| Bishop Accountability
|
||
|
Rockville Centre Resources – May 2002 By Steve Wick and Eden Laikin http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-liabus142705610may14.story Raymond Trypuc was tired of so many things by the time he decided to call Msgr. Alan Placa, the man in charge of dealing with sexual abuse complaints against priests on Long Island. He was tired of trying to shake his addiction to cocaine, tired of all the rules at the treatment center he walked out of in Arizona. Mostly, though, he was tired of trying to sort out why a trusted priest had abused him as a boy. It was then, sometime after Nov. 16, 1993, that Trypuc got on the phone with Placa, the vice chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, and struck a deal: For $25,000, he absolved the church of any additional financial responsibility and agreed never to take his complaint public with a lawsuit. Within weeks, Trypuc, 28, was dead of a cocaine overdose. "Giving $25,000 to an active addict is like putting a loaded gun in someone's hand," said Robert Fulton, an addictions counselor who knew Trypuc during his stay at the Arizona treatment center. Placa said recently that he made the deal only after being advised to do so by Trypuc's own therapist. "My recollection is that before I signed off, I insisted that we talk to the therapist," Placa said, "and he said it was in his [Trypuc's] best interests. He [Trypuc] had a profound need for closure. We were encouraged to do that." But officials at both centers in Arizona that treated Trypuc in the months leading up to his death say their files don't reflect that, and they doubt it happened. "There's no way any treatment center is going to recommend a cash settlement for someone who's not in recovery," said Fulton, the assistant executive director of The Meadows, the facility that first treated Trypuc. Last week, Placa did not return calls seeking comment on the discrepancy, and a spokeswoman from the diocese declined to comment. The story of Trypuc's alleged abuse at the hands of the Rev. James Bergin, Trypuc's deep slide into drugs and homelessness, and his legal settlement with the diocese is expected to be one of the stories told to a special grand jury being convened in Suffolk County this week to probe how abuse allegations have been handled by the diocese. The file on Bergin, who died in 1992, is one of more than two dozen pertaining to sexual abuse allegations against priests received by Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota as the result of a subpoena. But investigative sources have said the file they received contains no references to either the Trypuc case, or to that of another man who has said he was abused by Bergin, a red flag that the sources say will be closely reviewed. The relationship between Bergin and the Trypuc family was long, complicated and, eventually, bitter, said Raymond Trypuc Sr. "Jim Bergin and I were like brothers, maybe closer than brothers," Trypuc said. "The basic reason for letting Ray get involved with him was that I liked a lot of what Jimmy was doing. He had the ability to take Ray on ski trips. I said, Gee whiz, why not let Ray be exposed to this? After all, I was working two jobs." Raymond Trypuc Sr. was a committed churchgoer at St. Francis de Sales in Patchogue when he first met Bergin around the late '70s. The priest often ate dinner at the Trypuc house, or the family would take him to dinner at a restaurant. Soon, Bergin took a keen interest in young Ray, then 11 or 12. "Ray was an extremely sensitive child at that age," his father said. "He liked art, he liked to paint. He was a little different." In addition to ski trips, the boy frequently visited Bergin in his rectory bedroom, the father said. While his son's relationship with Bergin seemed perfectly normal, he said this belief was shattered several years later when a friend called him. "The friend said, 'Are you having trouble with Bergin?'" Trypuc Sr. recalled. "I said, 'No, what's the problem?' My friend said Bergin had made a move on one of his sons. I said that was a very serious charge, and I told him I'd ask my son. "I went to talk to Ray and he broke down. He told me that it had gone on for two years, masturbation mostly. But it may have been more." Trypuc Sr. then called Bergin, who at that time was pastor at St. John's in Riverhead, and told him to come to the house. "He broke down and cried when I told him," he said. "He flat out admitted it. Bergin went in Ray's room and apologized to him. As he was coming out of his room - and you know I will always remember this - he said, 'I hope something good can come out of this now that it's finally out in the open.' "We agreed he would not be arrested. I said to him, 'If you turn yourself in to the diocese, if they call and say you are getting treatment and will never again be involved with children, I will be satisfied.' "The next day," Trypuc Sr. said, "a nun calls and said, 'I am calling you in regard to Jim Bergin.' She said he had turned himself in for treatment. He had admitted to the problem. I asked about my son, and she gave me the name of a therapist. "I never got involved with Bergin again. We severed the relationship completely." Unbeknownst to the Trypuc family, however, there was another alleged victim of Bergin. Larry