Posted on 06/04/2002 1:11:30 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
MANCHESTER, N.H. - A bishop who served as Bernard Cardinal Law's top personnel aide for a decade testified yesterday that Archdiocese of Boston leaders kept a wave of clergy abuse allegations secret because telling the faithful in the affected parishes might have created ``a scandal.''
<!ENDSUMM!>Bishop John B. McCormack, 67, now head of the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., gave the explanation under oath in a deposition in the Rev. Paul R. Shanley abuse case, witnesses to his questioning said.
``He said he didn't want to create `a scandal,' '' said a visibly incensed Rodney Ford, whose son, Greg, now 24, is suing Law, McCormack, Shanley and the Catholic Church for numerous rapes alleged to have occurred in the 1980s at St. Jean's Parish in Newton.
``Well, this is a scandal at its highest,'' Ford said. ``It's a disgrace what we have had to go through.''
McCormack, emerging from 5 1/2 hours of questioning by attorney Roderick MacLeish Jr., declined to discuss his testimony in detail or answer questions from reporters.
``I'm glad I've had this opportunity to begin answering the questions that people have, that lawyers have,'' said the embattled bishop, who has been urged to resign by The Manchester Union-Leader and numerous others. ``I tried to answer them as completely, as thoroughly, as honestly as I could. Thank you for your interest. God bless you.''
The Herald reported yesterday that one document produced as a result of subpoenas in the Shanley case indicates a high-ranking archdiocese nun urged McCormack and others in 1994 that parishes be alerted after their pastors were credibly accused of molestation.
Time and again, church documents show, the nun was overruled in favor of secrecy. McCormack admitted yesterday he ignored the nun, Sister Catherine E. Mulkerrin, preferring to stifle the flow of any information to churchgoers.
At one point yesterday, according to Paula Ford, Greg's mother, who was also at the deposition, McCormack acknowledged that he usually took the word of priests over parishioners when confronted with allegations of child abuse.
``In every incident of every alleged victim, he took the word of the priest over the word of the victim,'' she said. ``When he found out after the fact that the victim was telling the truth, he never took the time to go back to these people and validate their claims.
``This was one of the most painful days of my life,'' she said yesterday. ``The truth is so painful.''
MacLeish, who is to depose Law tomorrow and Friday, said the testimony also shows that McCormack and his colleagues at the chancery in Brighton ignored Mulkerrin's advice in violation of a 1992 directive from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops stating that lay Catholics should be kept informed of sexual abuse reports.
The conference is expected to issue new guidelines on the reporting of abuse by clergy today.
``Had Bishop McCormack taken the advice of Sister Mulkerrin, and gone to the parishes where Paul Shanley and some of these priests had served, and spoken to them and informed the parishioners of what was going on, I don't think we would be here today,'' he said.
MacLeish confirmed a Herald report yesterday that one of Mulkerrin's memos read: ``I know I sound like a broken record. But we need to put in church bulletins `It has come to our attention a priest stationed here between 19XX and 19XX may have molested children - please contact. . . .''
MacLeish said his recent deposition of the Rev. Charles J. Higgins, the current archdiocese personnel chief, showed that Boston officials have discussed abuse at just three of the 200 parishes known to have been served by alleged abusers.
The tone of the session was cordial, said Peter Hutchins, a New Hampshire lawyer who also attended because he has cases involving the church. Written and audio-visual transcripts of the deposition could be made available as soon as this afternoon, pending a ruling by Middlesex Superior Court Judge Raymond J. Brassard.
Testimony also included discussions of priests who have not previously been implicated in abuse cases, MacLeish said.
``This is a case about a pattern,'' he said. ``There were many, many priests who were mentioned today.''
Some questions focused on how the archdiocese handled allegations involving the Rev. Ronald H. Paquin, who is in jail awaiting trial for abuse. Others pertained to a group of priests who attended St. John's Seminary in Brighton with McCormack in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
They include Revs. Joseph Birmingham, John Geoghan, Bernard Lane and Shanley, all of whom have faced multiple lawsuits.
MacLeish and his law partner, Robert A. Sherman, said soon-to-be released documents include information that could strengthen cases against three or four more priests. They said they planned to make files on 10 more abusive priests public as soon as today.
MacLeish and Sherman stated in court last week that church lawyers were blocking witnesses from cooperating during depositions. There were no such problems with McCormack, MacLeish said.
The Fords said McCormack apologized to them over Shanley. Rodney Ford said he did not take the bishop seriously. Paula Ford said she expects future sessions to produce more troubling details about the church's handling of the issue.
``I can see the writing on the wall,'' she said. ``It's not pretty.''
Sad, so sad from all points of view since it could have been nipped in the bud those many years ago if people would have listened and not been so arrogant.
Yet still there are those who continue to deny and lie about the truth that is being told in order to protect their status and failings.
The longer this is denied, the more perverted facts will be forthcomming. I fear that what we are hearing is just the tip of the iceberg.
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