ABUSES COST DIOCESE MILLIONS

The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese revealed Wednesday it has paid out more than $2.3 million to sexual abuse victims during the past 25 years, including a nearly $1 million payment to a single victim in 1997.

The largest payment was $997,500 that went to a man who was abused when he was a teenager by former priest Mark Haight, the diocese said. The abuse took place in the 1970s and 1980s in the Capital Region, and a confidential settlement with the diocese was reached in 1997. The settlement is one of the largest of its kind in New York state.

The church forced Haight to leave the ministry after the victim -- Haight's second -- came forward in 1996.

The latest disclosure indicates that the nine priests, whom the 14-county Diocese of Albany identified as sexual predators during the past 25 years, have cost the church far more than was previously suggested. For months, the diocese has refused to say exactly how much it has paid in settlements, indicating the number was in the "hundreds of thousands."

In a statement to the Times Union Wednesday afternoon, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard described the 1997 settlement as "atypical and unusually high," but he declined to say why. Most of the other 10 cases settled for between $50,000 and $150,000, according to the statement.

All of the payments -- totaling $2,357,500 -- were covered by the church's liability insurance policy, which has not seen a rate increase in several years, the statement said.

"The settlement amount in each case is structured following an independent psychologist's evaluation of the emotional injuries sustained by the victim and the extent of counseling needed to begin the healing process," the church said.

The nearly $1 million case resulted from allegations that the sexual abuse of the boy started during his early adolescence -- after he met Haight at a hospital -- and continued into his teenage years, according to a source familiar with the settlement who asked not to be identified.

The settlement figures came to light as Hubbard plans to remove several priests who remain on active ministry despite having sexual abuse allegations against them substantiated by the diocese. The removals, which are expected within the week, are required under the new nationwide "zero-tolerance" policy the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted on June 16 in Dallas.

Church leaders acknowledged earlier this month that they removed Haight from the ministry in 1996 and settled a case with a sexual abuse victim shortly afterward, but they had refused to discuss the details, citing the confidentiality clause included in the out-of-court agreement.

The church said it issued the statement Wednesday acknowledging the nearly $1 million settlement only after the victim's attorney, John Aretakis, turned over copies of the settlement agreement and two settlement checks to a reporter.

The church said Aretakis met with the church's attorney, Michael Costello, on June 4 and "demanded" an additional $350,000 a year for six years as the price for continuing to honor the confidentiality agreement. The church said it promptly rejected the offer.

On Wednesday, Aretakis, who lives in North Greenbush and has an office in New York City, declined to comment on the case.

The church has settled two cases involving Haight, a Schenectady native ordained in 1976. In the 1970s and 1980s, Haight worked at several Capital Region churches, including St. Patrick's in Troy, Our Lady of Grace in Ballston Lake and St. Gabriel's in Rotterdam, church officials said.

The church received its first allegation of sexual abuse by Haight in 1989, when he was a pastor at St. Joseph's Church in Scotia. The church later settled with Haight's first accuser and sent the priest to a residential treatment program for pedophiles.

Church officials allowed Haight to return to a "limited form of ministry" in 1990, when he was posted as a chaplain at Glens Falls Hospital. For years church officials said they considered hospital ministries to be a sufficiently supervised setting for a priest with a history of sexual abuse.

Haight served as chaplain in Glens Falls for six years, during which time there were no known allegations of sexual abuse. He was removed from the post in 1996 after a second person came forward alleging sexual abuse, resulting in the nearly $1 million settlement.

The church said confidentiality clauses were considered standard parts of liability settlements until May, when the diocese adopted a new policy that banned their use in any future cases because they were "perceived by people to be an attempt to engage in a cover-up or to gag the recipient of the settlement," Hubbard said at the time.

Other settlements the Albany diocese has acknowledged include another 1997 case, in which the church paid $70,000 to Thomas Oathout of Watervliet, who accused the Rev. David Bentley of sexually abusing him in the late 1970s when they lived at the Albany Home for Children. Bentley remained on active ministry until Hubbard removed him in April from his post at a parish in New Mexico.

Diocese names priests being removed
Hubbard announces six priests being withdrawn from ministry

By Phil Baly

ALBANY, N.Y., June 28 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany Friday disclosed the names of six priests who are being permanently removed from ministry because of what it calls "substantiated incidents of sexual abuse of minors."

