References cont. (46) — Clergy Child Molesters

• Four more men file lawsuit against archdiocese.

DAYTON (OH): : The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati in the 1980s knowingly transferred a sexually abusive priest to St. Christopher Church in Vandalia, where he then abused two 14-year-old boys and two older teens, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
   "Here are four victims that never should have happened, four guys who were abused after the archdiocese dumped (the Rev. David) Kelley on Dayton," said Mason attorney Konrad Kircher, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the men, referred to in court papers only as John Does 27-30. The men said they were molested from 1983 to 1986. Two were 14 and the others were 18 and 19 years old.
   The $16 million lawsuit brings to 30 the number of men claiming in court that Kelley molested them. It names as defendants Kelley, the archdiocese and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk. Similar lawsuits on behalf of other Kelley accusers have been filed in Hamilton County.
   -- Dayton Daily News, Four more men file lawsuit against archdiocese www.daytondailynews.com , By Tom Beyerlein, tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com , (Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter Abuse Tracker), (This is the first of the Poynteronline Abuse Tracker edition for Wednesday, October 22, 2003.)

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Most newsitems are from http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46 • Swales losses pegged lower. CANADA: A Toronto chartered accountant testifying in court in London [Canada] this week challenged the earning potential of three brothers at the centre of a sexual abuse lawsuit. Ian Wollach, an expert in forensic and investigative accounting, came up with much lower earning estimates for John, Ed and Guy Swales than an earlier expert witness. London chartered accountant James Hoare earlier testified John Swales lost out on more than $1.1 million in past and future income he could have earned if he'd graduated from high school in 1976 and gone to full-time work. The estimated income loss jumped to more than $1.8 million if Swales had completed a university degree. Wollach came up with an estimate of $149,942 in lost earnings if Swales had completed high school and $680,128 if he'd completed university. He said the rival calculations were so vastly different mainly because they were based on different assumptions. Hoare assumed full-time employment for Swales while Wollach included full and part-time in his calculations. -- London Free Press (http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2003/10/22/232598.html)
• Naperville man's suit alleges. ILLINOIS: A Wheaton priest is accused of sexually abusing a Naperville man when he attended St. Luke Parish in Carol Stream as a boy. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Will County by a 34-year-old man from south Naperville, listed in court documents as John Doe. The man's attorney, Michael Bolos, said the twice-divorced father of four suppressed the memories of abuse until recently when reports of priests abusing children filled the media. Recent state changes extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases have resulted in several lawsuits based on repressed memories of abuse. The suit alleges the man was repeatedly molested from 1979 to 1980, when he was 10 and 11 years old, in the rectory of the Carol Stream parish. -- Daily Herald (http://www.dailyherald.com/dupage/main_story.asp?intID=3791660) By Tona Kunz Daily Herald Staff Writer Posted October 22, 2003
• Wife of pastor takes the stand. BARNSTABLE: The wife of a pastor accused of kissing a parishioner and then spreading lies to discredit her took the stand yesterday and said the exchange was no big deal. Marjorie Rowe, wife of former Osterville Baptist Church Rev. Michael Rowe, testified in Barnstable Superior Court that she was standing 5 feet from her husband when she saw former assistant Sunday school worker Cynthia Hinckley approach him after a 1997 beachside baptism. She testified that the two embraced but she did not see a kiss. "It was a totally insignificant greeting," Marjorie Rowe said. The fallout from the alleged kiss brought on a battle within the church between Hinckley, two of her friends, the Rowes and a church deacon. -- Cape Cod Times http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/wifeof22.htm By EMILY C. DOOLEY
• Police Commissioner defends decision not to arraign priests under arrest. FLORIANA, MALTA: "We did everything that we were obliged to do, irrespective of whether they are priests or not." Police Commissioner John Rizzo said that the police decided not to arraign under arrest the three priests accused with paedophilia because this procedure is only used when a person is caught red handed or if the report is fresh. He was speaking during a press briefing at the police general headquarters in Floriana on Monday noon. The three MSSP priests -- Fr Charles Pulis, Fr Godwin Scerri and Bro Joe Bonnett -- are due to appear in front of Magistrate Saviour Demicoli on 28 October 2003. Mr Rizzo said that until four years ago, the police used to present almost all cases under arrest, but has stopped doing this after two sentences by the European Court of Human Rights against the Maltese government on the matter. He explained that whenever a person is arraigned under arrest, the police have to justify to the court that arrest. Mr Rizzo said the police investigations on this case began before it was first revealed in the media. "We did everything that we were obliged to do, irrespective of whether they are priests or not", he insisted. -- Di-ve news, Police Commissioner defends decision not to arraign priests under arrest, http://www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=111474 by Charlot Zahra, di-ve news (c_zahra@di-ve.com), 20 October 2003 1700 CET -- (Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter)
