Springfield Catholic Diocese Received 15 Clergy Sex Abuse Reports in 2018

By Anne-Gerard Flynn
The Republican
February 14, 2019

https://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2019/02/springfield_diocese_received_1.html

Fifteen reported cases of clergy sexual abuse were made to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in 2018, according to a two-page report in the latest issue of the diocesan magazine, The Catholic Mirror.

It is the highest number reported since 52 claims were made in 2004, according to the report on how the Springfield diocese handles allegations.

All new cases have been referred to the relevant district attorney, diocesan spokesperson Mark Dupont said.

The published data lists the number of abuse reports made by year back to 1986 and also lists the decades going back to 1930s when the incidents reportedly occurred, something Dupont stressed when asked to comment on the report.

The 1970s is shown as the decade with the highest number of occurrences with 80, followed by 74 in the 1960s and 33 in the 1980s.

Only eight incidents are listed as having happened in this century.

The published report, which can also be read on the diocesan website, notes that most occurrences were reported beginning in 1993 -- the diocese set up an independent review board in 1994 -- and later. (The list dates to 1986 because that was when the diocese, through Bishop Joseph Maguire, first began a more formal process of handling abuse reports, Dupont said.)Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski. (The Republican file photo)

Some 43 are shown as having been reported in 2002 and 42 in 2003.

"First it is important to note the difference between when abuse reports are made and when the abuse actually occurred. In almost all cases the time spam goes back decades. This is part of the difficult path many victims follow in coming to terms with their abuse," Dupont said.

"But regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred, we offer each victim full outreach and assistance. Included in this is the commitment to report all cases to the appropriate district attorneys' offices which we have done."

He added, "The spikes in reporting generally have to do with external factors, mostly major news coverage."

"Dioceses across the country experience this very same reaction as there is always an uptick in victims reaching out to us at the time of significant news coverage," Dupont said.

"Last year was the result of the Pennsylvania grand jury report, other years coincide with the announcement of settlements," he said.

The diocesan report, which Bishop Mitchell Rozanski had said in advance of publication was in response to "renewed concerns" sparked locally by recent investigations elsewhere, shows that to date the Springfield diocese has paid out $14,948,001 in settling 147 claims since 1992.

Some $8.5 million came from insurance carriers with the remainder coming from diocesan self-insurance reserves, according to the report.

It also shows the diocese has paid $2.25 million for therapy and counseling for victims of abuse with more than $150,000 paid in 2018.

The Catholic Mirror report also explains what background checks and training are required of all diocesan employees and volunteers; what education about inappropriate behavior and how to report it is given to students attending diocesan schools or parish religious education programs; and there is a graphic showing the steps the diocese takes when it receives an abuse report.

"By directive of the Bishop of Springfield, all clergy, religious, lay employees and volunteers must consider themselves as 'mandatory reporters' and follow reporting procedures," the report stated.

An accused clergy member is "temporarily remove(d) from active ministry" if an allegation involves current behavior and if a finding of criminal guilt results or determination the allegation is credible the "clergy member is permanently removed from all ministry and is directed not to present themselves as clergy," the report stated.

The Vatican decides whether this removal will be from ministry under a life of prayer and penance or permanent removal from the clerical state, what is called laicization and means the individual is no longer entitled to any financial assistance from the diocese.

There is an online list of clergy who have been credibly accused in the Springfield diocese. According to the report, "If an accused diocesan clergy is alive when an allegation is received, and subsequently found to be credible, then that person's name" will be placed on this list that currently has 20 names.

The report encourages victims to come forward even if the clergy member against whom the allegation is being made is dead.

"Any individual who has been or suspects they were abused, regardless of how long ago, is encouraged to file a complaint," the report states. "Even if the clergy member is deceased, the complaint and review process is followed and that person is entitled to counseling/therapy services as well as a settlement."

Contact information is given including the email reportabuse@diospringfield.org.

In November, Rozanski said the diocese, which covers the four western counties of Massachusetts, had been asked by the U.S. Department of Justice, as all dioceses have in the wake of the Pennsylvania report, to "preserve" any documents related to clergy sexual misconduct.

The Pennsylvania report revealed that 300 priests in six dioceses there had sexually abused 1,000 children over seven decades and that the cases were covered up by church hierarchy.

Its release in August has resulted in an uptick in claims being filed in dioceses, prompted many states attorneys to consider their own investigations into dioceses and has prompted more dioceses to release names of priests found to have credible allegations against them.

Rozanski, who has been holding a series of "listening and dialogue" to address parishioners' concerns about clergy sex abuse cases, was installed bishop here in 2014. He had been auxiliary bishop in Baltimore where Archbishop William Lori has also been taking steps to re-establish trust in a Church embattled worldwide by the abuse crisis.

The presidents of bishops conferences are scheduled to meet this month in Rome to further discuss the issue and last fall the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had discussed but delayed action at the Vatican's request on a code of conduct for bishops.

Their fall meeting came shortly after the release of a Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer investigation, "Failure at the top," showing how U.S. bishops failed to police themselves despite the protocols they established 16 years ago to address issues of clergy sex abuse.

The U.S. bishops instituted protocols in 2002 to protect minors and establish procedures for the reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct by priests and deacons with a statement added about allegations against bishops who under Vatican protocols do not normally submit letters of resignation until the age of 75.

The first U.S. bishop said to be indicted on the specific charge of child sex abuse was Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupre.

Indicted on charges that he raped two boys in the 1970s, Dupre, who resigned suddenly in 2004 shortly before his indictment, was never prosecuted because of the statute of limitations and died in 2016 at the age of 83.

The Springfield diocese did settle with two men who named Dupre as their abuser.

The diocesan online list of credible accused clergy updated from 2016 shows Dupre's name for the first time and lists him under the category of "deceased bishop who was permanently removed from public ministry."

This indicates that the Vatican determined at some point a status of removal under a life of prayer and ministry. This status, as opposed to a determination of being removed from clerical state, means the diocese, under church law, is obliged to provide what has been described as "minimal (financial) assistance."

Richard Lavigne, the first priest in Western Massachusetts to be indicted on sexual assault charges, became the first priest in the history of the diocese to be involuntarily removed from ministry when he was defrocked by the Vatican on Nov. 20, 2003.

Lavigne pleaded guilty in 1992 to two counts of molestation of a minor and was given a 10-year probation sentence. Lavigne, who had been placed "on leave" by Maguire in 1991, was also the only publicly identified suspect in the 1972 murder of Springfield altar boy Daniel Croteau. That slaying remains unsolved.

In the online list of credibly accused clergy, Lavigne is shown under the category of "living laicized clergy who were under the sanctions of the 'Essential Norms.'"

Under the U.S. bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, this means "when even a single act of sexual abuse by a priest or deacon is admitted or is established after an appropriate process in accord with canon law, the offending priest or deacon will be removed from ecclesiastical ministry."