More stories from NewsChannel 13

BISHOP HOWARD HUBBARD reportedly met with the diocese's priests Thursday and informed them who would no longer be in the ministry.
The six priests are:
Rev. David G. Bentley, currently on inactive status
Rev. John P. Bertolucci, retired
Rev. Edward Leroux, retired and in residence at St. Mary's, Glens Falls
Rev. Joseph A. Mancuso, pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Schenectady
Rev. Edward C. Pratt, pastor of Corpus Christi, Ushers
Rev. James J. Rosch, pastor of St. Joseph's, Fort Edward

According to the diocese, in each case the sex abuse took place anywhere from 15 to 35 years ago and no reoccurrence have ever been alleged.

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No decision has been made as to whether steps will be taken to remove the men from the priesthood.
This announcement is a result of the recent national bishops conference in Dallas when the American Catholic Church vowed to come clean on this scandal, which has been brewing for decades. Since the conference, this process has been repeated in Catholic dioceses across the country.
In a news release, Hubbard said that he felt the policy of withdrawing any offender retroactively as well as prospectively was "reasonable, given the overriding necessity of restoring the credibility of the Church and people's confidence in their priests."
However, the bishop also said he felt "deeply saddened that these priests, who repented of their sins many years ago and showed that repentance by decades of holy and productive ministry, will never be able to function as priests again."

BACKGROUND OF REMOVED PRIESTS
Bentley, 60, was ordained in 1975 and served as an associate pastor at St. Bridget's in Copake Falls and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception; as an instructor at Cardinal McCloskey School, and principal of Vincentian High School; as chaplain at Albany Medical Center and as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Sidney. Following a period of rehabilitation in the mid-1980s for sexual abuse and evaluation of his fitness by independent psychologists, he was permitted to return to chaplaincy work at St. Peter's Hospital and at Albany Medical Center.
In 1993, Bentley was allowed, under the supervision of the Franciscan Fathers who had been made aware of his background, to do missionary work in Zambia, and later to serve on the staff of a shrine in Ohio and a retreat center in New Mexico, where he also worked as a weekend sacramental minister under supervision.
In April, Bentley was withdrawn from active ministry by Hubbard and recalled to the Albany diocese.
Bertolucci, 64, was ordained in 1965. He served as an assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Castleton, as pastor of St. Joseph's in Little Falls and as administrator at St. Helen's in Schenectady, St. James in Chatham and St. Mary's/Our Lady of Mt. Carmel/ Our Lady of Perpetual Help-Sacred Heart in Hudson. He also served on the faculty of St. John's High School in Rensselaer, Maria College and the University of Steubenville as well as chaplain at the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse, at LaSalle School in Albany and at Greene County Community College and Greene County Correctional Facility and as a vice-chancellor of the Albany diocese.
Bertolucci served as associate pastor at St. Ambrose parish in Latham until he moved to the St. Anthony of Padua Friary in Catskill in 2001. He retired earlier this year.
Leroux, 72, was ordained in 1956. He served as an associate pastor at Nativity in Edmeston, Our Lady of Victory in Troy, St. Mary's in Gloversville, St. Joseph's in Cohoes and St. Madeleine Sophie in Guilderland; as administrator at Sacred Heart in Stamford, as pastor at Sacred Heart in Cohoes, Sacred Heart in Berlin and St. Joseph's, Fort Edward. Upon his retirement in 1996 he continued to live at St. Joseph's in Fort Edward. Since January of 2001 he has resided at St. Mary's in Glens Falls.
Mancuso, 60, was ordained in 1970. He served as an associate pastor at Holy Spirit in East Greenbush and at St. Patrick's in Ravena. Since 1970, he has been stationed at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Schenectady, as associate pastor from 1970-79 and a pastor since 1979.
Pratt, 58, was ordained in 1972. He served as an associate pastor at St. Mary's in Glens Falls and Immaculate Conception in Glenville and as pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Hudson Falls from 1990-96 and at Corpus Christi in Ushers from 1996 until the present.
Pratt has also served as chaplain at Adirondack Community College, assistant principal of Vincentian High School, principal of St. Mary's of the North Country High School and as a vice-chancellor of the diocese.
Rosch, 55, was ordained in 1972. He served as an associate pastor at St. Joseph's in Scotia, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Gloversville, at St. Paul the Apostle in Troy, at St. Madeleine Sophie in Guilderland and at Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury. Since 1996, Rosch has been pastor of St Joseph's parish in Fort Edward.