• Bridgeport diocese settles another sex abuse claim. BRIDGEPORT (Conn.): The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has settled another lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a priest, the Connecticut Post reported in Wednesday's editions. The claims against the Rev. Joseph Moore were settled separately from a $21 million deal reached last week to settle claims by 40 people who accused 16 priests of abuse. Joseph McAleer, a spokesman for the diocese, would not disclose the amount of the new settlement at the plaintiff's request. He said money for the settlements are coming from insurance and the sale of undeveloped surplus diocesan property. Moore declined to comment when reached at his home in Rutland, Vt. Bruce Gordon, a Bridgeport lawyer representing the plaintiff, also refused to comment. -- The Advocate (http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-21234706.apds.m0839.bc-ct--churoct21,0,2386815.story?coll=hc-headlines-local-wire) Associated Press October 21, 2003
• We won’t get fair hearing, say Brother. IRELAND: Angry Christian Brothers have claimed they will not get a fair hearing at the Child Abuse Commission after the High Court threw out the order’s challenge to the probe. The Brothers said the commission's findings would be "unsafe" following the decision that deceased, infirm or untraceable members will not escape naming and shaming. The order said it had not decided whether to appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court an option that would create further delays for the troubled inquiry. It said the inability to offer proper defences and the "danger of prejudice" from the lapse of time in older cases would "undoubtedly" render findings unsafe."The Christian Brothers regard this as a real threat to human and civil rights in a modern civilised democracy," it said. -- One in Four http://www.oneinfour.org/news/news2003/brothers/ Caroline O’Doherty In The Examiner (http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sgVzwEcPGLFIQsgDQQ5wn3uAIg.asp)
• Advice sought on abuse inquiry. IRELAND: The Government has sought legal advice from the Attorney General over concerns that previous work by the incoming chairman of the State's child abuse inquiry could leave it open to further legal challenges. The Government announced last month that senior counsel, Mr Seán Ryan, was to replace Ms Justice Mary Laffoy as chairman of the child abuse commission, following her decision to resign over Government proposals for an ongoing review of the inquiry's work. Last Friday the High Court rejected a legal challenge to the commission by the Christian Brothers against naming living and deceased persons whom it considers responsible for abuse. However, victims groups have warned the Government that the appointment of Mr Ryan to head the commission could leave it open to challenges by people being investigated by the inquiry. -- One in Four http://www.oneinfour.org/news/news2003/advicelaffoy/ By Liam Reid in The Irish Times (http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2003/1020/1406554183HM6LAFFOY.html)
• More Abuse Allegations Revealed Against Local Priest. DAYTON (OH): New sexual abuse claims against David Kelley were revealed Tuesday, this time coming from Dayton, Ohio. The accusations come with a suggestion that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati moved priests there knowing they were sexual offenders. Attorney Konrad Kircher filed suit Tuesday morning at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Dayton. It names four new alleged victims of Kelley while he was a priest at Saint Christopher in the Dayton suburb of Vandalia. That the number of young men who claim Kelley abused them to 30. Until Tuesday, all alleged victims said they were abused at Saint Therese, the Little Flower Church, in Mount Airy. -- WCPO http://www.wcpo.com/news/2003/local/10/21/kelley.html , Reported by: Tom McKee, Web produced by: Stacy Puzo, Photographed by: 9News, 3:59:35 PM Oct 21 03
• Sensitive task of putting a price tag on sex abuse. BOSTON (MA): Nearly 25 years after he says a Catholic priest raped him, John Harris awaits a price tag for his suffering. What were they worth, he wonders, those dark days of his depression, at the bottom of his struggles with alcohol abuse, when he found he could not make a life with someone he loved. How do you value such sorrow in dollars and change? Soon he'll know. Harris is one of 552 alleged victims who have spent the past month considering whether to take part in a landmark $85 million settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Now, with enough victims agreeing this week to move forward with the settlement, an independent arbitrator is preparing to weigh the value of their abuse. It is an extraordinary mandate - the first time, attorneys say, that compensation in a large sexual-abuse case has been based on plaintiffs' post-abuse suffering, not just the nature of their victimization. Many Catholics regard the agreement as a new beginning. But for America, it is also a moment of public reckoning with an issue that is often kept private: the long-term impacts of sexual abuse. And in legal terms, it is raising difficult questions of how justice can be rendered when damages are not clear-cut and the pain is enormous. -- Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1022/p01s01-usju.html By Mary Wiltenburg Staff writer
• Boston Clergy Sex Abuse Victims in Court. BOSTON (MA): More than two decades after she was first abused at age 6, a woman finally got to tell her story Tuesday as she described for an arbitrator how she was molested hundreds of times over five years by a Roman Catholic priest. Arbitration sessions began Tuesday to determine how victims of clergy sexual abuse will be compensated under an $85 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Boston. It is the largest-known payout by a U.S. diocese to settle molestation charges. Christine, 28, who asked that her last name not be used, said it was both "intimidating" and "liberating" for her to go through the details of her molestation by the late Rev. Joseph McInnis, a priest at St. Monica's Parish in Boston. "It felt good that somebody had to listen to what had happened to me," she said. -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution www.ajc.co , By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press Writer
