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.
Yeah we just love to destroy Rudy. Never mind Rudy's liberal record on the issues.
Yes, it’s conservative, and I am too.
But it’s also a forum. That implies that people say intelligent things, not just vent. You and your ignorant, bigoted, hateful, anti-Republican ilk are just venting. Go fart somewhere else.
Yelling "McCarthyism" is most definitely a liberal talking point.
As to your name-calling, it is not welcome.
Talk about his record all you want. But stop the name-calling. The man has done much for NY, has often opposed some very bad people at great cost to his popularity pre-9/11, and deserves at least that much respect if nothing else.
If you want a more authoritarian, bullying, more intrusive, more controlling, all-powerful, ‘big government knows what is best for us’, 'Big Brother' type of government,,,,,
headed by a pro-abortion, pro-amnesty, pro-litigation, gun-grabbing, gay-rights crusading, condescending, arrogant, and narcissistic LIBERAL New York lawyer who believes in using our tax money for Federally-funded abortions,,,,
who worked in the Bobby Kennedy campaign, voted for George McGovern, who as mayor publicly distanced himself from Ronald Reagan , and who vocally supported and proudly endorsed a liberal, big-government, socialist democrat like Mario Cuomo over the Republican candidate for governor,,,,
and who was so liberal that he wasn’t even invited to the Republican Convention in ’96--after refusing to endorse (until the last minute) the Republican candidate opposing Clinton,,,,
and a Clinton-apologist--whose personal life is an absolute TRAIN WRECK (almost making Bill Clinton look like a decent family man and loving husband--if that is even possible),,,,
a LIBERAL like Rudy JulieAnnie is JUST THE MAN FOR THE JOB!!!!
Oh, my! And what do you call this? Intelligent conversation?
What did I say that was ignorant or bigoted or hateful or anti-Republican?
Actually, the MSM was sitting on this story (as well as all the other Rudy stories) so when Rudy is nominated, they can take him down. See, the MSM is pissed that conservatives are onto Rudy. They're mad that we're not obedient and dancing to their beat. They want to be the ones that take him down, not us. We're just supposed to rah-rah support Rudy because (pre-teen girl voice) he's a Republican and saved all those people in NYC! Damn conservatives, why can't, they like, totally like, just blindly support Rudy?
Good info. It looks like you keep it handy for occasions like this. And that’s a good thing. Interesting how the Rudytards are becoming more and more brazen with promoting their liberal candidate again on this conservative forum.
Feel free to use it, anytime.
The more folks know about Giuliani and his alliances, the better, IMO.
Bernard Kerik, there are others
2) That’s life in the big city. Doesn’t mean Rudy is corrupt himself.
I don't want NYC values imposed on the rest of the nation, sorry.
I’ll say it right out, I will not support Rudy. Where have you been, I’m not in the minority here? If you’re looking for hope regarding Rudy’s chances, better look elsewhere!
How about you take your dumbass liberal talking points and your support for a pro-abortionist, pro-gun control, pro-illegal alien, pro-radical gay agenda, anti-Constitution, anti-conservative liberal POS like Giuliani somewhere else. This is a conservative forum, you fool.
What the same man that wants to sell his country (and mine) to the european socialist super state?
I don’t think so.
Did Rudy not dress in drag multiple times? Is Rudy not a liberal who supports abortion, gun control, and homosexual rights? What should we do, compliment him?
The man has done much for NY, has often opposed some very bad people at great cost to his popularity pre-9/11, and deserves at least that much respect if nothing else.
Rudy did a respectable job as NYC Mayor. We appreciate him cleaning up the city and the job he did after 9/11. He's not presidential material though, enough said.
Well said.
John Howard of Australia is a real conservative.
• Russell Harding
• Louis Carbonetti • Guy Velella • Louis Carbonetti • Anthony Serra • etc.
The list goes on and on and on. Surely you are aware of some of these?
Oh, and then there is Vernon Jordan's son-in-law, Richard Roberts, another one of Rudy's corrupt appointees.
As for being “presidential material,” I’d say he may or may not be. I’d just ask FReepers to acknowledge that his pluses in NY should count in his favor in presidential race. Not that they should outweigh everything else, necessarily.
The facts you are citing are fair enough. But to say he’s no better than a Rat is ridiculous. To use some of the names that have been used against him if ridiculous. And to say people who defend him (or even support him) are just as liberal as — or as bad as — Rudy is also ridiculous.
That’s meaningless unless you can tell me how bad they were and how close to Rudy they were.
Thanks! It’s lonely to even plead for fairness to Rudy, like I do, let alone support him for president, which I may or may not.
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