Groelinger, now an Air Force reserve officer in Maryland, has told Newsday he was abused by Bergin as a student at St. Pius X High School in Uniondale. Both allegations were reported to diocesan officials in the early 1980s, according to Trypuc's family and Groelinger. Groelinger said he reported the abuse to Msgr. Thomas Malloy and Suffolk's then-auxiliary bishop, the Rev. Gerald Ryan. Malloy, in an interview, confirmed that he spoke with Groelinger; Ryan is dead. Meanwhile, both Raymond Trypuc Sr. and Groelinger have recently been interviewed by investigators from the district attorney's office. While Groelinger succeeded in his life and career, forward movement was difficult for Ray Trypuc Jr. His father said he went to a therapist, but only once. After he graduated from Patchogue-Medford High School in 1983, he enlisted in the Army. Two years later, Ray returned to Patchogue, moving back into his parents' home. Soon, the father said, money was missing and, in 1989, after much prodding from his father, Trypuc admitted that he had a cocaine problem. To fight it, Trypuc went to rehab at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northport. "He tried to get better," the father said. "He wanted to have that monkey off his back. He came home and I thought he had a grip on it. Then a few months later, he calls one night and said he was going to shoot himself. He ended up back in Northport." At some point for his therapy, the father recalled, his son went to a cemetery in Suffolk County and stood at Bergin's grave. "He wrote a letter to Bergin," he said. "He put it on his grave. Bergin was at the bottom of all of this. It was all about trying to get the damage fixed ... He was a wonderful boy. But he was sliding downhill, in and out of rehab." The father tried to help his son with a policy of "tough love," but realized he was living on the streets, eating out of trash cans. "Then," he said, "he stumbled into Hope House." A residential home for troubled youth run by the Rev. Francis Pizzarelli, Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson also operates a homeless shelter for young men, the Pax Christi Hospitality Center. That center took in Trypuc in the summer of 1993, and tried to help him straighten out his life. "I remember him very well," said Roger Croteau, a Catholic Brother with the Congregation of the Holy Cross who befriended Trypuc at Pax Christi. "He had a drug and alcohol problem. I kept asking him what was the problem, what started all this. Finally he said he was abused by a local priest. I said, 'Do you want me to help you deal with this?' He said yes." At that point, Croteau said, he called the diocese and spoke with Placa, who came out the next day to talk to Ray. "He made arrangements for Ray to get treatment in Arizona," he said. In Arizona, Trypuc checked into The Meadows, a primary care facility he attended for 35 days at a cost to the diocese of $17,500, according to an accounting supplied to his father after Trypuc's death. He then moved into Prescott House, where he was placed in a three-month treatment program designed to get him ready to move back into the community. However, by mid-November, Trypuc had signed himself out of the program against the advice of his therapists, according to John Valentine, who was executive director of the Prescott House when Trypuc was there, who discussed Trypuc's case only after receiving a signed release from Trypuc's father. Prescott House rules forbade him from being involved with women, Valentine explained, and Trypuc had begun dating a local woman. The next time staff members heard about him, he had been found dead in an apartment he had moved into the week before. A medical examiner ruled the death was from "cocaine toxicity." Officials at both The Meadows and Prescott House said last week they had been against Trypuc dropping out of treatment. There was no evidence they talked with church officials about a settlement. "No one from Prescott House ever discussed settlement issues or the legality of the case regarding Ray Trypuc Jr. ... ever," added Valentine. "Ray signed things at a time when he was not capable." Fulton, of The Meadows facility - who was a priest in the Diocese of Rockville Centre before leaving the priesthood in 1997 and moving to Arizona - said he complained directly to both Placa and then-Bishop John McGann about how Trypuc was handled, but they didn't respond. Pizzarelli, Hope House's founder, said the funeral Mass. "I loved the family," Pizzarelli said. "I am not saying had Ray stayed with us that we would not have made a misstep. But I surely would not have handled it the way it was. It should have been handled legally and criminally. "The way it was handled," he added, "was just reckless." Now living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Ray Trypuc's parents say they are still suffering with the pain of their son's death, and the anger over the settlement. And they wrestle with their faith. Raymond Trypuc Sr., said last week that he wrote Placa after his son's funeral. Referring to the settlement between Placa and his son, "I told him he was my son's last enabler," he said, "and therefore partially responsible for his death." "So much was lost," he said. "The Raymond before Bergin - that's the boy I want back."