Highlights of the proposed national policy of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sex Abuse on how Roman Catholic bishops in the United States should respond to clerical sex abuse:

| 1 | 2

• Report all abuse allegations to civil authorities.
• Remove all priests who abused more than one child in the past and those who abuse any child in the future.
• Set up diocesan review board to determine whether a priest who molested one child in the past can continue to serve under supervision and other conditions, such as continuing counseling.
• Bishops should no longer enter into confidentiality agreements in settlements of civil lawsuits over sex abuse unless the victim insists.
• Require background checks for all diocesan and parish workers who have contact with children.
| 1 | 2

• Have bishops provide an "accurate and complete" description of a priest's personnel record if the cleric seeks to transfer to another diocese.
• Have each diocese create a review board, comprised mainly of lay people, to examine abuse claims. Have dioceses establish an outreach program to support victims of priestly sexual abuse.
• Create a commission to research how the U.S. church has responded to sex abuse by priests and join other denominations and organizations in researching child sex abuse in society at large.
• Create a national Office of Child and Youth Protection in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to implement "safe environment" programs to protect children from abuse.
• Create a review board, including parents, to work with the Child Protection Office to annually examine how the bishops are responding to abuse.

Source: Associated Press
Printable version

Diocese removes six priests
Sexual abuse histories cited

By ANDREW TILGHMAN, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, June 29, 2002

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• Abuses cost diocese millions
• Plan gives bishops something to work with

ALBANY -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany on Friday permanently removed six priests who church leaders said had sexually abused minors least once, sending shock waves through the community and bringing the six-month nationwide scandal home to several Capital Region parishes.

The group of priests removed included two former vice chancellors of the Albany diocese, three who had worked at Catholic schools and a former Boy Scouts chaplain. One of the priests removed, the Rev. John Bertolucci, was a prominent Catholic theologian who had a nationally syndicated television program in the 1980s.

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard said in each case the abuse occurred more than 15 years ago and no repeat offenses have ever been alleged. The removals bring the Albany diocese into compliance with the policy adopted June 16 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, banning all priests with any known history of sexually abusing minors from working in the church.

The men removed are: the Rev. John Patrick Bertolucci, 64, who retired this year and lives in Catskill; the Rev. Joseph A. Mancuso, 60, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Schenectady; the Rev. Edward C. Pratt, 58, pastor of Corpus Christi in Halfmoon; the Rev. James J. Rosch, 55, pastor of St. Joseph's in Fort Edward; the Rev. Edward Leroux, 72, who is retired and until this week lived at St. Mary's in Glens Falls; and the Rev. David G. Bentley, 60, who was removed from the ministry in April.

Hubbard said he was ``deeply saddened that these priests, who repented of their sins many years ago and showed that repentance by decades of holy and productive ministry, will never be able to function as priests again. It is a considerable loss to the diocese and to many parishioners.''

``I hope the loss will be outweighed by the restoration of trust,'' the bishop said.

Removed from ministry
Six priests from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese were permanently removed from the ministry Friday:

BENTLEY
The Rev. David G. Bentley, 60
Ordained in 1975.

Removed from his ministry in New Mexico in April.

Former principal at Vincentian Institute and head of the religion department at Cardinal McCloskey High School in the 1970s. He also served as an associate pastor at St. Bridget's in Copake Falls in Columbia County and Albany's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and as a chaplain at St. Peter's Hospital. He also worked in Africa, Ohio and, most recently, at a parish in New Mexico.

BERTOLUCCI
The Rev. John Patrick Bertolucci, 64
Ordained in 1965.

Retired earlier this year.

A former vice chancellor of the Albany diocese and prominent member of the group called Charismatic Catholics. In the 1980s, he produced a nationally syndicated television program and was praised as a ``Catholic Pat Robertson.'' He was also a schoolteacher who served on the faculty of St. John's school in Rensselaer, and Maria College. He was chaplain at the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse at LaSalle School in Albany and at Greene County Community College. Bertolucci was associate pastor at St. Ambrose parish in Latham and moved to the St. Anthony of Padua Friary in Catskill in 2001.