• Allegations of abuse in '78 by Catholic priest may be too late. TUCSON (AZ): The first in a recent spate of 13 sex abuse lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Tucson may be thrown out of court because of Arizona's statute of limitations. Tucson attorney Jim Campbell, representing the diocese, argued during a hearing yesterday that Christopher Phillip, who now lives in Florida, should not be allowed to sue over allegations that a Tucson priest molested him in 1978. Campbell told Pima County Superior Court Judge Charles Sabalos that Phillip waited 24 years to sue the church though state law only allows plaintiff's to wait two years after being abused. Campbell argued Phillip's claim of repressed memory - a circumstance that would allow him to sue - is undercut by Phillip's admission that he talked about the abuse during the period he claims to have no recollection of the molestation. Phillip's attorney, Michael Medina of Tucson, told Sabalos that Phillip did not know the full extent of his injuries until after the sex scandal broke in the media in 2002. In January 2002, the Diocese settled 11 sex abuse suits for an undisclosed amount of money and acknowledged four priests at Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church molested 10 boys during the 1960s and 1970s. -- Tucson Citizen (http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=102103c4_diocesesuit) by BLAKE MORLOCK
• Stockton Diocese seeks dismissal of clergy abuse lawsuit. CALIFORNIA: A San Joaquin County judge will set what could be a major precedent in clergy abuse lawsuits filed against priests and Catholic diocese when a motion to dismiss a case against the Stockton Diocese and Bishop Stephen Blaire is heard on Nov. 14. Stockton attorney Paul Balestracci, who represents Blaire and the diocese, is asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the diocese by Cristin Perez and her brother, Daniel Howard, on the grounds that a judgment was rendered nine years ago in their case. Perez, 36, who now lives in Suisun City, and Howard, 34, a San Francisco resident, claim in their lawsuit that they were sexually abused in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Oliver O’Grady, a former priest at Lodi’s St. Anne’s Catholic Church. The alleged sexual abuse took place on trips and overnight stays at the rectory at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turlock, according to their attorney, Joseph George, of Sacramento. -- Lodi News-Sentinel http://www.lodinews.com/articles/2003/10/21/news/06_clergy_031021.txt , By Ross Farrow
• The face of "gay" clericalism. UNITED STATES: Actively homosexual priests have gotten off scot-free in the wake of the priestly sex scandals, with the exception of pederasts (who constitute the vast majority of priestly pedophilia cases). But in at least one diocese, Altooona-Johnstown (Penn.), homosexual priests are apparently feeling some pressure. Twenty-six priests of that Diocese have secretly formed the Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown. They issued a press release (May 15) wherein they note that they are "sworn to complete secrecy to avert the very real threat of retaliation by our diocesan bishop." We got the press release over the Internet, and it was titled "Gay Priests of Diocese A-J in Revolt; Demand Bishop Conceal Molesters, Sue Catholic Activists." Surely that was not the title of the original press release, but that these 26 priests are "gay" or at least "gay-friendly" -- or a mixture of the two -- is quite obvious from the release. The release says: "Whereas our bishop insists on publicly defending lawsuits against this diocese and thus increasing the threat that more names of our priests be exposed in the media, we demand that our bishop cease and desist his public defense of any and all lawsuits concerning alleged priestly misconduct and instead settle these cases out of court so as to protect the reputation and well being of those priests so named and others that may be revealed in the course of any trial. -- CruxNews.com http://www.cruxnews.com/NORNotes/nor-22oct03.html
• Overexposure . UNITED STATES of AMERICA: Brace yourself for a new kind of clerical scandal. In the past, law-enforcement officials might have kept things quiet when priests were arrested for immoral behavior, trusting their bishops to apply the necessary discipline. No longer; the cases are hitting the headlines. One shady staple of gay culture is "cruising" for sex in public places -- typically parks, public restrooms, and highway rest stops. It appears to be the quickest and most reliable way for an overheated gay man to find a partner for the purposes of satisfying his disordered sexual appetite in one manner or another. This frequently entails anonymous public sex, usually between consenting adult males who don’t know one another from Adam. By any standard, it’s reckless behavior. It’s also illegal. Father Raymond Larger made that startling discovery the hard way. This summer, the Cincinnati priest was arrested and charged with two counts of public indecency in Dayton, Ohio’s Triangle Park, some 50 miles from his parish. Fr. Larger made the mistake of soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. His method: groping the man’s groin and exposing himself. http://www.cruxnews.com/rose/overexposure.html -- CruxNews.com (Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter Abuse Tracker)
//////////////////// End of www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Wednesday, October 22, 2003
• Rockhampton bishop asked to quit. BRISBANE, Australia: The lawyer for victims of convicted pedophile priest Michael Joseph McArdle has called for Rockhampton Diocese Bishop Brian Heenan to stand down for failing in his duty of care.
