Posted on 07/22/2007 3:08:25 PM PDT by hardback
Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani has close ties to a Catholic priest accused of sexually molesting boys and who also was the lawyer for a now-closed Whitinsville counseling house for troubled priests that has been described as the center of a pedophile sex ring.
Monsignor Alan J. Placa, who works for Mr. Giuliani’s consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, was legal adviser in the 1980s to the House of Affirmation, where priests accused of sexual abuse were sent for psychotherapy and other counseling services. The center closed in 1987 amid a financial scandal.
Monsignor Placa, who while an active priest arranged the annulment of Mr. Giuliani’s first marriage, baptized his two children and officiated at the funeral of his mother, is a childhood friend of Mr. Giuliani and they both attended Manhattanville College.
He was stripped of his duties as a priest, but not defrocked, after Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, published a story in 2002 about young men who alleged that Monsignor Placa abused them in the 1970s. He has been on administrative leave since and has worked for Mr. Giuliani for the past five years.
Catholic activists who are fighting the church over the clergy sex abuse issue say Mr. Giuliani’s association with the monsignor raises serious questions about the former New York mayor’s candidacy.
“The White House should not be inhabited by a man whose closest friend is accused of being an abuser of young men,” said Ann Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org in Massachusetts. “Giuliani has a responsibility to account for his friendship with Alan Placa and I think he should speak with Alan Placa’s accusers and see how credible they are.
“For Giuliani to turn a blind eye to these credible allegations raises questions about his judgment,” she said.
Jeffrey Barker, a spokesman for Mr. Giuliani’s campaign, declined comment, directing questions to Giuliani Partners, Mr. Giuliani’s security consulting firm. Mr. Giuliani leads all GOP presidential contenders in Massachusetts polls.
“Rudy Giuliani believes Alan Placa has been unjustly accused,” Sunny Mindel, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a prepared statement.
Monsignor Placa did not respond to a request for an interview.
The monsignor was closely associated with several Central Massachusetts priests who were at the center of a clergy sex abuse scandal in the 1990s.
At least three lawsuits were filed by area residents who said they were assaulted as boys by priests at the Whitinsville facility. The accused priests included colleagues of Monsignor Placa, one of whom was the Rev. Thomas A. Kane, former pastor of St. Mary Church in Uxbridge.
Monsignor Placa still lives in the rectory of the Long Island church where Monsignor Brendan Riordan, a former director of the House of Affirmation who was named in a sex abuse lawsuit settled by the Worcester Diocese in the mid-1990s, is pastor. He has also owned property in New York with Monsignor Riordan and co-owned property in Florida with him and Rev. Kane.
A 1993 suit filed against Rev. Kane, the diocese and the House of Affirmation by Mark Barry of Uxbridge alleges that Rev. Kane repeatedly sexually assaulted him. The New York Times has reported that Monsignor Placa was the first lawyer Rev. Kane turned to after learning of Mr. Barry’s accusations.
That suit was settled for less than $50,000 and included a non-disclosure provision. Mr. Barry has not spoken publicly about the case since.
David Lewcon, 53, of Northbridge, who worked at the center in the 1970s as a painter and wallpaperer helping his father, a contractor, renovate the 1898 building, has accused Rev. Kane of sexually assaulting him. Mr. Lewcon settled what he described as a “six-figure” lawsuit with the Worcester Diocese in which he alleged he was sexually assaulted as a minor by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar at St. Mary in Uxbridge.
Mr. Lewcon described the House of Affirmation as a breeding ground for sexual predators.
“It was presented as a retreat for vocational redirection,” said Mr. Lewcon, a publisher of speciality magazines. “What we have found out since, and what it has been called in the Blackstone Valley by people who really know what went on there, is that it was a pedophile boot camp.”
Monsignor Placa’s involvement with the Whitinsville facility drew additional attention after the release of a 2003 report from a Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury that accuses him of molesting young boys and, in his role as a lawyer, helping to cover up sex abuse by other priests.
He was referred to as “Priest F” in the grand jury’s lengthy investigative report, which quotes a letter he wrote to colleagues in which he touted his track record of settling multimillion dollar clergy sex abuse claims for “sums ranging from $20,000 to $100,000.” The 180-page report was written after more than 30 priests and more than 40 victims of abuse testified.
The report notes that no indictments were issued because the alleged crimes had occurred more than five years previously and could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.
Richard Tollner, one of Monsignor Placa’s chief accusers in the Rockville Centre, Long Island, clergy sex abuse scandal, confirmed to the Salon online magazine that he was one of the victims who gave grand jury testimony and that Monsignor Placa was Priest F.
Monsignor Placa has denied Mr. Tollner’s allegations.
Mr. Tollner and other alleged victims in New York have accused Monsignor Placa of presenting himself as a priest in interviews with them when he was really acting as the lawyer for the Rockville Centre Diocese. Monsignor Placa has denied these accusations.
“He was misusing his identity and failing to disclose to them that he was a civil lawyer,” said Daniel J. Shea, a lawyer who has represented victims of clergy sex abuse in Central Massachusetts. “The grand jury report indicated he was representing himself to victims as a priest with a Roman collar.”
With news reports on Mr. Giuliani’s relationship to Monsignor Placa, some clergy abuse victims say they think Mr. Giuliani may be forced to answer harder questions about the link to his boyhood friend and employee.
