SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve
By Father Bill Pomerleau
SPRINGFIELD – Jury selection began July 23 for a trial that may – or may not – give the public new insights into how the Diocese of Springfield handled cases of clergy sexual misconduct in the 1970s and 1980s.
After questioning nearly 100 potential jurors for more than two hours, Hampden Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney had seated only 10 men and women for what is expected to be a two-week trial.
Andrew Nicastro, a Williamstown resident who operates Isabella’s Restaurant in North Adams, is suing Springfield Bishop Emeritus Joseph F. Maguire and former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré in a civil case alleging that they failed to protect him from former priest Alfred Graves.
Graves, who actively served as a diocesan priest from 1967 to 1992, was taken out of ministry and forbidden to present himself as a priest by the late Bishop John A. Marshall, apparently after new allegations of misconduct came to the attention of the diocese. The diocese later confirmed that allegations that then-Father Graves had sexually abused boys were credible.
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