Burlington Catholic Diocese to release names of priests accused of child sex abuse

By Elizabeth Murray
Free Press
August 22, 2019

https://bit.ly/2HlZxol

Bishop Christopher Coyne, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, announces the release of 40 names of priests accused of sexual abuse during a news conference on Thursday, August 22, 2019, in South Burlington. He also released a investigation report looking into priest misconduct looking back to 1950. Photo by RYAN MERCER

Center, priest abuse victim John Mahoney talks about a report he helped investigate that released the names of 40 priests accused of sexual abuse during a news conference on Thursday, August 22, 2019, in South Burlington. Left, Bishop Christopher Coyne, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, initiated the investigation looking into priest misconduct as far back as 1950. Photo by RYAN MERCER

Committee members talk about am investigation report that released the names of 40 priests accused of sexual abuse during a news conference on Thursday, August 22, 2019, in South Burlington. Bishop Christopher Coyne, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, initiated the investigation looking into priest misconduct as far back as 1950. Photo by RYAN MERCER

John Mahoney, who was sexually abused as a child by a Roman Catholic priest in Vermont, says he received a three-word email the night before a list of abusive priests was publicly released by the statewide Diocese.

The email, from someone he knew as a child, said, "Thank you, John." 

Mahoney was one of the seven members appointed by Bishop Christopher Coyne to an independent lay committee that pored over personnel records of more than 50 priests over the last nine months.

"That was important for me to get that affirmation that what we're doing here is important work," Mahoney said. The name of his own abuser and 39 other clergy members who served in Vermont were published as part of a list that he and the other members of the committee determined were credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

The Diocese made that report public on Thursday with no changes to what the committee wrote, Coyne said. The allegations against clergy who served throughout the state date back to the 1950s. None of the priests are still in ministry, and most are deceased, according to the report.

With one exception, Coyne said, all of the conduct occurred more than 20 years ago. According to a statement written by the Bishop on the Diocese's website, there has only been one credible and substantiated claim of abuse in 16 years. The allegation involved an 18-year-old who formed an emotional relationship with a member of the clergy when that teenager was a minor.

"We are supposed to be a people of love, a place of hope, a community of healing, but that has not always been the case," Coyne said. "This is especially true with the significant number of cases involving the sexual and physical abuse of children by clergy, not just here in Vermont, but in the entire church. These sins of the past continue to haunt us."

Coyne and members of the lay committee acknowledged that there is still work to be done and encouraged others who had been abused to come forward.

Some say the scope of the abuse was bigger.

"The victims of these priests are still bearing the wounds of what happened to them," Coyne said. "Until now, the scope of all this has been our family secret. Family secrets can be toxic."

Jerry O'Neill, a local lawyer who has represented more than 50 survivors of priest abuse, says it is difficult to quantify, but he is aware of others who did not make the list. He is currently representing six priest abuse survivors in another lawsuit against the diocese. All the priests accused in that lawsuit are on the list. 

"I think what's going to happen is people will come forward and say to the committee, 'Wait a minute, this person assaulted me. Why isn't that person on the list?'" O'Neill said.

International nonprofit support group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called the list a "long overdue step toward transparency," and listed at least five other priests they believe deserved to be on the list.

"With this move, church officials in Vermont are taking a belated step towards transparency and healing," SNAP wrote in a news release. "Releasing these names publicly is crucial not only for the safety of children and healing of survivors, but also to encourage victims who may be suffering in silence to come forward and to deter future clergy sex crimes and cover-ups."

Priest abuse survivor Michael Bernier, who now lives outside Vermont, called the Free Press after reading the list published Thursday. He estimates that the total number of abusive priests may be closer to 60 and remains angry that it took so long to publish the priests names. 

One name that Bernier did not expect to be on the list was the name of a priest to whom he confided that he had been abused by now-resigned priest James McShane. This priest, Walter Miller, was listed as having his priestly faculties revoked by late Bishop Kenneth Angell in 2005.  

"To see (Miller's) name on there this morning and becoming aware that he was removed 14 years ago, and for why, confirms my beliefs and suspicions of this whole time that he was a pedophile," Bernier said.

Both the Diocese and O'Neill hope the release of the names will offer some level of healing. They also hope more people will come forward to continue to update the public list. 

"Additional files are and will need to be reviewed as more allegations surface," the report stated. "Formalizing the reporting process and including independent citizen panels are steps toward ensuring these crimes are no longer hidden."

The Diocese also expects lawsuits may be forthcoming, and intends to try to settle with survivors as long as they have the money to do so, Coyne said. In June, Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill into law that eliminates the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse to bring civil claims against abusers. The lawsuit brought by the six survivors represented by O'Neill remains pending.