   The Australian newspaper reports that Simon Harrison of Brisbane law firm Quinn and Scattini lodged a criminal compensation claim in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday on behalf of one of McArdle's victim. He said other victims would lodge similar claims soon.
   Mr Harrison said Bishop Heenan either knew the abuse had occurred and failed to give proper support to the victims, or should have known it.
   After 68 year old McArdle was jailed earlier this month for six years after pleading guilty to numerous indecent dealing charges, Bishop Heenan renewed his apology and offer of support to victims. -- Catholic News, (http://www.cathnews.com/news/310/117.php) 22 Oct 2003
• 15 years' jail for pedophile priest. MELBOURNE, Australia: Jailed pedophile and former Catholic priest Michael Charles Glennon will spend at least 15 more years behind bars.
   County Court judge Roland Williams set the minimum sentence today for a string of fresh sex offences against Glennon.
   Judge Williams sentenced the 59-year-old to a maximum of 18 years on 26 counts against four young victims.
   But the judge said the new maximum sentence from today would in fact become 20 years, with two years added on from the sentence he is currently serving.
   Glennon has spent most of the past 13 years in jail.
   The former priest has been convicted of sexually abusing 15 children between 1974 and 1991, mostly at youth camps held at Karaglen, a rural property near Lancefield north of Melbourne, which Glennon helped establish and operate.
   The most recent trial heard that Glennon told his boy victims that the sexual offences were secret men's business and a necessary part of their initiation into Aboriginal manhood.
   Judge Williams said he believed that Glennon was one of a small number of offenders who were "just wantonly evil".
   He had shown himself to be an "evil, callous human being", a man of cunning and planning who committed the most sordid crimes against his victims. -- The Age, AAP, (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631474975.html) October 22, 2003
########## Poynteronline Abuse Tracker, www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=46, Thursday, October 23, 2003 edition follows:-
• Mindset of Syracuse Diocese allows abuse infection to fester. SYRACUSE (NY): The Rev. James Lang, who oversees the Syracuse Diocese's child and youth protection policy states, "This is now the culture of the Diocese," referring to background checks, code of conduct and criminal checks. "Now we will protect children," he says. Bishop James Moynihan says, "It has been difficult to learn the diocese has not been immune to incidents of child abuse. No one with a background of sexual abuse will be allowed to work with minors." Let us look at the bishop's choice of the words - "immune" and "incidents." Immune means "free from infection." Moynihan is correct - no one is immune from molestation. However, the definition goes on to say, "protected against any particular infection." The church had decades of hierarchical protection of the infection, which festered like a tumor, and it was protected from getting out. The bishop's reference to "incidents" is demeaning to any victim of this devastating crime. The definition of "incident" is, "liable to happen, an event, an episode." An incident would be a shouting match, a blackout, a fender-bender, a shooting star, the emptying of a dugout during a baseball brawl. The attacks, past, present and future, are better defined by words like "sexual assaults," "ritual abuse," "horrors," "terrorism," "murders of the soul." -- The Post-Standard (http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion-0/106689934575803.xml?syroppoe) By Marianne Barone Trent and Charles Bailey Jr. (Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynteronline)
• Subpoena allowed in church case. WORCESTER (MA): A judge has granted a prosecutor permission to subpoena prison financial records relating to an inmate who claims he received some of the money a priest is accused of stealing from a Fitchburg parish. The Rev. Donald C. Ouellette is under indictment for allegedly stealing $250,000 from Immaculate Conception Church in Fitchburg, where he served as pastor before being placed on leave by the Catholic Diocese of Worcester earlier this year. The money, which was raised by parishioners for an elevator at the church, was allegedly stolen by Rev. Ouellette between March 15, 2001, and Jan. 2 of this year. Last week, Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco filed a motion in Worcester Superior Court seeking court permission to subpoena Concord State Prison records relating to money deposited with the state Department of Correction for the benefit of inmate William Lamontagne. The 43-year-old Rhode Island man, who is serving a sentence of 12 to 15 years