary record that would shame any person of conscience, he persists in the belief that he bears little responsibility for the scandal. He turns aside reproof with evasions, generalizations about “inadequacies,” and memory lapses of astounding proportion. 
Where does that leave those who seek truth and justice? Accountability and consequences for actions must be achieved by the resignations of McCormack and Christian. Pope John Paul II set the distinction between forgiveness, available to all, and justice, when he forgave his assassin five days after he was shot but waited 17 years before petitioning for his release from prison.

Those who attend the Red Mass bear witness against themselves by honoring bishops with dishonorable records. Why rub elbows with the scribes and pharisees in the temple, pay tithes of deference and respectability, sit in the place of honor at a posh reception with the hierarchy, lengthen the tassles of your worldly influence, but tie up heavy burdens for those who seek justice? If your son or daughter had been molested by a priest protected by McCormack or Christian would you still be found within the whitewashed tomb?

October 19, 2004

Fitchburg lawyer is among four to receive honors

Gary V. Murray, T&G STAFF

WORCESTER— Judge Susan D. Ricci, associate justice of the Worcester Probate and Family Court, will be among those honored by the St. Thomas More Society of Worcester at Sunday's 47th annual Red Mass celebration.

The Red Mass will be celebrated at 4 p.m. at St. Paul's Cathedral. Dinner will follow in the Hogan Campus Center at the College of the Holy Cross. William D. McGarry, president of Anna Maria College in Paxton, will be the featured speaker at the dinner.

Judge Ricci, an associate justice of the probate court in Worcester since 1993, will receive the St. Thomas More Society's Distinguished Jurist Award. The society's Distinguished Attorney Award will be presented to lawyer Sylvia L. Pusateri, president of the Fitchburg law firm of Pusateri & Pusateri.

Christine Griggs Narcisse, a lawyer in the Worcester law firm of McGuire and McGuire, will receive the society's Distinguished Ecumenical Award, and Maurice J. Boisvert, president and chief executive officer of Youth Opportunities Upheld Inc., will be the recipient of the society's Distinguished Layperson Award.

Judge Ricci attended Florida Atlantic University and the University of Florida before receiving her law degree from Suffolk University Law School. She was an associate and partner in the Worcester law firm of Norman & Ricci before being appointed to the bench 11 years ago.

Judge Ricci is a member of the Commission on Judicial Conduct and director of the state Supreme Judicial Court Mental Health Advisory Board. She is married to Peter Cohen, and they have one child.

Ms. Pusateri has a bachelor's degree from Anna Maria College and earned a diploma from Henry Heywood School of Nursing and a law degree from Suffolk University Law School. In her legal practice, she specializes in personal injury, worker's compensation, estate planning and real estate.

Ms. Pusateri is chairwoman of the Diocese of Worcester's Diocesan Review Committee, an active member of St. Mary's Church in Jefferson and a volunteer in the Holden public schools. She is married to Vincent Pusateri, who is also a lawyer. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Ms. Narcisse, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and Suffolk University Law School, specializes in worker's compensation. In 2003, she became the first woman president of the Rotary Club of Southboro. She had previously been the club's community service chairwoman, club service chairwoman and vocational service chairwoman.

She is a member of St. Mark's Church in Southboro and a former member of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Ms. Narcisse is married to Patrick Narcisse, and they have one child.

Mr. Boisvert has been the president and CEO of YOU Inc. since 1971. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Assumption College and a master's degree in social work from the University of Connecticut. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Assumption College, Clark University, Quinsigamond Community College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

A community activist, Mr. Boisvert has served on the boards and committees of many area organizations. He received the Citizen of the Year Award this year from the Worcester Rotary Club and the Heroes Among Us Award in 2003 from The Boston Globe and Boston Celtics. Mr. Boisvert and his wife, Pam, have four children and seven grandchildren.

The Red Mass, which is open to the public, is named for the color of the vestments worn by the celebrants and judges attending the king's bench in Westminster, England. In keeping with tradition, the deep red vestments are still worn each year at the Red Mass.

The St. Thomas More Society, a group of Catholic lawyers, is founded upon the personal qualities exhibited by St. Thomas More, a statesman, author and canon lawyer who, as chancellor of England during the Middle Ages, refused to approve the divorce of the king. He was imprisoned and beheaded.