Bishop Mitchell Rozanski Files Report with Hampden District Attorney’s Office after Meeting Alleged Victim of Sexual Abuse by Late Bishop Christopher Weldon

By Anne-Gerard Flynn
The Republican
June 21, 2019

https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/06/bishop-mitchell-rozanski-files-report-with-hampden-district-attorneys-office-after-meeting-alleged-victim-of-sexual-abuse-by-late-bishop-christopher-weldon.html

The Most Rev. Christopher J. Weldon, seen here on July 24, 1970, was bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield from 1950 until 1977.

Following a meeting Thursday with a man who claims he was sexually abused decades ago by the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon and two priests, Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski filed a report with the Hampden District Attorney’s Office and is weighing what other steps the diocese may take.

The alleged victim told The Republican in a statement that he was “thankful I was able to tell my story to Bishop Rozanski today and reiterate the sexual abuse I continually suffered at the hands of (Rev. Clarence) Forand, (Rev. Edward) Authier and Bishop Weldon.”

“I was clear and I was heard," the man stated. "My impression was that the bishop ‘got it.’ I want to tell all survivors out there that you don’t have to be silent anymore, you are not going to be hurt again. There are safe allies who want to help you. You do not have to carry the secrets of your abusers’ anymore.”

Diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont confirmed the alleged victim made the accusation against Weldon in response to a question by Rozanski. It was documented and an “initial report has been filed with the Hampden County District Attorney,” he said.

The meeting was requested by the alleged victim, who had testified before the diocesan Review Board in June 2018. However, his testimony of making direct accusations against the diocese’s fourth bishop was disputed by the board, which found his accusations against two other deceased priests credible.

The alleged victim issued his statement to The Republican through Patricia Martin, a licensed clinical psychologist and former Review Board member. She attended the two-hour meeting at an undisclosed location with him and three other support people.

The diocese noted that Jeffrey Trant, director of its newly designated Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance, was in attendance. He and Rozanski will be looking into how new protocols approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on handling allegations of abuse against bishops should be applied.

“Today Bishop Mitchell Rozanski and Mr. Jeffrey Trant met with an individual who, when asked directly by Bishop Rozanski, explicitly stated that he had been sexually abused by former Bishop Christopher Weldon in the early 1960s,” according to the diocesan statement.

“His statement was documented and an initial report has been filed with the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office. In addition, Bishop Rozanski is seeking guidance on how this complaint should now be handled in light of the new policies and procedures agreed upon last week by the U.S. bishops but not yet implemented. Both Bishop and Mr. Trant appreciate the courage it takes any person, including this individual, to share such a traumatic story of abuse.”

Earlier this week, the diocese stated a “careful review of files” has revealed two prior claims "received directly by the diocese,” but deemed not credible, of sexual misconduct by Weldon.

Weldon is the second Springfield bishop to be accused of sexual misconduct.

The late Thomas Dupre resigned as Springfield bishop in February 2004, a day after The Republican confronted him with allegations that he had abused two young men, who had yet to come forward and later filed lawsuits.

A grand jury investigation indicted Dupre on child sexual assault charges in September 2004, but not on obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges. He was removed from public ministry by the Vatican in 2004, was never faced the charges in court because then Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said they fell outside the statute of limitations.

Dupre died in 2016.

In 2007, a legal battle started between the diocese and several insurance companies who were refusing to reimburse the diocese for settlements paid in clergy sex abuse lawsuits, arguing that the diocese had destroyed related records for three decades.

The diocese denied the charges and subsequently turned over a box of documents to insurers.

Insurers in arguing their case had cited a letter from a diocesan priest to then Bishop Dupre that was reported as saying in part, “as we have long suspected, Bishop Weldon’s files were all destroyed by Monsignor David Welch since Bishop Weldon unwisely kept those files apart from the vault in the Chancery."

It has been estimated that dioceses and religious orders in the United States have paid more than $3 billion to settle lawsuits brought by alleged victims of clergy sex abuse.

A report published by the Springfield Diocese in February shows it has paid out nearly $15 million in settling 147 claims since 1992.