for child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child, told authorities he received some of the money Rev. Ouellette stands accused of stealing while he was an inmate at Concord, according to Mr. Greco's motion. Prosecutors have not said how much money Mr. Lamontagne maintains he was given by Rev. Ouellette or what he told investigators about his relationship with the priest. Rev. Ouellette's lawyer, Michael P. McEvilly, declined to comment yesterday on Mr. Lamontagne's allegations. Judge Elizabeth M. Fahey allowed Mr. Greco's motion after a brief hearing yesterday. Judge Fahey initially questioned whether Mr. Lamontagne's privacy rights might require that he be notified of the prosecutor's request. She later granted the motion, however, after Mr. Greco showed her a letter from Mr. Lamontagne that the prosecutor said established the inmate's willingness to cooperate with investigators. Mr. McEvilly did not object to the motion. Judge Fahey continued Rev. Ouellette's case to Nov. 5. -- Telegram & Gazette (http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73151134946988&Avis=WT&Dato=20031023&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=310230432&Ref=AR) by Gary V. Murray
• Former Mormon bishop admits touching girl, says it was inadvertent. SALT LAKE CITY (UT): On trial for allegedly sexually abusing a 13-year-old, the former bishop of a Salt Lake City LDS ward admitted touching the girl's buttocks and breast and said: "It was wrong." But Spencer Dixon, 39, insisted the touching was "accidental and inadvertent," and not intended to gratify any sexual desire or to traumatize the girl. Dixon said he merely pushed and pulled on the girl to help her dislodge an audio-visual cart, after it became stuck in a doorway at the Monument Park 7th Ward, 1749 S. Texas St. (2430 East). Dixon was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child, which is punishable by up to life in prison. The crime is usually charged as a second-degree felony but was enhanced because of Dixon's position of special trust as a spiritual leader in relation to the girl. The case is scheduled to go to the jury today. -- The Salt Lake Tribune, "Ex-bishop admits touching girl, but says it was inadvertent," (http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Oct/10232003/utah/104506.asp) By Stephen Hunt
• Church kept accused priest on job. MIAMI (FL): The Archdiocese of Miami knew one of its priests had been accused of sexually abusing at least three boys and young men, but allowed him to continue his clergy work involving children, its own records show. The church records were cited throughout a case-closeout memo following a 17-month Broward state attorney's investigation of the Rev. Neil Doherty. The controversial priest served in Miami-Dade and Broward counties for more than three decades, most recently as pastor of St. Vincent's Church in Margate. Their release on Wednesday marks the first time internal archdiocese documents about a priest's behavior have become public since the nationwide clergy sex-abuse scandal broke open last year in the Boston archdiocese. Miami church leaders "could be considered criminally culpable for failing to report" the allegations of child abuse, Broward prosecutor Dennis Siegel wrote in his memo. "However, because the statute of limitations has expired on this matter, no action can be taken by this office." -- Miami Herald (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7081291.htm) BY DANIEL de VISE AND JAY WEAVER ddevise@herald.com
• Girl charged in church thefts. UXBRIDGE (MA): Police have charged a 16-year-old girl with larceny in two thefts from Good Shepherd Church collections totaling $3,617. Church officials on Sunday reported collection money missing from the 10 a.m. Mass at the Linwood Avenue church. On Oct. 5, collection money from the 8:30 a.m. Mass was reported missing. After a police investigation, the Woonsocket, R.I., girl was charged with two counts of larceny from a building and two counts of larceny. Police did not release the girl's name because of her age. Police said charges are pending against another suspect. -- Telegram & Gazette (http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031023/NEWS/31023039 1/1005/NEWSLETTERS06)
• Parishioners of St. Mary's torn by LaFlamme scandal. LEE (MA): When the Rev. Paul C. LaFlamme was introduced to the congregation at St. Mary's Church last January, a number of parishioners said yesterday, they were quickly impressed by his energy and enthusiasm. "He was a lovely man," said one elderly member of St. Mary's. "Very personable. He loved working with kids. We were very happy to have him." And yet, more than a few members of the congregation conceded their confusion while discussing LaFlamme yesterday. A half-dozen members of the parish spoke with a reporter on condition of anonymity.