by Dick Ryan As far as I know, Mother Teresa never hired a public relations guru. Neither did Dorothy Day or Thomas Merton, superstars of the Catholic Church. And I don't remember any place in the gospels where Christ brought in some flack to write his material or put a spin on the Ten Commandments. So why did Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre recently hire Howard J. Rubenstein Associates, one of the most high-powered (and high-priced) spin doctors in the world, whose clients include some of the glitziest names in entertainment and politics and whose standard fee could help feed Long Island's homeless for years? The diocese already has a public relations director and a full staff, so why the need? Is it for some high-octane damage control in light of the current scandal in the church? Or perhaps the bishop wants to spruce up his image in the wake of his own role in the crisis while he worked under Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston a few years ago. In any case, like a lot of other things in the scandal, the hiring seems to be a big secret. During the 35 years in which I handled public relations in the Catholic Church for organizations that included child care, hospitals, charitable agencies, religious congregations and even the Knights of Malta, the idea was simply to tell the story. Just shine a light on some outstanding foster child, some unusual health-care program for cancer patients, some heroic nun working with the homeless, some Park Avenue mover and shaker quietly sending money to a missionary group in Tibet. Just tell the story and get out of the way. Experienced public relations staffs are necessary in every diocese in order to promote the work of Catholic Charities, schools, hospitals and other organizations, provide information to the media and simply tell the story about the large number of dedicated priests, nuns and lay people in the diocese. But Bishop Murphy has shunted his public relations staff aside and gone for the glamour name. So it is obvious that he is trying to manipulate, instead of communicate, in fixing the enormous credibility gap that now exists in the church because of the tidal wave of cover-ups, corruption and deceit of a few cardinals and bishops. The problem facing Murphy is the loss of trust among countless Catholics and the challenge of restoring it honestly, candidly, completely and without any flim-flam. But this won't be accomplished with mirrors or magic. Staging special events and scheduling a thousand news conferences isn't going to change anything. Having Bishop Murphy appear on television with Tim Russert or Oprah isn't going to achieve a thing outside of toning and buffing up the bishop's comfort zone around a camera. And the very last thing that any jazzed-up public relations campaign should try is re-inventing the church. Nothing will turn off Catholics more quickly, or more angrily, because Catholics won't buy a spin job on their faith. Right now, the best person, the only person to handle public relations for the diocese and Bishop Murphy is Bishop Murphy himself. Catholics want him simply to "tell the story." They want to hear the truth directly from him and not some high-priced public relations guru with a hundred other accounts. It is his responsibility not only as the head of the diocese but also as a pastor. Christ never sent Peter ahead to warm up the crowd or hand out copies of his talk. The bishop could begin by visiting every parish, listening to the people, answering their questions and not simply delivering a ghost-written, feel- good sermon and then ducking out after turning the meeting over to some flack. He could also promise to provide an annual detailed financial account to every parishioner indicating how and where the money from the collection basket is being spent, including public relations. He could also promise to expand and revise the diocesan newspaper so that every possible segment of the church is represented. He could encourage every parishioner and every unofficial lay group to knock on the chancery door, sit down with him and thrash out the things that trouble them about today's climate in the church, the things that concern them. It is the purest, most powerful public relations in the world, and the only kind that works. Telling the story. Telling the truth. It's not Madison Avenue, but it worked for someone else, once upon a time, in the streets of Jerusalem.
