NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
MANCHESTER – The Rev. Monsignor Edward J. Arsenault was the public face of the Catholic Diocese of Manchester during the height of the clergy sexual abuse crisis more than a decade ago.
Arguably the most high-profile cleric in New Hampshire from 2002 through 2007, Arsenault handled the media, oversaw the diocese’s administration and finances, and was the architect of its child protection and ministerial conduct policies.
So it was with more than a little irony that Catholics learned last week Arsenault, 51, is the target of a criminal investigation of possible inappropriate financial transactions involving diocesan funds and an internal review of a possible inappropriate adult relationship.
“That is why it is so surprising and so unbelievable that somebody who knows the rules, somebody who wrote the rules, is accused of violating them,” said Donna Sytek, former House speaker, who serves on the New Hampshire Catholic Charities board of directors.
“I was astonished because (it involves) somebody who had been so involved in the process of setting out expectations for good conduct,” added Sytek, who in 2002 served with Arsenault on a diocesan task force to craft a sexual misconduct policy. …
But Bernie McDaid of Peabody, Mass., who was sexually abused as a child by the late Rev. Joseph Birmingham at St. James Parish in Salem, Mass., recounted his two meetings with Arsenault in 2002 when he and other victims came to New Hampshire demanding Bishop John B. McCormack’s resignation.
“I think he was very cold, aloof, distant, guarded, looking for a political position – he couldn’t wait for McCormack to go out,” said McDaid, who is founder of Survivors Voice, a Europe-based group representing clergy sexual abuse victims.
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