Posted on 10/23/2007 9:27:58 AM PDT by BGHater
Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani hired a Catholic priest to work in his consulting firm months after the priest was accused of sexually molesting two former students and an altar boy and told by the church to stop performing his priestly duties.
The priest, Monsignor Alan Placa, a longtime friend of Giuliani and the priest who officiated at his second wedding to Donna Hanover, continues to work at Giuliani Partners in New York, to the outrage of some of his accusers and victims' groups, which have begun to protest at Giuliani campaign events.
"This man did unjust things, and he's being protected and employed and taken care of. It's not a good thing," said one of the accusers, Richard Tollner, who says Placa molested him repeatedly when he was a student at a Long Island, N.Y. Catholic boys high school in 1975.
At a campaign appearance in Milwaukee last week, Giuliani continued to defend Placa, who he described to reporters as a close friend for 39 years.
"I know the man; I know who he is, so I support him," Giuliani said. "We give some of the worst people in our society the presumption of innocence and benefit of the doubt," he said. "And, of course, I'm going to give that to one of my closest friends."
The accusations against Placa were made in testimony before a Suffolk County grand jury in 2002.
Tollner, now a mortgage broker in Albany, N.Y., says he was one of three people to testify about Placa.
"This man harmed children. He still could do it. He deserves to be shown for what he was, or is," says Tollner.
Appearing publicly for the first time today on ABC News' "Good Morning America," Tollner says the abuse started when he and Placa were in the high school making posters for a Right to Life march.
"As he started to explain how these posters should be done, I realized that something was rubbing my body," Tollner said. "After a minute or two, I realized that he's feeling me, feeling me in my genital area."
The grand jury report concluded that a Priest F, who Tollner says is Placa, abused the boys sexually "again and again and again."
"Priest F was cautious, but relentless in his pursuit of victims. He fondled boys over their clothes, usually in his office," the report said.
The report concluded that Priest F, and several other priests under investigation from the same Long Island, N.Y. diocese, could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.
Several former students from the same high school say they were asked by the "Giuliani organization" to contact ABC News and vouch for Placa.
"There was absolutely not a hint of rumor of a speculation or a whisper, in four years, or in decades after of any sexual predatoriness on the part of Rev. Placa," wrote Matthew Hogan in an e-mail to ABCNews.com.
Hogan says he recalls that Placa did give "special attention" to his former schoolmate Richard Tollner and remembers seeing Tollner in Placa's office "laughing, on opposite sides of a desk with Mr. Tollner happily animated sitting up on the couch talking."
But Hogan says the school area where Tollner says he was molested "was CONSTANTLY trafficked even on off days and hours."
"I will gladly help take apart in public anything that seriously overlooks the above. I'll be watching The Blotter like a hawk," Hogan wrote.
In addition to the allegations that Priest F was personally involved in the sexual abuse, the grand jury also said that Priest F became instrumental in a church policy that used "deception and intimidation" to keep the church scandal quiet.
Placa served as a lawyer for the diocese in dealing with allegations of abuse against other priests and, according to the grand jury report, claimed he had saved the church hundreds of thousands of dollars in his handling of possible litigation.
Lawyers for alleged victims say Placa would often conduct interviews, in his priest garb, without making it clear he was the church lawyer.
"He was a wolf in sheep's clothing," said Melanie Little, a lawyer for several alleged victims of sexual abuse by other priests in the diocese.
"He was more concerned with protecting the priests, protecting the reputation of the diocese and protecting the church coffers than he was protecting the children," said Little.
Since going to work for Giuliani Partners, the former mayor and the priest have continued to be close.
Placa accompanied Giuliani and his wife Judith on a trip to Rome earlier this year.
Through a spokeswoman at Giuliani Partners, Sunny Mindel, Placa declined requests to comment on the allegations to ABCNews.com.
Mindel also declined to specify what Placa does for the firm or how much he is paid.
"Mr. Giuliani can do what he wants with his money, but he has to pay the price for people like myself who disagree with employing known child molesters," Tollner said.
While no longer allowed to perform priestly duties or appear in public as a priest, Placa continues to maintain a residence at a church rectory in Great Neck on New York's Long Island.
According to New York property records, Placa also co-owns, with another priest, a waterfront apartment in lower Manhattan in Battery Park City, valued at more than $500,000.
Yes but he also helped to keep hidden, other pedophiles.
I hope ABC runs all over the place with this.
It doesn’t sound like the church has reached a determination in this priest’s case yet...but the fact that he’s a friend of Rudy’s seems to be sufficient evidence that he’s guilty for some people.
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Let's see the Rooty Rooters try to make excuses for this!
BTW, Hi commonguy! Haven’t seen you here in a while, but then I am not that observant unless a post is to me LOL
I keep thinking about “birds of a feather flock together”.
Rudy supports gay unions.
His protected priest friend molested BOYS.
