MAINE
Portland Press Herald
BY DAVID HENCH PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
dhench@pressherald.com | @MaineHenchman | 207-791-6327
An advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse says a recently uncovered letter shows the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland church knew for years about allegations against a parish priest but did nothing to protect potential young victims.
The letter mentions allegations against the Rev. James Vallely, who served in St. John’s Parish in Bangor and was later transferred to St. Dominic’s Parish in Portland and to St. Michael’s Parish in South Berwick. He was working with a church in Florida when he was removed from active ministry following allegations of abuse. He has since died.
Robert Hoatson of the New Jersey victims advocacy group Road to Recovery held a news conference outside the Portland diocese Tuesday to call attention to the letter, which he said was one of the documents the church was compelled to release as part of a lawsuit brought by one of Vallely’s victims. That suit alleged fraudulent concealment by the church and was recently settled. Hoatson said he could not provide more details about the case because the name of the victim in the suit, brought in Cumberland County, has not been made public.
The letter was written in 2005 by the Rev. Richard P. Rice and is addressed to “Marc,” apparently Monsignor Marc B. Caron, Hoatson said. In it, Rice said that an article in the Maine Sunday Telegram had reminded him of a conversation he had around 1993 with the Rev. Dick Harvey in which Harvey said five boys had confided to him that they had been abused at St. John’s.
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