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  Judge Orders More Information from Diocese

Associated Press, carried on WJAR - NBC10
January 18, 2008

http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/news.apx.-content-articles-JAR-2008-01-18-0008.html

PROVIDENCE -- A judge has given the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence 30 days to provide more information about sexual abuse allegations against dozens of priests, saying the church had been overly selective in its reporting of complaints of misconduct.

Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel, who is handling the cases of three men who say they were abused by priests, ordered the diocese to report all allegations of misconduct it had received -- including not just sexual abuse complaints but also accusations of "horseplay, touching, physical contact."

The judge had previously directed the diocese to provide information, dating to 1971, of priests accused of first- or second-degree child molestation or third-degree sexual assault. The diocese had identified 83 priests, but on Thursday, Vogel expanded her order to include a broader range of inappropriate behavior.

She also accused retired Bishop Louis E. Gelineau of being a "see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, type of guy, apparently" in his handling of a complaint in the late 1970s against one of the priests named in the lawsuits.

Gelineau said last year that he vaguely recalled accusations of "inappropriate" behavior against the priest but that the complaints involved "horseplay or wrestling" but nothing sexual.

The priest, the former Rev. Roland Lepire, said in a 1996 psychiatric evaluation commissioned by the diocese that he had admitted inappropriate contact with several boys to Gelineau, but was transferred to another parish. The report says police agreed not to press charges if Lepire was moved to another parish. Gelineau has denied Lepire's account.

Dozens of suits were settled in 2002, but three cases are still pending and involve allegations against three different priests.

 
 

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