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We know that Geoghan did not repent for many years, as he raped and molested young boys unabated for 30 years. He stopped only when he was sent to prison.

Deathbed repentance? Maybe. He didn't have much time -- died almost instantly. Who knows but God?

Read about his abominations, and the abominable Bishops who guarded and protected him:

Cardinal will face questions on Geoghan case under oath

Boston Herald ^ | January 11, 2002 | Marie Szaniszlo

Two days after a former priest goes on trial next week for allegedly molesting one of scores of children at Boston-area parishes, Bernard Cardinal Law could be forced for the first time to reveal under oath exactly what he knew about John Geoghan's three-decade career of alleged pedophilia.

Law is scheduled to undergo questioning Wednesday by the attorney for 118 people suing the archbishop because he transferred Geoghan from one parish to another in 1984, after being warned that he could be putting more children in danger.

``The goal is to gather information as to who knew what when, and who did what when,'' attorney Mitchell Garabedian said yesterday.

Although the date is subject to change, the deposition in the civil suit would mark one of the first times a Roman Catholic archbishop in the United States has been compelled to testify under oath in such a case, and would come two days after the start of what promises to be one of the most closely watched criminal trials involving alleged pedophilia by a clergy member.

Geoghan, 66, faces one count of indecent assault and battery in Middlesex Superior Court Monday for allegedly abusing an 11-year-old boy at the Waltham Boys and Girls Club in 1991. A separate criminal case is scheduled to go to trial next month in Suffolk Superior Court.

In documents filed this week, Garabedian posed 28 questions about the archdiocese's knowledge of Geoghan's activities, including psychiatric evaluations he underwent and counseling he received, from 1962 to 1995, when he was finally removed from his duties as a priest.

In addition to Law, Garabedian also plans to depose five of his former subordinates who supervised Geoghan over the years before they went on to serve in other parts of the country: Bishops Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y.; William F. Murphy of Rockville Center, N.Y.; John B. McCormack of Manchester, N.H.; Robert J. Banks of Green Bay, Wis.; and Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans.

At an extraordinary press conference this week, Law conceded his handling of the allegations against the former priest was ``in retrospect, tragically incorrect,'' but argued that he transferred Geoghan from St. Brendan's parish in Dorchester to St. Julia's in Weston only after receiving medical assurances that it was safe to do so.

Records, however, show that Geoghan was actually cleared by the archdiocese's consultants after he had already been at the Weston parish for a month. And victims' advocates note that Law might easily have prevented any further abuse, had he erred on the side of caution or contacted authorities, rather than keeping the allegations secret.

At this week's press conference, the cardinal apologized to Geoghan's alleged victims and announced a new policy requiring all of the Boston archdiocese's clergy, employees and volunteers to report allegations of abuse.

The policy would make clergy subject to the same state law teachers, social workers and other professionals are by requiring them to report any reasonable suspicion of abuse. But it exempts any information obtained during the course of a confession and does not apply to past cases of abuse.

Since the mid-1990s, more than 130 people have come forward with allegations that Geoghan fondled or raped them when they were as young as 4 years old, before he was permanently removed from the priesthood in 1998 at Law's request.