By Carolyn James http://www.babylonbeacon.com/News/2002/0516/Front_Page/015.html [Photo Caption-Bishop William Murphy as he announces the Diocese's new
policy regarding the handling of cases of suspected sexual abuse by priests.] Those words, as well as words from Rev. Richard T. Stelter, the parish’s associate pastor, helped to resolve some of the fear, anger and concern of parishioners who had learned just days before that St. Martin’s Pastor, Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Saccacio, had been removed from the church and stripped of his priestly duties by the Diocese of Rockville Centre. The actions by the Diocese were prompted by the discovery of a claim of sexual abuse made against Saccacio in 1961, the year he was ordained. They are on record as allegations only, and carry no judgments about the veracity of the claim, said Stelter. In speaking to those gathered for 10:30 a.m. mass, Stelter talked about the broader crisis within the Church, but added that it has now hit home. "We are living in difficult times; the Church is living through a dark period and these dark times have come to our parish," he said, adding later that while the parish has been praying for the church as a whole, it now must also turn its prayers "to our own parish in a real way. "There is grief and sadness in Msg. Saccacio’s leaving and people in our parish who are fond of him and knew the good work he did will miss him," he said. "There is an atmosphere of sadness and grief encompassing our parish at this time." Stelter, who was appointed acting administrator until the Diocese selects a new Pastor, said he will not be able to place anyone in contact with Saccacio, but that the church will be collecting cards and letters, which will be sent to him. Meanwhile, parishioners at St. Martin’s expressed their feelings in different ways. "I am basically concerned for the children and whether they are going to be okay in the aftermath of all of this," said one woman who came to the Mass with her young daughter. "All I can say is that we remember him in our prayers," said Joan Corcoran, another parishioner. Others were not as understanding about the allegations against the church in general. Daniel Corcoran said he was angry over the church’s cover up. As a father of four. and grandfather of 11, he called the church’s actions, "terrible." In his statement to the parish, Stelter, outlined the series of events leading up to Saccacio’s dismissal. He said he arrived home at the parish from his day off on Friday, April 26 and was met by the Monsignor who told him that he had received a call from the Diocese of Rockville Center, informing him of the allegations made against him and that he was being removed. At that time, however, the Diocese asked that Stelter not discuss the issue with the parishioners because they wanted to consider carefully how to handle it. The following week Stelter was notified by the Diocese that the story would hit the newspapers. "I learned that it would be made public before today and that I would not have an opportunity to speak to you," he told the parishioners. "We regret that and find that unfortunate because we wished and hoped you would be able to hear this first from us today, rather than read about it in the newspapers." The Diocese recently enacted sweeping new changes in the way it handles these cases. The changes are designed to effectively confront cases where children have been abused by priests, said William Murphy the Bishop of Rockville Center Diocese, to ensure that every case is promptly and independently acted upon. In making his announcement, Bishop Murphy said such allegations, if true, are a betrayal of the trust that everyone has a right to expect. "It is a crime that cries to heaven for reparation," he said. "It is a violation of the solemn promises a priest has made to God and a destructive cancer that threatens to erode the inner life of the Church." The Monsignor has responded to the Diocese’s decision by asking for early retirement, a decision the Diocese has not acted upon yet. "As you may know, he was looking to retire in a few short years," said Stelter, "He feels this is the best way to handle it for the parish and the people." "This doesn’t shake my faith," said Celia Greg as she left church on Sunday. "The Church is made up of people and people are not perfect." "This is very difficult to understand," said another parishioner who asked that her name not be used. "The ones who committed these atrocities are the ones that knew these things happened and didn’t do anything about it, but the pendulum has swung too far. It just seems to me like a drastic thing to do to someone based only on an allegation of more than 40 years ago; someone who has been doing good work and whose reputation is now destroyed." Another parishioner said she found the allegations hard to believe. "He has been an inspiration and has done many good things for this parish," said Carla Levin. "I just think that sometimes some of the allegations have come from money hungry people who try to get involved in a lawsuit." "I have known him for years, have worked by his side, gone on trips with him and never, never, would I ever believe something like this," said Tom O’Neill, another parishioner. As in St. Paul’s letter, Stelter left the parishioners with a message of hope. In discussing the crisis in general, he said, "The church has faced darkness many times in the past, but we need to remember that the light of Christ conquers darkness. It is the light guiding our way; the light that helps us, and helps us guide one another."
