BishopAccountability.org
	Naming Names Diocese Asked to Publicize LA Salle Abuse Claims By Lauren Wolfe Long Island Press [New York] July 15, 2005 The La Salle Military Academy in Suffolk County closed down in 2001. Its land morphed into St. John's University's Oakdale campus, but its legacy is now one tainted by allegations of a priest's sexual abuse. In March, a Roman Catholic priest named Rev. R. Thomas McConaghy was removed from his position as pastor at the Sacred Heart Church in Norwich, Conn., where he had worked since 1981. McConaghy is under investigation by church officials for allegedly molesting a student at La Salle Academy, where he was commandant in the 1970s. The victim reported the abuse to the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Now, three months after McConaghy's removal from the Connecticut parish, Long Island Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) is calling for the Diocese of Rockville Centre to publicly discuss this latest accusation. The lay organization has sent a letter to Bishop William Murphy requesting that he publish all pertinent information on the case in the Long Island Catholic, as well as in church bulletins and on the diocesan website. Also, the group would like Murphy to actively seek out the Christian Brothers, the Roman Catholic religious-teaching congregation that founded the academy (which is unassociated with the diocese) in 1883, and contact former students with the information on McConaghy. "Hundreds, and maybe thousands, of our neighbors who attended LaSalle Academy may still be living on Long Island, and they should have access to this information," reads the VOTF letter. Yet a spokesman for the diocese, Sean Dolan, explains that it is not diocesan policy to publicize the names of accused priests. "Our policy is, we will not do that," Dolan says. "Not for people who are simply accused. That is unjust. People are presumed innocent until they are found guilty by the appropriate tribunal." He adds that it was the Rockville Centre Diocese that first alerted the Suffolk County and Norwich authorities of the allegations. "Our philosophy is rather than saying father 'X,' 'Y' or 'Z' had allegations against him, we have an ongoing policy where we encourage victims of abuse to come forward," Dolan says, adding that the diocese places periodic ads in the diocesan newspaper asking "anyone who has been abused to please come forward." Regardless of whether or not the diocese tries to contact former La Salle students, the statute of limitations has expired on cases from the 1970s. Right now, children who have been victims of sexual assault have only until the age of 23 to seek criminal prosecution of their abusers in New York State. Recently, the Court of Appeals reversed itself and will reconsider the Supreme Court's dismissal of a Utica man's allegations of abuse committed in the 1960s. Last month, the Assembly passed a bill sponsored by Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) that would open a special one-year window for victims to prosecute. Anyone up the age of 28 who had been sexually abused as a minor would be able to file a lawsuit, even if their time had run out under pre-existing law. The bill has now moved to the Senate.