LEROUX
The Rev. Edward Leroux, 72
Ordained in 1956.

Retired in 1996, forced to leave his residence this week at St. Mary's in Glens Falls.

Leroux served as an associate pastor at Our Lady of Victory in Troy, St. Mary's in Gloversville, St. Joseph's in Cohoes and St. Madeleine Sophie in Guilderland; as administrator at Sacred Heart in Stamford and as pastor at Sacred Heart in Cohoes, Sacred Heart in Berlin and St. Joseph's, Fort Edward. Upon his retirement in 1996 he continued to live at St. Joseph's in Fort Edward. In January 2001 he moved to St. Mary's in Glens Falls.

MANCUSO
The Rev. Joseph A Mancuso, 60
Ordained in 1970.

Removed this week as head pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Schenectady.

Mancuso served as associate pastor at Holy Spirit in East Greenbush and at St. Patrick's in Ravena. Since 1970, he has been stationed at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as associate pastor until 1979 and as pastor since 1979.

PRATT
The Rev. Edward C. Pratt, 58
Ordained in 1972.

Removed this week as pastor of Corpus Christi in Halfmoon.

A Vietnam veteran, Pratt had served as vice chancellor for the Albany diocese. He was assistant principal at Vincentian Institute, principal at St. Mary's Regional Catholic School in Glens Falls and chaplain at Adirondack Community College. He served as associate pastor at St. Mary's in Glens Falls, Immaculate Conception in Glenville and as pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Hudson Falls.

ROSCH
The Rev. James J. Rosch, 55
Ordained in 1972.

Removed this week as pastor of St. Joseph's in Fort Edward.

A former Boy Scout leader, he served as associate pastor at St. Joseph's in Scotia, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Gloversville, St. Paul the Apostle in Troy, St. Madeleine Sophie in Guilderland and Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury.

During the national bishops' conference this month, Hubbard was one of the only church leaders to voice strong opposition to the zero-tolerance policy. But on Friday he said the measure was ``reasonable, given the overriding necessity of restoring the credibility of the church and people's confidence in their priests.''

The announcement brings the number of Albany diocesan priests known to have abused children during the past 25 years to 11. In the cases of Bentley, Bertolucci, Leroux and Rosch, Hubbard knew about their histories of abuse in February when he stated publicly that the number of pedophile priests in the diocese was nine.

In two other cases, involving Mancuso and Pratt, victims came forward only in recent months following the spate of publicity concerning sexual abuse in the church. After investigating the claims, Hubbard said Friday, he decided to ``make this painful announcement and move forward.''

The priests' removal follows the church's acknowledgment this week that it paid a total of $2.3 million in 11 confidential settlement agreements with victims of abuse over the 25-year period, including a nearly $1 million payment to a single victim in 1997. That payment involved allegations against the Rev. Mark Haight, who was removed from the ministry in 1996.

Replacement pastors will be announced this weekend in the three churches where the priests were on active assignment. The diocese also plans to send a representative along with counselors to Masses at these churches where they will try to calm angry parishioners and field questions such as how parents can discuss the matter with children, church officials said.

Four priests who were living in church housing -- Mancuso, Pratt, Rosch and Leroux -- were forced to leave earlier this week and are now staying with friends or family, the Rev. Kenneth Doyle, a church spokesman, said Friday.

In the coming weeks, they will decide whether to live an entirely secular life or to move into a monastery setting for ``a life of prayer and penance'' where they would be prohibited from any contact with parishioners, celebrating Mass publicly, wearing clerical garb or presenting themselves publicly as a priest, church officials said.

There are no plans to defrock the priests, the formal process by canon law that strips the priests of their official ties to the Roman Catholic church.

None of the cases will result in criminal prosecutions because they occurred beyond the statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions, which runs out when a victim turns 23.

Word of the announcement spread quickly Friday afternoon throughout the 14-county diocese, which has 200 active priests and serves more than 400,000 parishioners.

Those at St. Mary's Church in Glens Falls were outraged to learn that three known pedophiles have been connected to their church over the years. Leroux was in residence there in recent months, Haight lived there for six years before his removal in 1996 and Pratt once taught at St. Mary's Regional Catholic School.

