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  NH Bishops - Forgive US, Father, for Mistakes Were Made

By Carolyn Disco
The Union Leader [New Hampshire]
August 31, 2005

THE INTERCESSIONS published on the Diocese of Manchester's Web site for Mass this past Sunday asked Catholics throughout New Hampshire to pray for reconciliation with those "who have been in leadership roles and have unwittingly allowed" sexual abuse to happen — a thinly veiled reference to Bishop John McCormack and Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian.

Slipped in amongst mention of those who were abused and those who were the abusers, this clever effort to exonerate our bishops of their shameful records deserves rebuttal.

"Bless me Father, for mistakes were made" is their version of confession instead of "Bless me Father, for I have lied, deceived, covered up sexual abuse, and endangered children." Bishop McCormack's habitual turn to euphemisms about "mistakes and inadequacies" cannot obscure the plain, simple truth. What they say now about what they did then reveals a clerical mindset bent more on damage control than honesty. The continuing spin, like these intercessions, is what is so wounding to the Body of Christ. Where are the bishops who speak truth from the heart and do not practice deceit?

The documents exposed by legal order make clear the bishops were hardly oblivious. While they pretend they have done nothing legally or morally wrong, they have left behind countless children who were abused in body and soul. It just happened. It was "unwittingly allowed." From the chancery there is no mention of criminal negligence that endangered minors, no obstruction of justice, no accessory after the fact, no failure to report abuse, no perjury. Statutes of limitations, weak laws and a plea bargain kept them from criminal prosecution, so they can boast of no indictments.

What do those documents reveal? The records of both bishops are available on www.bishop-accountability.org, but let's take two examples from the well-known cases of Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, as handled by McCormack.

McCormack consulted Dr. Edwin Cassem, a Jesuit psychiatrist, about Paul Shanley and many other priests. Dr. Cassem testified in the course of a survivor's lawsuit that McCormack deceived him about their sexual histories by failing to pass on critical information of past abuse. This tainted many of Dr. Cassem's recommendations, leading him to call McCormack an outright liar in a sworn deposition. A survivor's attorney asked Dr. Cassem:

Q. What you do know is that Father McCormack did not tell you in August of 1994 that there were credible allegations, or, in fact, actually admitted allegations that Paul Shanley had engaged in oral or anal sex with children, did he?

A. That's correct . . .

Seeking to counter this assertion, the lawyer for the Boston Archdiocese asked:

Q. Doctor, Father McCormack represents in this memorandum, does he not, that this was one of your observations in August of 1994, the question "How do we protect others from him," does he not?.

A. Father McCormack is a liar.

Q. So you're saying that Father McCormack was lying when he sent this memorandum out in August of 1994?

A. Yes, I am. Yes, I am."

In the case of John Geoghan, the Union Leader reported that McCormack said "he first learned of past allegations of sexual abuse against Geoghan when he began his review of priest personnel files after becoming delegate for sexual misconduct in 1993."(7/9/02.)

Yet, there is a memo in McCormack's own handwriting four years earlier in 1989 detailing two cases of molestation. One involved the "abuse of boy born in '74 in fall of '84 — two years to disclose it — fellatio — would show up when child is asleep with lights off . . . Mother couldn't press charges!!"

A painful outcome was the child's regression to soiling his underwear. This is the kind of detail McCormack knew, and still he failed to protect children from Geoghan.

Interestingly, McCormack said in December 2002, "the only thing I did with Geoghan was remove him from ministry" (in 1993). This statement contradicts McCormack's oft-repeated claim that he had no power to act; only Cardinal Bernard Law assigned priests. But Law testified he relied on his subordinates. The buck gets passed back and forth.

The open sore in the church today is that bishops got away with everything — were even promoted — and remain unaccountable before survivors, the law and the people of God. So, silence is not an option when they hide behind self-serving intercessory prayers that portray them as passive "unwitting" innocents. We await their true repentance and removal from office.

Carolyn Disco is co-founder of New Hampshire Catholics for Moral Leadership.

 
 

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