'Touchy subject' "This is such a touchy subject in Lee right now," said one. Last weekend, many in St. Mary's parish were stunned by reports of LaFlamme's admission to a sexual relationship with a parishioner, Josephine Dizoglio, who is now pregnant. The paternity of the child has not been established. -- Berkshire Eagle (http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101%7E6282%7E1715566,00.html?search=filter) By Derek Gentile
• Coonan to fight removal 'on canonical grounds'. WORCESTER (MA): The Rev. Joseph A. Coonan, who was removed as pastor of St. John's Church more than a year ago, has been asked by the Diocese of Worcester to resign, but he has refused. Joseph D. Early Jr., a lawyer who is Rev. Coonan's spokesman, said yesterday the priest has hired a canon lawyer and intends to fight his removal "on canonical grounds." "He got a letter from the diocese asking him to resign," Mr. Early said. Rev. Coonan took a weekend to "pray on it" and then decided to fight, he said. He retained the Rev. Robert Gori of Methuen to represent him in church proceedings. Canon lawyers, who can be lay Catholics, members of religious orders or priests, are people with special training in the laws that govern the church and in handling church legal tribunals. "He was removed more than 425 days ago and he wants to get back to work," Mr. Early said. Raymond L. Delisle, diocese spokesman, said he had no information on the situation with Rev. Coonan and said the Rev. F. Stephen Pedone, judicial vicar, may know something. A call to Rev. Pedone seeking comment was not returned. Church legal proceedings are kept confidential. "I am not a canon lawyer, but I understand that Father Coonan was never given anything in writing stating why he was being removed," Mr. Early said. Under the church's canon law, he is entitled to know what the charges are against him, he said. Rev. Coonan still retains support within his parish. Mr. Early said at least 200 people attended a recent meeting to discuss Rev. Coonan's status with the diocese and how they can get him returned to the parish. Mr. Early said neither Rev. Coonan nor anyone in the parish bears "ill will toward those who made the allegations." It is the diocese they are upset with because of the way it has handled the issue with Rev. Coonan, he said. Denise Boucher Garofoli, member of the parish and a supporter of Rev. Coonan, has begun a rosary vigil that is held at 7:45 a.m. each Thursday in front of the chancery building at 49 Elm St. This is where offices of the bishop and other top diocesan administrators are situated. She expects to be there today reciting the rosary, a Catholic prayer devotion, with anyone who cares to join her. She began the rosary vigil earlier this month. Sometimes she prays alone and other times people stop and join her, she said. Ms. Garofoli said she is praying that Rev. Coonan will be returned as pastor of St. John's. "Only allegations were made against him and these allegations go back to before he was even ordained a priest. He has denied them," she said. She called Rev. Coonan a "truly holy man" and a "powerful force." Thousands of names, in batches of hundreds, were collected from Catholics who support Rev. Coonan and were presented to the bishop, she said. Copies were also sent to Mr. Early. Bishop Daniel P. Reilly removed Rev. Coonan in early August 2002, after more than 15 men from Oxford told state police that Rev. Coonan did inappropriate things with them when he was a teacher and counselor in Oxford during the 1970s. The bishop in a public statement said Rev. Coonan was removed "due to allegations of sexual misconduct with minors in the 1970s before entering seminary, which have recently been brought to my attention." -- Telegram & Gazette (http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031023/NEWS/310230368/1007/NEWSLETTERS05) by Kathleen A. Shaw
• Child rapist says priest gave him funds stolen from church. FITCHBURG (MA): Former Immaculate Conception pastor Donald Ouellette kept contact with state prison inmate William LaMontagne, a convicted child rapist who now says Ouellette gave him a portion of the $250,000 reported stolen from Ouellette's Fitchburg parish. "I know (Ouellette) had correspondence with LaMontagne, but I don't know how much it was," said James Pingeon, an attorney for Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services who has interviewed LaMontagne in prison. "He was a supporter of LaMontagne in some fashion, I think." LaMontagne, a 43-year-old former Lunenburg resident in prison since 1989 for raping a 3-year-old girl in Uxbridge, told state police investigators he received some of the misappropriated church funds while he was incarcerated at MCI Concord, according to court documents. Assistant District Attorney Richard Greco, who is prosecuting Ouellette's 18 counts of larceny, last week filed a motion in Worcester Superior Court requesting the prison financial records of any money deposited to LaMontagne since his incarceration. Ouellette was scheduled to appear for a hearing this morning. LaMontagne, recently transferred from a protective custody unit in the Concord prison to a sexual offender treatment center in Bridgewater, is scheduled to be released from custody on Nov. 30, according to Pingeon. -- Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise (http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/Stories/0,1413,106~4992~1715650,00.html) By Matt O'Brien