``I think it's disgusting. This must be like the diocese's Siberia, they just drop them here,'' said Annette Crawford, a St. Mary's parishioner for nearly 20 years. ``Obviously they must look at Warren County and St. Mary's as being in the farthest reaches of the diocese and they don't care.''

Elsewhere, one woman who asked to remain anonymous said Bertolucci's videotapes influenced her decision to convert at a late age from Presbyterianism to Catholicism in 1995.

``It's hard for me to believe,'' she said about Bertolucci's past. ``I realize ministers and priests are human beings like the rest of us, and we all have temptations. But I feel sorry for all the trouble this is causing everyone, the abused people and the priests.''

Stephen Dombroski, 70, of Latham, who was hurrying into St. Ambrose Church with a prayer book in hand for a noon Mass, recalled Bertolucci's many years at the church and said he was in total disbelief.

``He acted like a saint in all of his dealings,'' Dombroski said. ``The way he blessed things gave you a very good feeling, like it was coming from heaven.''

In the Halfmoon hamlet of Ushers, one of Pratt's parishioners at Corpus Christi recalled him as ``a good pastor and a very competent administrator.'' ``He would be the last one I would suspect,'' said church member Bob Southworth.

In the small Warren County village of Fort Edward, members of St. Joseph's Church learned that their past two pastors were known pedophiles.

``I heard the news through a neighbor who called me,'' said 75-year-old Charles Mullen, a lifelong member of the parish that now has a congregation of 700 people. ``This community is quite devoted to the church. I know that this is just going to devastate a lot of people''

In the mid-1970s, both Pratt and Bentley were administrators at Vincentian Institute, a Catholic high school in Albany.

Doyle said the apparent placement of pedophile priests in the same setting was a ``coincidence.''

Rosch was a chaplain for the Boy Scouts program in the early 1980s.

Bertolucci emerged as a national leader spiritual leader of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, part of a movement that took off in the church in the late 1960s.

Dioceses throughout the country were taking similar measures this week as church leaders began to implement the new policy adopted in Dallas.

On Long Island, the Rockville Centre diocese announced Thursday that five priests with histories of sexual abuse will retire this year. Earlier this week, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced the removal of eight priests. In San Jose, Calif., two priests were removed this week.

Nationwide, more than 200 priests were taken out of their posts this year in the months leading up to the Dallas conference.

Many people wondered whether the new policy and the latest disclosures would end the sexual abuse crisis that has roiled the church since public revelations about widespread clergy abuse in Boston in January.

``Frankly I don't see it as the beginning of the end, except to be the beginning of the end of a culture of secrecy,'' said John Dwyer, a professor of theology at St. Bernard's Graduate School of Theology and Ministry, an academic arm of the Albany diocese.

``It looks as though the more that comes out, the more people come forward,'' he said.

Like many others, Dwyer noted the new church policy made no mention of bishops, like Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston, who reassigned priests with the knowledge they had abused, in some cases, hundreds of children.

``We are in a very funny situation here, where the priests who are involved are stripped of everything that gave their lives meaning and direction, and the bishops involved in the coverup -- and I'm thinking mainly of Cardinal Law -- all they have to do is say, `I'm sorry.'‚''

Hubbard has said that dealing with the victims of sexual abuse has been the most difficult part of his ministry. ``My deepest sympathy of all is reserved for the victims of sexual abuse. I have listened to their anguish, wept with them, felt their sense of betrayal and helplessness, tried to reach out with whatever healing I could offer.''

David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a Chicago-based victim's advocacy group, applauded the Albany bishop's public announcement.

``I am at least glad that Hubbard is naming names. Ultimately that will protect children,'' Clohessy said, noting that some bishops are not announcing the removal of priests.

At the Dallas conference, Clohessy and Hubbard voiced opposing views on the question of zero tolerance and the removal of all priests with even a single incident of sexual abuse, which Hubbard called ``simplistic'' and out of step with the Christian principle of forgiveness.

``Removing these men has nothing to do with forgiveness,'' Clohessy said. ``Look at the behavior of the Pope; he went and visited in prison the man who tried to assassinate him, but he didn't unlock the door to let him out.''

Staff writers Erika Groff and Kenneth C. Crowe II contributed to this report.

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