By Stephen Kurkjian Cardinal Bernard F. Law reinstated the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin to priestly duties as recently as 1998, despite numerous detailed complaints of molestation against the priest and substantial monetary settlements to Paquin's accusers, according to internal church documents made available to the Globe. According to the documents, between 1990 and 1996 there were 13 complaints to the archdiocese alleging sexual misbehavior by Paquin over the previous two decades. The accusations were filled with grim detail about how Paquin allegedly plied boys with gifts and liquor before molesting and orally raping them - charges that prompted the church to make payments to his victims. The behavior was found to be so repugnant and the pattern of abuse so clear that a church review board and a top deputy to Law urged that Paquin be dismissed from the priesthood, though they later changed their minds and said he should be given a second chance. In 1990, after years of warnings that Paquin was molesting children in Methuen and Haverhill, the archdiocese had removed him as associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Church in Haverhill. Paquin was sent for extended treatment in Maryland, then lived at a home for problem priests in Milton. The documents show that Law's 1998 decision allowing Paquin to return to duty as a chaplain at a Cambridge hospital was made at the urging of another priest who had himself been removed from parish work for allegedly molesting children. "I know that there have been some very difficult moments for you," Law wrote to Paquin in a July 11, 1998 letter. "I trust that your own continued vigilance and support of competent professionals will allow you to begin a new phase of ministry in the Archdiocese." Paquin was warned that he could not work with minors, and the hospital, Youville Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Cambridge, was informed of his background. Law's letter came six months after he had defrocked the Rev. John J. Geoghan, the since-convicted child molester whose case touched off the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. Paquin's reinstatement is one in a string of decisions, by Law and his top deputies, that permitted some priests with records of serial sexual misconduct to return to active ministry after being found out and treated. In Paquin's case, the reassignment was permitted under the sexual abuse policy that Law promulgated in 1993. It remained in place until Law declared a "zero tolerance" policy in January. But the documents show the church knew that Paquin had been the target of multiple complaints of sex abuse. In one 1995 letter, the Rev. Brian M. Flatley, an aide to Law, wrote to the cardinal that the father of one Paquin victim "is in contact with other victims of Father Paquin (although he seems unaware of just how many there are.)" Donna M. Morrissey, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, declined comment on the Paquin documents, saying the case is in litigation. Law's letter to Paquin was among hundreds of pages of church documents obtained during litigation by Jeffrey A. Newman, a Boston lawyer who represents several of Paquin's victims in lawsuits against the archdiocese. Newman obtained the documents last month and has a motion before the court to put the documents on record. Before Law reassigned Paquin as a chaplain, the archdiocese had already settled six of the 13 reported molestation cases for more than $500,000 according to the documents and interviews by the Globe. It was not until 2000 that Paquin was permanently removed from service, after the archdiocese received several more complaints of past abuse against him, including one from a Dracut man who expressed dismay that Paquin was still working as a priest, and threatened to go to the press, according to the documents. Paquin, 59, was indicted on three counts of rape of a child on May 15 and is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail in Essex County House of Correction. At Paquin's arraignment, Essex Assistant District Attorney William E. Fallon said Paquin established a relationship of trust with the alleged victim and his family, and took advantage of it to molest the youth beginning when he was 11, in 1989. Paquin has pleaded not guilty. The documents confirm a report by the Globe in April that Paquin's superiors suspected or knew about his sexual exploitation of youngsters for years before anything was done. But the records also show that one superior, who had received complaints from three people about Paquin and assured them