• Testimony Concludes In Cuello Case. TYLER (TX): The fate of a former Tyler Catholic priest will soon be in the hands of a jury. 40-year-old Gustavo Cuello pled guilty on October 10th, to aggravated sexual assault of a child. At that time, Judge Cynthia Kent sentenced Cuello to 50 years in prison, making him eligible for parole after 25 years. Cuello rejected the sentence, requesting instead a jury decide his sentence. Both prosecution and defense wrapped up testimony on day two today of the punishment trial. The defense concluded it's case today by calling four Our Lady Of Guadalupe Church members, where Cuello was the pastor. One after another, the church members defended their priest, while placing at least half of the blame on the victim. They talked about how flirtatious she was, and how mature she was for her age. Assistant District Attorney Matt Bingham asked one of the victims peers, "the fact that he's a child molester is not enough for you to stop attending his church service, would it?" "No," said Anabel Flores, "because I don't consider him a child molester. By the law, yes. But she had fault too, and he has said his part of the guilt, but she hasn't. She did it because she wanted to." -- KLTV (http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1493394)
• Prosecutor: Miami archdiocese knew of abuse claims against priest. FORT LAUDERDALE (FL): The Archdiocese of Miami knew about sexual abuse accusations against one of its priests but didn't tell authorities and allowed him to continue his clergy work with young children, according to diocese records cited in a prosecutor's memo. The records were referenced in a case-closeout memo released Wednesday by the Broward County state attorney's office following a 17-month investigation of the Rev. Neil Doherty, who had been accused of drugging and sexually abusing a 17-year-old Chaminade Madonna High School student in 1978. Doherty was not charged in the case. Florida law allows prosecutors to bring charges only up to four years after an alleged incident if the victim is under 12. In the memo, Broward prosecutor Dennis Siegel wrote there were two other accusations against Doherty, one in 1979 and the other in 1987, which archdiocese records showed that it had investigated but didn't tell authorities about. It also cited a $50,000 settlement the archdiocese reached with the Chaminade student in 1994, The Miami Herald reported Thursday. -- Herald-Tribune (http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031023/APN/310230597) The Associated Press
• Prosecutors unable to file rape charges. FLORIDA: Prosecutors cannot file criminal charges against the Rev. Neil Doherty in a case in which he was accused of raping a Broward teen on a number of occasions in 1978 or 1979, because the statue of limitations has expired, the head of the Broward State Attorney's Office wrote in a memo released Wednesday. Prosecutors are still investigating another allegation against Doherty made by a former student at St. Anthony Catholic School in Fort Lauderdale, who now lives in the Chicago area. The man filed a civil suit last month accusing Doherty of drugging and raping him more than a dozen times in 1976, when he was 12. The prosecution would not comment, but it seems unlikely that criminal charges could be filed in that case either, because of the statute of limitations. To prosecute alleged sexual abuse of a juvenile age 12 or older, the allegation must be reported before the victim is 20. -- Sun-Sentinel (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cdoherty23oct23,0,3180562.story?coll=sfla-news-broward) By Paula McMahon, Posted October 23 2003
• Two local lay activists get a rare, eye-opening look at their church. ROME, Italy: Maureen Brennan-Miller and David Miller are not your typical pilgrims. The couple came to Rome for a close-up inspection of the church they love - and want to change. The Millers, members of St. Norbert's Church in Paoli, are also active in Voice of the Faithful [VOTF], a national reform movement of lay Catholics who seek more accountability, power-sharing and candor about church operations from their bishops. The movement, which sprang up in Boston in the wake of the priest sexual-abuse scandal last year, vows fealty to church teachings but has been viewed by church officials as trouble - a group that wants to overturn the basics of Catholicism. "People have that picture, but Voice of the Faithful also draws on people who care very deeply about the church and think of themselves as the church," Brennan-Miller said. -- Philadelphia Daily News, www.philly.com , By RON GOLDWYN, goldwyr@phillynews.com
• Church called 'sinful' in sexual abuse case. CANADA: The Roman Catholic church was sinful in its handling of a sexual abuse case involving three London brothers and their family, a priest testified yesterday. Rev. Michael Prieur, who teaches moral theology at St. Peter's Seminary in London, was asked about the role of the church in the case of Rev. Barry Glendinning, a priest at the centre of a sexual abuse lawsuit. "In this specific case, it was a sinful church," said Prieur. "The church must bear some responsibility. It was a terrible thing that happened." Prieur was testifying at the civil suit in which John, Guy and Ed Swales and their family are suing Glendinning and the Roman Catholic Diocese of London for damages they say resulted from sexual abuse by the priest between 1969 and 1974 when he taught liturgy at the seminary. The diocese has counter-sued John Swales, claiming he was partly responsible for damage inflicted on his family when he sexually abused his siblings. Prieur made the comments about the responsibility of the church during cross-examination by London lawyer Gordon Cudmore, representing John Swales in the countersuit. Prieur and Glendinning were contemporaries at the seminary in the 1960s and 1970s, first as students and later as teachers. -- London Free Press, www.canoe.ca ,
• Jehovah's Witness elder admits he molested girl.
