PHOENIX (AZ)
KJZZ 91.5
August 27, 2018
By Holliday Moore
Less than two weeks after a Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed more abuse by priests, retired Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien of the Phoenix Diocese has died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at age 82.
In 2002, O’Brien was head of the Phoenix Diocese, and Rick Romley was Maricopa County Attorney.
On the other side of the country, the Boston Diocese was roiling as five of its Roman Catholic priests were indicted for sexually abusing children.
Soon after those indictments, Romley got a tip while investigating similar abuse in Arizona.
It was, he said, “Information from a former priest that there were cover-ups that went up to Bishop O’Brien inside the Catholic Church.”
O’Brien was ultimately granted immunity from prosecution after signing a document admitting his part in the cover-ups.
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