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  "Talk of the Town"
Am Radio Talk Show to Address Clergy Abuse Crisis in Worcester

Worcester Voice [Worcester MA]
May 24, 2004

Mary T. Jean, director of the Worcester Voice, will be live on "Talk of the Town" with Bill Coleman at 6 p.m. Friday, May 28 on WORC (1310 AM) radio. Worcester Voice is an advocacy organization that supports victims of clergy abuse.

We look forward to the new opportunities we have in this Diocese as we await an answer from Bishop Robert McManus on our request to meet with him.

We pray that he follows the lead of Archbishop Sean O'Malley and replaces the diocesan lawyers, removes the insurance company from the equation and offers fair and adequate settlement to the victims. Reparative justice for victims of injustice is official Catholic teaching for the faithful and is discussed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has full approval and was signed by Pope John Paul II.

Mrs. Jean, who is perhaps the leading authority on the clergy abuse crisis in Worcester County, will explain some of the long-term systematic approaches that officials from within the Chancery of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester have undertaken for years to bury sexual abuse of children and teenagers by some of its priests and church employees.

Sadly we must remind ourselves, that not one case was ever presented to law enforcement agencies by the Catholic diocese. We have documentation that illustrates that on at least one occasion Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger supplied information to the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, that implied there was no danger if they were to take into that diocese the Rev. Thomas Teczar of the Diocese of Worcester. Documents show that the lawyer for the Worcester Diocese demanded that Father Teczar not only be removed immediately from Worcester County but that he be immediately incardinated into the Texas diocese. The reason was because law enforcement in Worcester County was concerned about Father Teczar’s alleged sexual abuse of teenage boys in the Worcester Diocese.

To avoid legal problems in Worcester, Father Teczar was sent off to Texas where he now awaits criminal charges in Texas and is subject to a civil suit in Fort Worth regarding allegations of sexual abuse of minors when he went there to avoid further legal problems in Worcester.

Only recently Father Jean-Paul Gagnon was arraigned in Uxbridge District Court on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. Father Gagnon was actively supported in the court room by ladies carrying rosary beads. The priest carried a Bible into the court room. Did he do this to imply an association with the church which would make him seem to be above the law? This attempt at judicial control was also applied in the early 1980s when Father Robert Kelley was sentenced in his original rape trial where he was sentenced and later served six years in jail.

"lTalk of the Town" with Bill Coleman, who once studied to be a Catholic priest and is now a well-regarded community activist in Worcester because of the work he does on behalf of poor people, is a regular program designed to talk about current issues in Central Massachusetts.

Find out what is happening. If you have something to say - be my guest. Call 1-508-791-1310 or #1310 on your Verizon wireless phone. Mr. Coleman has also given Mrs. Jean the opportunity to bring an invited guest who will be presented on Friday night.

May 21, 2004

Clergy Victim request meeting with new Bishop

Mr. Skip Shea, alleged clergy abuse victim has made an attempt to meet with Worcester Bishop Robert McManus. Mr. Shea was featured in a Worcester telegram photo standing outside the installation of Bishop McManus on Friday May 14, 2003. No clergy abuse victims or advocates were invited to attend. Thursday, Mr. Shea went personally to the chancery on Elm Street and hand delivered a letter to Bishop McManus.