he would notify the archdiocese, did not do so. The Rev. Allen E. Roche, the pastor at St. Monica's Church in Methuen, where Paquin was an associate pastor for eight years after his 1973 ordination, is quoted in an archdiocesan memorandum as saying he never informed the archdiocese even though he had heard repeated reports that Paquin had taken young boys to his rectory bedroom. According to a memorandum prepared by Sister Rita V. McCarthy, a Chancery official who investigated allegations against priests, Roche told her two years before his death in 1997 "that he had not liked the idea" of Paquin taking boys to his room, and he told her that at least one youth had complained to him that Paquin molested him in the room. Roche said he was nearing retirement, according to the memo, and decided to do nothing about his concerns. McCarthy also wrote that the same boy who complained to Roche also told the Rev. James M. Carroll of the incident. Carroll, who had taken Paquin's place at St. Monica's, relayed the information to Roche, but according to McCarthy, "again nothing was done." The same memo also cites a 1981 auto accident, after Paquin's transfer to Haverhill, in which one of four teenage boys Paquin took to a New Hampshire ski chalet died after Paquin lost control of the car on a New Hampshire highway. Roche again considered telling the archdiocese about the earlier allegations, but, McCarthy wrote, "The timing was not right so nothing was done at that time." The Globe reported in April that three people quoted Roche as saying that he had passed on complaints to the archdiocese. The three included a parishioner who had served as the sexual assault officer for the Methuen Police Department; Robert Bartlett, one of Paquin's alleged victims; and Carroll. In 1988, the Rev. Frederick E. Sweeney became suspicious about Paquin's involvement with boys soon after taking over as pastor of St. John's in Haverhill, where Paquin had been working as associate pastor since 1981. Three months after complaining to archdiocesan officials about Paquin, two young men, one of whom had allegedly been abused by Paquin, approached Sweeney with information about the priest. After they also met with the Rev. John B. McCormack, who headed the archdiocese's office of clergy abuse, McCormack informed Paquin in September 1990 that he was being removed from St. John's Church and sent for treatment to St. Luke's Institute in Maryland. According to the documents, McCormack, who is now bishop of the Manchester, N.H., diocese, allowed Paquin to return to Methuen after his treatment to take courses on training to become a hospital chaplain. Even though he was officially listed by the archdiocese as being on sick leave, Paquin continued to study at Bon Secours Hospital in Methuen in 1991 and 1992 and was ministering to patients. "Two weeks ago, I covered the entire week for Fr. Frank Murphy while he went on vacation," Paquin wrote in March 1992. "I became the hospital chaplain and I was proud of the good job I did. It was a great teachable moment for me." A few months later, in September 1992, an adult male whom Paquin had met at the hospital filed a complaint against him with the archdiocese for alleged inappropriate behavior. Several months later, McCormack was approached by another youth who alleged that he had been abused by Paquin years earlier, beginning when he was a preteen at St. Monica's and continuing to the time he entered St. John's Seminary. In addition to detailing the abuse he suffered, the seminarian told McCormack that Paquin had taken up with another youth from the Haverhill area while studying to become a hospital chaplain. When confronted with the allegations, Paquin acknowledged to McCormack that "he had done things wrong in the past," one memo said, but asserted he had not abused any youths since undergoing treatment at St. Luke's in 1990 and 1991 and was not molesting the Haverhill youth. There is reason now to doubt that account. The person whom Paquin is charged with raping - from 1989 to June 30, 1992 - in the indictments issued by the Essex County grand jury was the Haverhill youth whom McCormack had told Paquin to stay away from. Through a spokesman, McCormack said he remembered recommending that Paquin leave the priesthood, but without the documents in front of him, he could recall little beyond that. Paquin remained on sick leave through much of the 1990s. And as the archdiocese fielded - and settled - the formal complaints of sexual misconduct against him, some of his superiors expressed misgivings about Paquin remaining a priest. After being notified by a Brockton