BishopAccountability.org
	The Rev. Foley Scandal Hartford Courant [Connecticut] March 30, 2007 http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-foley.artmar30,0,1454907.story?coll=hc-headlines-editorials One point the story of Richard Foley makes abundantly clear is that the nation's Roman Catholic bishops struck a deal with the devil when they adopted the policy of allowing priests suspected of sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood and to financially support them. On Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Hartford evicted the Rev. Foley from St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, where he had been living since 1993. Archbishop Henry Mansell also ordered the Rev. Foley to sell his 2002 Ford Crown Victoria - the official car of the state police, tricked out with emergency lights, scanners and antennae - a holdover from the priest's days as a fire and state police chaplain. The decision followed an investigative article published Sunday in The Courant reporting that the Rev. Foley was among 14 priests accused of sexual molestation who were part of a $22 million settlement by the archdiocese in 2002. The Rev. Foley continued to live at the seminary, receiving free room and board, health insurance and a monthly stipend from the archdiocese. He also continued to drive a Crown Victoria, a car that figures prominently in the abuse claims against him. According to state police detectives assigned to investigate accusations against the Rev. Foley in 1993, the half-dozen victims all told a similar story. As teenagers, they were impressed by the Rev. Foley's police vehicle and his access to fire and police emergency scenes. They also described being plied with Yukon Jack and Southern Comfort from the Crown Victoria's fully stocked bar, and being fondled and masturbated. The Courant story chronicled the Rev. Foley's deceptive use of the New England Fire Association to arrange a deal on a new Crown Victoria in 2000. He transferred ownership of the vehicle to himself a few months later. Then, in 2002, he traded it for a new, fully loaded Crown Victoria, paying only $3,900 under a deal reserved for law enforcement officials. Archdiocese officials might not be expected to know the circumstances of the Rev. Foley's car purchases. But they should have known about his apparent pathology. They should also have interpreted his taste in cars as a warning sign. The archdiocese's excessive tolerance of the Rev. Foley seems to be in line with a policy adopted by America's Roman Catholic bishops in Dallas in 2002. The church's first attempt to come up with a uniform standard for responding to clergy sex abuse, the policy allows abusive priests to remain in the priesthood - supported financially by the church - but forbids them from celebrating a public Mass or wearing clerical dress. A spokesman for the diocese said removing the Rev. Foley from the priesthood - a process known as "laicizing" - would have its drawbacks. "Part of the thinking is don't laicize because then the archdiocese can't keep track of the priest," he said. But were archdiocese officials watching the Rev. Foley? Or are they so inured to the issue of sexual abuse they just didn't notice? The Rev. Foley continues to maintain his innocence. Nor does he have a criminal record; state prosecutors were unusually lax on cases involving clergy. The priest caught another break in 2002 when the legislature balked at extending the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of accused molesters, though it did extend the time that victims could file civil lawsuits. Thanks to protective prosecutors and lawmakers, the Rev. Foley won't be tracked through the state's registry of sex offenders.
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