   The Spokesman-Review, "Former church leader admits molestation," www.spokesmanreview.com , by Nina Culver
   WASHINGTON: Edward N. Davis, a former Spokane Valley Jehovah's Witness elder who pleaded guilty to a single charge of abusing a girl in his congregation, denies allegations that the abuse started when the girl was 10.
   According to court documents, the victim told police that Davis molested her several times beginning when she was 10 and spanning eight years.
   Davis, 40, admits to molesting her one time when she was 17 and pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree sexual misconduct based on that incident. "I was never even charged with those (other) crimes," said Davis of the other incidents the victim reported.
   According to the victim's statement to police, the other incidents did not take place in Washington state. "At the time she was 10 -- it didn't happen anyway -- I was not an elder," he said. "I took a polygraph to show that I did not do that."
(Posted by Abuse Tracker Online, Thursday, October 23, 2003)
• Defiant priest says Masses will go on. DALLAS (TX): An embattled Dallas priest vowed Wednesday to continue celebrating Mass in defiance of Catholic Bishop Charles Grahmann and lambasted top diocesan representatives as "the three stooges." "They can't strip me of everything," the Rev. Justin Lucio said. "Only God can do that, and they're not God." The bishop ended Father Lucio's monthly stipend and asked him to retire after The Dallas Morning News reported this year on financial and sexual scandals involving the priest, diocesan spokesman Bronson Havard revealed. He declined to comment on any of Father Lucio's statements or to discuss how the diocese might respond to the disobedience. Father Lucio has been leading Sunday worship recently at Casita Maria, an immigration-counseling center for Latinos that he founded after Bishop Grahmann's predecessor removed him from parish work in the late 1980s. The priest is executive director of the Oak Cliff charity, which receives no diocesan funds. Casita's future remains in doubt because of federal immigration and tax inquiries begun in response to The News' reports, which showed that the charity had collected millions from poor clients and spent large sums to benefit Father Lucio and his associates. -- The Dallas Morning News, www.dallasnews.com , By BROOKS EGERTON, Wednesday, October 22, 2003
• Extension granted in sex case vs. diocese. TUCSON (AZ): A Pima County Superior Court judge granted more time for a sexual abuse case against the Catholic Diocese of Tucson. Judge Charles Sabalos wrote in a court document yesterday that "additional discovery on the issue of fraudulent concealment" was needed in the case of Christopher Phillip, whose March 2002 suit claimed the Rev. William Byrne abused him. Jim Campbell, who represents the diocese, said during a hearing Monday that Phillip should not be allowed to sue over allegations that the priest molested him in 1978. Phillip waited 24 years to sue the church though state law allows plaintiffs to wait only two years after the alleged abuse, Campbell told Sabalos Monday. Michael Medina, Phillip's attorney, said he will look at the eight to 10 other cases filed against the diocese during the time of discovery, which lasts until April. -- Tucson Citizen, (http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=102203c3_diocese) by IRENE HSIAO
• Jesuits paid settlement to sex abuse victim. MISSOURI: A man who recently received a $185,000 settlement from the Missouri Province of the Jesuits because of sexual abuse from a Jesuit counselor in the early 1970s wants Missouri to rescind its statute of limitation for sexual abuse crimes against minors. He also called on his fellow St. Louis University High School alumni to vigilantly address these issues. Tom Kevin O'Connor, 49, of Charlottesville, Va. received the settlement from the Jesuits, in response to his allegations that for "two or three years" while he was at the high school, the Rev. Jack Campbell sexually molested him. O'Connor spoke today in a phone interview from his home. The abuse was described to O'Connor by the priest "as therapy" during the youth's counseling appointments in the rectory of St. Francis Xavier Church, O'Connor said. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch www.stltoday.com , By Patricia Rice, Oct 22 2003
• Advocates question church account of abuse claims. AUSTRALIA: Child support group Bravehearts has joined a call for a central Queensland bishop to reveal what he knew about child sexual abuse committed by a priest in the region. Michael Joseph McArdle was sentenced to six years jail earlier this month for offences committed up until the 1980s. He claims he told church leaders in 1990 about what he had done. Brian Heenan became Rockhampton bishop in 1991, but says he did not find out about the abuse until he was told by victims in 1996. He says he offered support and counselling to the victims as soon as he was aware of the crimes. Bravehearts spokeswoman Hetty Johnston says there is still a question about when the church first knew of the abuse. She says Bishop Heenan should have alerted police. -- Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), (http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia/qld/metqld-23oct2003-6.htm) (Posted by Kathy Shaw, Poynter Abuse Tracker)
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