Posted on 04/11/2002 8:06:48 PM PDT by Palladin
Source: Accused molester Shanley likely in Thailand
by Robin Washington, Laurel J. Sweet and Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, April 11, 2002
The Rev. John J. White, the longtime companion of accused child molester priest Paul Shanley, left his home at Billerica's St. Mary's Parish for Thailand just before Easter on what is likely a one-way trip to join his friend, a source told the Herald yesterday.
The departure of White coincides with that of Shanley, who neighbors say has not been seen at his San Diego apartment since Greg Ford of Newton filed a criminal complaint of child sex abuse against him last week.
``Jack had lunch with (a relative) just before he left and said he was going to Thailand,'' said the source, who has known both priests since visiting them as a child at Roxbury's Warwick House in the late 1960s. ``He said he would be gone for an indefinite period of time.''
A parishioner at St. Mary's said White visited Thailand last year but usually did not say where he was going.
White has lived periodically at the parish since selling a Palm Springs, Calif., bed and breakfast he owned with Shanley in the early 1990s,
St. Mary's pastor, the Rev. W. James Nyhan, confirmed White's open-ended journey but not his destination. ``At the moment he is traveling on an extended vacation. His time of return is not known,'' he said.
The source who learned of White's Thailand trip recalled Shanley as being ``creepy'' to her as a child, though he did not molest her.
``My sister and I said, `Thank God we were girls,' '' she said.
Of White, she said, ``I didn't get the sense that he was into kids. Just men.''
In addition to their Palm Springs venture and Roxbury street ministry, White and Shanley also served together at St. Patrick in Stoneham from 1960 to 1967. Records show White used St. Jean's Parish in Newton as an address during Shanley's pastorship there.
It was at St. Jean's that Ford claims he was molested by Shanley for five years beginning when he was 6, a charge buttressed by Paul Busa, a 24-year-old Air Force police officer who attended CCD classes with Ford. In February, Busa filed a suit saying he also was abused.
Between the ages of 6 and 10, Busa said, the priest raped him. ``Father Paul told me nobody would believe me,'' he said. ``And at the time, he was probably right. He was that well liked.''
Busa received excellent performance reviews - including a recommendation for promotion and a written evaluation that labeled him ``one of the future leaders of his unit and the Air Force.'' But he said he re-experienced the trauma of the molestation in February after the sex abuse scandal was in full swing, causing him to walk away from his job at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo.
He said he has suffered panic attacks two or three times a day, suddenly finding himself out of breath, his heart racing ``like it was going to jump out of my chest.''
On March 24, he said, he considered suicide, and checked himself into Cedar Springs psychiatric hospital the next day after the intervention of his girlfriend.
On April 15, Busa will leave the Air Force, losing the benefits from his two years of service. ``I love the military, and it's all being taken away from me,'' he said. ``I'm no longer an asset. I'm just a distraction.''
Busa and Ford's lawyer, Roderick MacLeish, told the archdiocese of his intent to depose Bernard Cardinal Law and requested the full personnel files of other priests accused of child sex abuse.
OTHER TREATIES: There is a bilateral treaty on Extradition in force between the United States and Thailand, 11 Bevans 1008, 43 Stat. 1749 (1924) and Treaty relating to extradition signed at Washington December 14, 1983, entered into force May 17, 1991. There is a treaty on transfer of prisoners "Treaty on Cooperation in Execution of Penal Sentences" signed at Bangkok October 29, 1982, entered into force December 7, 1988.
Unfortunately, I fear these perverts have gotten away with it.
They have damaged who knows how many children, and now they are free to molest children with impunity, in a pervert haven of a country that thinks currency from foreign tourists is more important than the well-being of their own children.
They ought to pay for what they have done to those children, to the honor and integrity of all the good and faithful priests out there who are now tainted by this scandal, and to the Church.
The victims will demand compensation, and given Cardinal Law's actions and apparent culpability in this matter, whatever his intentions, they ought to receive compensation for what was done to them. But that compensation will not come from the Cardinal, or the perpetrators, but from the wrinkled dollar bill stuffed into the collection basket by a senior citizen on a fixed income, or the quarter tithed from the allowance of a child. All Catholics will pay the price, both monetary and otherwise, for the sins of these bastards.
Anyways, during that broadcast O'Reilly pointed out that NAMBLA members take vacations to Thailand to get dates with the little boys at orphanages there. And from what I've read here, this Shanley character was one of the founders of NAMBLA.
Now we know why Shanley is in Thailand.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.