BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Abuse Panel Puts off Ruling Review Board Wants More Information By Bruce Nolan The Times-Picayune [New Orleans LA] August 27, 2005 A lay-dominated review board that advises Archbishop Alfred Hughes said it does not have enough information to evaluate a Harvey man's allegation that a Marrero priest molested him as a child, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans said Friday. "The data available to the review board is not sufficient at this time for the board to render a judgment," said archdiocesan spokesman the Rev. William Maestri. The archdiocese, as distinct from its advisory panel, continues to believe that Monsignor Raymond Hebert is a victim of mistaken identity, Maestri said. The review board sent the complaint back for more investigation and asked that it not be resubmitted until a fuller picture is available, he said. The decision means that Hebert may continue his 53-year career in public ministry. Stacey Brown, 52, last month named Hebert in a lawsuit as one of several men he said raped him as a child in the early 1960s at Madonna Manor, a church facility for children in Marrero. His claims are among lawsuits by six men alleging various degrees of physical and sexual abuse at Madonna Manor at the hands of priests, nuns and civilian staff workers. Hebert vigorously denied Brown's charge. "I've never abused a child in my life," he said in an interview Wednesday. Hebert retired three years ago as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Marrero after 50 years in the priesthood. In such cases the archdiocese interviews the accused and the accuser, where possible, and presents its findings to the panel. The board is composed of 13 people, including psychologists, social workers, parents, a sexual abuse victim, a priest and two deacons. The panel tells Hughes whether it thinks the charge contains "a semblance of truth." But it is Hughes' decision whether to remove a priest from service while a more thorough church judicial process unfolds. Because Brown is suing, the archdiocese was unable to interview him, Maestri said. So it turned to records from Hebert's file and 40-year-old Madonna Manor archives to consider the claim. But the Brown case presents daunting challenges to investigators, Maestri said. Some Madonna Manor records are incomplete, and some witnesses have died, aged or disappeared, he said. "There is serious consideration by the archdiocese of involving professional investigators to complete this process," he said. "If investigators are employed, we want to know all the facts relevant to case. . . . We don't want somebody to give us just a judgment that exonerates. We want to know the truth and the facts."