man that Paquin had allegedly abused his son and nephew, who had AIDS, Flatley, then Law's delegate handling allegations of clergy abuse, approached Law's top deputy, Bishop William F. Murphy, in March 1996. "Bishop Murphy was very clear in his insistence that it is time for Father Paquin to move away from the priesthood," Flatley wrote in a memorandum. But Paquin began to press to be returned to ministry. The archdiocese wanted him either to leave the priesthood altogether or at least give up his lay job working at a CVS pharmacy in Milton, because it was putting him in contact with children. Flatley, after fielding a complaint from another past victim of Paquin, wrote in a March 28, 1996 memo that "it is irresponsible for the Archdiocese to allow him to be working where there are young people [at CVS], given his history." Paquin refused to leave the priesthood but agreed to leave the CVS job if the archdiocese would consider allowing him to return to work as a priest. He was no longer at risk, he assured church officials: He had not been accused of molesting boys for years and was enrolled in an "after-care" treatment program. It was while he was working at CVS, and residing at Our Lady's Hall, a Milton residential facility for troubled priests, that Paquin was allegedly bringing a teenage Haverhill boy into Our Lady's Hall numerous times for sexual encounters, according to a lawsuit against Paquin. That claim involves the same person Paquin is now criminally accused of raping. Yet in a meeting in January 1997, Paquin proposed to Bishop Murphy that he be allowed to work with the Rev. C. Melvin Surette, then a research assistant with the office handling clergy abuse, "in finding employment within the Church," Murphy wrote. Even though he had stated less than a year earlier that Paquin should leave the priesthood because of the mounting complaints against him, Murphy now wrote of Paquin's request to return to ministry: "I would be very supportive of this." Murphy, now a bishop in Rockville Centre on Long Island, N.Y., declined comment. He was not the only archdiocesan official willing to give Paquin another chance. The Archdiocese's Review Board, a panel charged with investigating sex abuse allegations against priests and recommending action to the cardinal, had recommended in 1994 that Paquin seek "laicization." But in May 1997, it voted to let him work again as a priest as long as it "does not put him in contact with minors." By September, Surette told his superiors that he had placed Paquin as a chaplain at an archdiocese-sponsored elderly nursing home in Lynn. A few months later, Surette had found a more prestigious assignment for him, as chaplain at the Youville Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, a position that would pay him $1,716 a month, $300 above what church pastors were receiving. In 1994, before Surette was assigned to the archdiocese's office dealing with clergy abuse, the archdiocese settled a lawsuit that accused Surette of abusing youths at Alpha Omega, a church-run treatment center for troubled teenage boys in Littleton. Through his lawyer, Surette has denied the allegation, but in recent weeks three other former occupants of the home have filed suit alleging that Surette abused them during the time they spent at Alpha Omega. Law gave the archdiocese's official approval of the Paquin reassignment with his July 1998 letter to the priest. "I am confident of your ability to minister competently and compassionately to the community at Youville," the cardinal wrote. However, two years later, Law withdrew that support. Between May 1999 and September 2000, the archdiocese received five new complaints from men who alleged that they had been abused by Paquin in the 1970s and 1980s, when they were teenagers. Among the complaints was one from a 38-year old Dracut man who told the archdiocese that he was "shocked" to hear that Paquin was still acting as a priest and chaplain, and demanded to be paid $250,000 or he would take his case to the press. Within months, at the Review Board's recommendation, Law told Paquin that he was removing him from Youville and taking away his official authority as a priest. In December 2000, Law wrote the Vatican asking that Paquin be defrocked. "Father Paquin has engaged in sexual molestation of numerous boys since and before he was ordained" and 18 cases have already been reported to the archdiocese, Law wrote Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state for the Vatican. "It is my judgment that he is the cause, potential and actual, of grave scandal."
|
||
Bishop Accountability © 2003 |
||