When you get Pro-Life wrong, you get EVERYTHING wrong.
Duncan Hunter is the real conservative in this race.
Not even remotely accurate, as the article itself makes plain. Evidently the church diocese itself investigated the claims and found them credible enough to warrant the following actions:
While no longer allowed to perform priestly duties or appear in public as a priest [...] and told by the church to stop performing his priestly duties.
These are not the standard punishments applied to any priest who is merely under "investigation," but (rather) those routinely utilized once investigators for the church diocese in question have -- after careful weighing of all the available evidence -- "reached a determination," and one demonstrably not favorable towards the actions and/or motivations of the priest being investigated.
Bishops do not effectively defrock priests, willy-nilly, solely on the whim of the moment.
Ping to article and #48
I thought it was amazing when freepers defended an abortion lover... and then a homosexual enabler... and then a gun grabber.
But to now see them defending a defrocked priest accused of child molestation (and enabling other child molesters),
all in an apparent zeal to defend Rudy, beats all.
Check the thread; many of them are energetically (if ineffectually) attempting precisely that! ;)
I don’t like Rudy, but in defense of his position in this particular situation, isn’t a person innocent until proven guilty?
bump!
There are plenty of drums we can beat to take Rudy out. I would not be supportive of beating any drum that could ruin a man for life who may be innocent of the charges leveled against him - particularly charges such as these that could ruin his life.
"Alan Placa is one of the finest people I know. He has helped thousands of people as a priest, as a teacher and as a friend. ... If most people did half the good that Alan's done, the world would be a wonderful place."--Rudy Giuliani“I am able to give some of my time to helping other bishops and religious congregations with delicate legal problems involving the misconduct of priests. ... In the past 10 years, I have been involved in more than two hundred such cases in various parts of the country."--Alan J. PlacaWho is Alan Placa? And what are his many connections to Rudy Giuliani?
Monsignor Alan J. Placa, a former high-ranking adviser in the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York.• One of Giuliani's two oldest and dearest childhood friends.
• 1960s - Together with Giuliani, attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn and Manhattan College.
• 1968 - Served as Giuliani's best man in his first wedding, to Regina Peruggi.
• 1970 - Ordained a priest
• 1983 - Credited with finding the loophole that allowed the Vatican to annul Giuliani's first marriage from Regina Peruggi (second cousins)
• 1984 - Officiated at Giuliani's second marriage to Donna Hanover.
• 1986/89 - Baptized Giuliani's children from his second marriage, Caroline and Andrew.
• Early 1990s - Florida property transferred to Placa's name by his friend Rev. Thomas A. Kane shortly before Kane declared bankruptcy. Kane was the co-founder and former director of the House of Affirmation in Massachusetts, a treatment center for priests with sex abuse and other problems. Kane left the House of Affirmations in 1986 amid allegations of financial impropriety; the facility closed in 1989. Alan Placa acted as a lawyer for the House of Affirmation, settling sexual abuse cases.
• Jan 1994 - At Giuliani's swearing-in ceremony for his first term as mayor, Placa said a prayer for the new mayor before he took the oath of office.
• 2000 - Ministered to Giuliani when he was suffering from prostate cancer.
• Sep 2001 - Giuliani asked his staff to consult with Placa on canon law and how to expedite declarations of death and payments of life insurance policies to families for those missing in the 9/11 disaster.
• Apr 2002 - Placa removed by Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre from a panel investigating clerical sexual abuse after several families claimed Placa had used his role as a spiritual adviser to get information from victims that would bolster the diocese's legal position.
• Jun 2002 - Placa on leave from the Diocese after allegations surfaced that he molested a teenage seminarian about 25 years ago.
• Sep 2002 - Placa receives special permission from Diocese to preside over the funeral of Giuliani's mother, Helen Giuliani.
• Feb 2003 - Grand Jury report released outlining allegations against Placa of sexual abuse involvement in cover-up of priest sex-abuse scandals.
• Aug 2003 - Begins employment at Giuliani Partners, as an attorney, where partner Michael Hess, the ex-mayor's corporation counsel, also handled Placa's legal matters.
ping to article
bttt
Would I be correct in assuming that you believed Bill Clinton back in January, 1998 when he said, "I did not have sex with this woman"? Or do liberals of ill-repute only get a pass from you if they have an "R" after their name?
“I don’t like Rudy, but in defense of his position in this particular situation, isn’t a person innocent until proven guilty?”
The priest has escaped criminal prosecution due to statue of limitations.
There are many pederasts running around free for that same reason.
The Church found the accusations credible.
This is not just one accusation. There are multiple reports about this man.
He has been removed from the priesthood - that says alot right there.
Rudy is opening himself up to an incredible mess if this guy continues his abusive behavior while he is on Rudy’s payroll.
I cannot believe someone who is running for president can exercise such poor judgement here.
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