Abusive Priest Found In Caribbean Hideaway

Hartford Courant ^ | August 29, 2002 | ERIC RICH, And ELIZABETH HAMILTON

[NYer]

The Rev. Laurence F.X. Brett vanished abruptly almost a decade ago, leaving clothes still hanging in his closet and a trail of accusers stretching across four states and back 30 years.

Now, a Hartford Courant investigation has found the onetime fugitive - whose flight took him beyond the reach of police and plaintiffs' attorneys investigating accusations that Brett sexually abused teenage boys - living a secretive but comfortable life on the tropical island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean.

FULL TEXT

[NYer]

A diocese spokesman, Joseph McAleer, added that the bishop felt compelled to alert law enforcement authorities in Connecticut and Maryland after being told that The Courant had located Brett. Caught napping.

[NYer]

They're sniffing them out, like bloodhounds. This will hopefully send a clear signal to the others that they cannot hide.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

St. Maarten became Brett's home only after an extraordinary odyssey that began in 1964, when he admitted biting the penis of a student at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield during nonconsensual oral sex.

Brett was confronted and subsequently ordered to leave the diocese. He traveled the country in seeming exile, but was permitted to continue as a priest under the auspices of the Bridgeport diocese, first under Bishop Walter Curtis and later under Egan.

An evangelical branch of the order, the Paulist Fathers, for whom Brett worked for many years, supported him financially for years on St. Maarten by sending checks to a Miami mailbox, where they were forwarded to an offshore company in Brett's name, a source familiar with the arrangement said.

Shocking story...

[EODGUY]

Our housecleaning must be complete and, it is my sincere hope, expeditiously and justly handled so we can resume the activities of our Church that should be our focus....faith, hope and charity.

[RaceBannon]

And the laity still says it is just in some priests...that statement, where he was being funded through an organization that was hiding him, shows this is in the entire church hierarchy.


time to come out of that system.

[yendu bwam]

He traveled the country in seeming exile, but was permitted to continue as a priest under the auspices of the Bridgeport diocese, first under Bishop Walter Curtis and later under Egan.

No surprise there.

[yendu bwam]

Our housecleaning must be complete and, it is my sincere hope, expeditiously and justly handled so we can resume the activities of our Church that should be our focus....faith, hope and charity.

The housecleaning has only begun...

[Askel5]

this is in the entire church hierarchy.

Not so. Just pervasive, that's all ... each such protected priest having his own circle of contacts and friends who -- having eaten of the tree of good and evil -- evidently decide for themselves who should be held responsible for their crimes and who should be relieved of consequences.

Same as in the "hierarchy" that is our national politics. Everyone's delighted when Klayman dogs only the Democrats we think deserve to be strung up, stopped and sent to prison ... but we don't feel the same when it comes to our own or someone in whom we've invested our "faith".

[eastsider]

The Courant found evidence that Brett has been in contact for years with [Fr. David Howell, pastor of St. Joseph's Church in South Norwalk] in the Bridgeport diocese, [Wayne Ruth,] a prominent businessman who is an associate of Baltimore Cardinal William Keeler, [Gregory Lehne,] a psychologist from Johns Hopkins University, and [Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association,] an order of Catholic priests in Washington....

The Baltimore connection gets more interesting by the day.

Dr. Gregory Lehne (Ph.D.) is a "sexologist" with a "transgender" practice. He is listed as a psychotherapist on the resources page of MAGIC (Metro Area Gender Identity Connection) and GenderWeb, and as an "expert witness" on the NASJVP Expert Witness Directory (National Association of State Jury Verdict Publishers).

Wouldn't you just love to know if Dr. Lehne is involved in the psychological vetting of candidates for Cardinal Keeler's seminary?

[dennisw]

He managed a pretty creative escape and funding arrangement. He was not sloppy.

[galt-jw]

catholic clergy, how unusual.

[NYer]

Dr. Gregory Lehne (Ph.D.) is a "sexologist" with a "transgender" practice

What a complex web of individuals. I've seen some interesting tv programs on transgenders. Some of the stories were absolutely sickening. Found this ont the link you posted and thought it was interesting.

Clothing Stores - [1] Frugal Fanny's, [1] J. C. Penney [tall selection]

[Itzlzha]

Brett was confronted and subsequently ordered to leave the diocese. He traveled the country in seeming exile, but was permitted to continue as a priest under the auspices of the Bridgeport diocese, first under Bishop Walter Curtis and later under Egan.

I'm shocked...shocked, I tell you!

I guess Egan et al were too busy trying to divert attention onto a couple of Shock-Jocks...they didn't cover their tracks well enough! Now the network of lies and payoffs is being exposed, so I guess Egan will now come out of hiding and begin a public campaign against "Opie and Anthony"...

I wonder to what extent the Catholic hierarchy is involved, "Cardinal" Egan...care to make a wager? Double or nothing that Bernie Law is involved somehow...this has his particular stench to it...

[beckett]

It appears Brett, not unlike Father Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, has friends in high places. The Paulist, Ruth and Howell associations with a known fugitive are highly damaging to the church.

The latest crop of scandals have served to finally dismiss the myth that Catholic religious very often successfully overcome their sexual nature. In fact, I'm beginning to think that religious life as practiced in the Catholic Church does positive harm to the mental health of most of those who partake of it. Christ taught that those "who can" should attempt the celibate life. Most, including most Catholic religious, can't.

[saradippity]

Your entire second paragraph is wishful speculation. I would like to see the figures on which you base your conclusions. Thankyou.