BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
December 23, 2012
By
Richard Weir
Pope Benedict XVI tapped the Archdiocese of Boston’s top canon law expert as the Vatican’s new prosecutor, an appointment hailed by church leaders but criticized by victims rights advocates who say his past positions cast doubt on whether he will be an impartial investigator of priest sexual abuse.
The Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a Bay Shore, N.Y., native, currently serves as the archdiocese’s assistant to the moderator of the Curia for Canonical Affairs.
“Fr. Robert Oliver is a gifted priest who has served the Archdiocese with distinction,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley said yesterday, describing the Dartmouth-educated Oliver as “a distinguished canon lawyer who brings the requisite experience and an understanding of the importance of this office within the life of the Church.” …
But his past handling of several controversial policy changes has critics questioning his objectivity.
“We are concerned that he is primarily someone who looks out for the rights of the accused priests,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org. “The position … is a sensitive and important one and he will have to be equally a champion of victims. We wonder if he will be capable of being even-handed.”
In 2003, Oliver helped revise an archdiocese policy, altering it to curtail access by alleged victims of abuse to church records — a move that surprised lay leaders who sat on the Cardinal’s Commission for the Protection of Children.
Also that year, Oliver said the church went too far in immediately removing priests from their public ministries once they were accused of abuse. He implemented a new policy stripping them of duties only after claims are investigated.
Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, called the criticism of Oliver “unfounded and just plain wrong,” adding, “He is a good and decent priest who is widely viewed as just, competent and committed to the truth.”
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