George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, 47, an actor and artist who also agreed to an out-of-court settlement in a sex abuse case against Rev. Teczar, worked briefly at the House of Affirmation in the 1970s as a groundskeeper.
“It was a serious, full-blown sex mentality there,” George Shea said.
“Eventually this will stick,” he said of Monsignor Placa’s links to the GOP presidential contender.
Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.
Nothing wrong with the headline at all. Giuliani has a close connection with an accused Priest. And he not only has maintained that connection, but strengthened it. Even hired the guy to work for his company. Giuliani has a warehouse full of skeletons like this (Kerik, Placa, Harding, Carbonetti to name a few). He's a liberal and he's connected to a bunch of bad guys. Many FReepers have done a lot of research here and have uncovered and posted a bunch of this stuff already. Giuliani's connection with Placa has been well documented on Free Republic already. There are real strong reasons why FReepers are firmly opposed to Giuliani. But you jumped into it, defending Giuliani, while ignorant of his actual liberal record, his corrupt cronies, and the information that has been researched and posted here. Maybe you should listen and learn more and react loudly at little less.
No, you are trying to avoid the issues. You support abortions and partial birth abortions. Correct? Why do you try to run away from it? You support Julie who supports that. Correct?
I’ll respond to you:
1. Business owners who hirer illegals should be fined and shutdown if knowing breaking the law.
2. Citizens should be allowed to care hand guns everywhere.
3. The Death Penalty should be fast and streamlined.
4. Partial Birth Abortion Should be Banned.
5. I should be allowed to disc my farm with fear of air quality.
6. If the government gave a damn about gas prices, they’d cut the taxes on a gallon.
7. We need more refineries
8. We need more nuke plants
9. Global warming is a hoax.
10. My property taxes are too high.
11. The government has no right to cutting off my dogs balls.
12. I should be able to buy diesel vehicles in CA
13. A border fence is good.
14. deportation is good.
15. Abortion should be a state issue or banned completely.
The MSM is attacking you too in this article. Whatever.
Wow, why would you support a guy who disagrees with you on every one of those issues? Are you that desperate to have the a president with an R next to his name that you don’t care what that president actually thinks?
Don't bother, you are an abortionist scum bag, like Rudy.
What part of completley banned do you not understand?
It's nothing personal, and I'm glad you're still here.
I supported Rudy early on too, thinking that his job as Mayor was good enough, until I started learning about his real record. You need to understand that conservatives aren't going to bend over again like we've always done in the past for the GOP. Rudy is a liberal, and he's more liberal than some Democrats.
I’m not saying that... people are happy about the article so I responded to their behavior in kind.
Posting the facts about Rudy is not maligning him. Please inform yourself of this vile man and get the facts. Rudy is not the knight in shining armor his supporters think he is.
You tell me, Mr. Moderator.
I got flamed pretty heavy..... I’ll just avoid these threads in the future all together.
Rudy is the enemy within. Rudy is a Planned Parenthood activist. He’s an abortion pusher. He’s a gay rights activist. Marches in, no, leads “in your face” gay rights parades down Fifth Ave. He’s a world class gun grabber. He’s a believer in sanctuary cities, and amnesty for illegal aliens. He’s a self-declared “pro-choice gun grabbing Republican” social liberal. In other words, an enemy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and of freedom itself.
The abortionist/feminist/homosexual/gun grabbing/border crossing groups he champions march hand in hand with International Answer, the so-called peace movement, the America hating terrorist supporting liberal scumbags from the Democrat Party, and all the world’s socialist/Marxist/communist organizations. In other words, he chooses to align himself with the enemies of freedom who are working overtime to destroy our religious freedom, freedom of speech, rights to own guns and private property, erode away our constitution, erase our borders and destroy our national sovereignty.
Sorry, but he DOES represent the enemy within and I do not want him or his supporters on FR. I damn sure don’t want him as president and commander-in-chief.
All right ankle biter... I knew I should have let you chase mice and squirrels... you won’t go away.... don’t you have a cat to chase or a hydrant to pee on?
Other politicians aren't officers in a propedophilia organisation like the Stonewall Veterans. Rudy's associations and advocacies intersect with gay pedophiles repeatedly. It is odd that leftist Rooty boosters hope we are unaware of his other associations.
Typical Rudy supporter. Dumb, very dumb. Go ahead and kill babies like Rudy supports. You worry about the squirrels and the hydrants to pee on.
RudyBot, or not, the guy was namecalling and insulting freepers. For that alone he deserved it.
“Typical Rudy supporter. Dumb, very dumb. Go ahead and kill babies like Rudy supports. You worry about the squirrels and the hydrants to pee on.”
I’ll repost it for you, Shorty:
1. Business owners who hirer illegals should be fined and shutdown if knowing breaking the law.
2. Citizens should be allowed to care hand guns everywhere.
3. The Death Penalty should be fast and streamlined.
4. Partial Birth Abortion Should be Banned.
5. I should be allowed to disc my farm with fear of air quality.
6. If the government gave a damn about gas prices, they’d cut the taxes on a gallon.
7. We need more refineries
8. We need more nuke plants
9. Global warming is a hoax.
10. My property taxes are too high.
11. The government has no right to cutting off my dogs balls.
12. I should be able to buy diesel vehicles in CA
13. A border fence is good.
14. deportation is good.
15. Abortion should be a state issue or banned completely.
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