TheMediaReport.com
September 9, 2011
http://www.themediareport.com/sep2011/bishop-accountability.htm
The high-profile web site BishopAccountability.org has long extolled a policy that it will not publicly post the names and cases of priests in which the accusers have recanted their claims. However, the organization continues to do this very thing.
The site recently added the nine-year-old case of falsely accused priest Fr. Ronald L. Bourgault, from the Archdiocese of Boston, to its database of "publicly accused" clerics. BishopAccountability has plastered the innocent pastor's photo on its site, and it has stamped the word "Accused" in his entry.
In a tragic series of events in 2002 and 2003, a man claimed that the priest had molested him decades earlier. The archdiocese removed Fr. Bourgault from ministry for eight months, after which the accuser and his lawyer both finally admitted that the man had "misidentified" his alleged abuser. (Read about the clear-cut case in a February 2003 article in the Boston Globe.)
The popular Fr. Bourgault has never had any other charges of such wrongdoing in nearly five decades of ministry.
Here is BishopAccountability.org's stated policy:
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There is no doubt that the case of Fr. Bourgault fits the criteria for not posting the case.
It seems BishopAccountability.org has tried to justify its action by stating, "Bourgault's name is included on the list of unsubstantiated cases released by Boston 8/25/11." Indeed, this is true (and very unfortunate), yet it seems that this should have no bearing whatsoever on the fact that the case does not qualify to be posted. There is no question that the accuser recanted his claim.
Unfortunately, the case of Fr. Bourgault is not the only one of its kind. BishopAccountability.org has also posted the case of Jesuit priest Fr. John M. Costello of New York. In a case very similar to that of Fr. Bourgault, the accuser recanted his claim after concluding that "another priest" had abused him. (Sources: 1, 2)
Again, the site has posted the innocent priest's picture along with the word "Accused" in an entry for Fr. Costello.
There are more, but one gets the point.
Posting the names and pictures of innocent priests on a web site as "publicly accused" child molesters, especially in those cases in which the accusers have recanted, does absolutely nothing for the protection of children or for the justice of real victims.
Most notably, the reputations of good and honest priests are irreparably tarnished.
-- Dave Pierre is the author of the book, Double Standard: Abuse Scandals and the Attack on the Catholic Church. Dave is also the creator of TheMediaReport.com and is a contributing writer to NewsBusters.org, the popular media-bias blog of the Media Research Center.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.