Posted on 05/19/2010 8:30:24 AM PDT by TSgt
Attorneys for the Diocese of Norwich are trying to keep secret hundreds of documents — including a letter written to the pope when he was a cardinal — that discussed the status of a priest accused of molesting more than a dozen young girls.
The letter from Bishop Michael Cote to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in April 2005 concerned "canonical processes" regarding Thomas W. Shea, a retired priest accused of molesting as many as 16 girls at 11 different parishes during a nearly 40-year career, according to court records.
The letter is one of more than 600 documents that the diocese is trying to keep secret in a lawsuit pending in Superior Court in Hartford that alleges that Shea sexually molested a 12-year-old girl, identified as Jane Doe, while he was at St. Joseph's Church in New London in 1976.
The list of documents is included in a motion filed by New London Attorney Robert Reardon, who is representing Jane Doe. Reardon wants Judge Mitchell K. Berger to look at all the documents, including the letter to the pope, to see if they should be turned over to him.
Court records do not show whether Ratzinger ever responded to Cote's concerns. Shea died in 2006 in a West Hartford nursing home, still a priest in good standing.
Diocese of Norwich spokesman Michael Strammiello said Monday that he had "no idea" what the bishop could have written in a note that is now 5 years old.
"This is a confidential matter and it will have to be addressed in court," Strammiello said.
As a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI headed the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which is the office that decides whether accused priests should get church trials called canonical trials that could eventually lead to their being defrocked. He was in that post from 1981 to 2005.
The pope has come under criticism recently for a similar case in Wisconsin, in which a bishop there sent him a letter seeking to have a priest accused of molesting deaf children defrocked. But a church trial never occurred after the accused priest wrote a letter to Ratzinger asking him not to go forward with the trial.
The documents in Wisconsin were unsealed by a judge despite efforts by the diocese there to keep them secret.
Doe was 12-years-old when she first met Shea, who was a priest at St. Joseph's Church in New London in 1976, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges that Shea identified her as a child in need of help so he started paying attention to her and "conditioned her to comply with his directions."
"Father Shea sexually assaulted and battered the plaintiff by kissing her on the lips, touching and fondling her and committing other acts of sexual assault," the lawsuit said.
In court Monday on other legal issues regarding the case, Reardon said the abuse went much farther and that Shea forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Reardon said Shea gained the trust of the 12-year-old girl who just followed his instructions when he told her to "provide the Father with oral sex because he's had a tough day."
The lawsuit claims that church officials were well aware of Shea's behavior but assigned him to St. Joseph's anyway. Shea had been on a "sick leave" from 1973 to 1975 before he was placed at St. Joseph's, records show.
Shea was ordained a priest in 1946 and served in several parishes throughout the diocese, mostly in the New London area. Shea admitted as far back as 1953 that he had kissed a girl from his parish and taken photos of her in a bathing suit, according to court records.
The lawsuit alleges that the Diocese of Norwich concealed the results of an internal investigation that determined that Shea had fondled other young girls and had been sent for treatment. By keeping it secret, the diocese "allowed Shea to continue using her as a sex object" the lawsuit alleges.
As part of the initial discovery, Reardon subpoenaed Shea's personnel records. The diocese's attorneys turned over 405 pages from Shea's file, but refused to turn over 661 pages that they claim are "privileged."
Besides the letter to the pope, other documents that the church is trying to keep sealed include letters from St. Luke's Institute in Maryland, memos concerning Thomas Shea's treatment in the mid-1980s and evidence that the church received complaints about Shea's inappropriate behavior as far back as 1965. St. Luke's Institute was a place that church officials sent priests accused of sexual misconduct for treatment.
Church records show that Shea was transferred all over the diocese and put on sick leave at least twice after complaints from parishioners about inappropriate behavior with young girls.
Reardon is using the church's actions in the Shea case to try an unusual legal tactic alleging that the church, the bishops and other church leaders were in effect running a racketeering enterprise by concealing crimes from civil authorities.
I don't think it's unreasonable for Christians to turn over papers if asked. Didn't our Lord Jesus say, "If they ask for your coat, give them your cloak as well."? What is there to hide? Seems to me someone is resisting a higher command.
Ohh yea people wanted the priests just transfered so another family could experience the same pain
Do they think we are all dumb?
It was the diocese that wanted the records kept confidential.
Waiting patiently but not endlssly.
Great example, Harley.
Spot on!
Sure, a party can object to discovery items on such issues as relevancy, vagueness, or that it concerns privileged information. The court will then rule. In this case, though, since the alleged molester is dead, claims of privilege will be more problematic. It will certainly give the appearance of the Church hiding some wrongdoing of its own, rather than protecting the reputation of a dead man, etc.
Proddies are used to stereotypic
outrageous willfully blind,
false witness accusations and
running and hiding from the truth
posted by
those of the Papist bigots of the Vatican affiliated rabid cliques hereon.
FAR TOOOOOOOO TRUE AND THEN SOME.
And the CIRCLE THE WAGONS vs
candidly stating facts and cleaning house
. . . is sooooooooooooooo typical
of the INSTITUTION FOR MANY CENTURIES.
TOOO TRUE, imho.
Thx.
According to Wiki there are over 5,000 different Catholic denominations as of the new rule. Once again, so much for "always and everywhere believed".
5,000!!! They’re catching up. We Protestants better get on the stick. ;O)
LOL, nice to start the day with a laugh.
It is funny how the more you study these things the more you find the opposite is true. It has led to some great Bible study.
Matthew 5:38-42: You have heard that it has been said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other: And if a man will contend with you in judgment, and take away your coat, let go your cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force you one mile, go with him other two. Give to him that asks of you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away.
So I guess you are saying that party suing the diocese is evil?
"For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.Are you saying the (guilty) accused owes nothing?
"I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent."
-- Luke 12:58-59
Guilty and accused are not the same.
Accused parties don't offer $600,000,000 settlements - that works out to about $67 per Catholic, or more than $1 million per parish - if they're certain that they're not guilty.
If they have not confessed their sins and do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation, then the scriptures describe them as wicked and perverse. Their father is the devil. That is not my words but the Lord Jesus.
That being said our Lord also said that we'll be accused of all sorts of things and we are to give no offense. Christians are to be lights to the world. We are not to adopt worldly legalities nor split legal hairs.
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