Priest's death is ruled a suicide Albany (Father Minkler)

The Rev. John Minkler's death on Feb. 15 was ruled a suicide late Tuesday, bringing to a close nearly two months of fervent speculation in a Catholic diocese rocked by the clergy sex abuse scandal.

Albany County Coroner Herman Thomas declined to describe what the reports specifically showed, saying only that based on them his office had concluded there was no foul play involved in Minkler's death.

Based on the findings, Thomas said his office concluded that Minkler, 57, had taken his own life.

By law, an autopsy report can only be distributed to the victim's family or the district attorney.

Minkler's body was found by his sister on the kitchen floor of his Watervliet apartment, laying face down on a blanket.

"That's a great loss for his friends, family, and the people he worked with," said diocese spokesman Ken Goldfarb. "I'm not sure there's much more to say about it."

An unidentified bottle of prescription drugs was found by Minkler's side, along with a suicide note, neither of which have, or are likely to be, made public.

Minkler's sister, Colleen Quackenbush, refused comment Tuesday night, while his other sister, Patricia Minkler, couldn't be reached.

"We don't accept the findings of the coroner," said Phillip Kiernan, who heads the Coalition of Concerned Catholics of the Albany Diocese, a conservative group that has taken Hubbard to task for the ills of his diocese.

"I'm a traditional Catholic, but this has a smell to it," Kiernan said. "Father Minkler had heart and stomach ailments. But now I'm beginning to wonder, because this looks like a cover-up."

Prior to his death, Minkler had been linked to a 1995 letter to then-New York Archbishop John O'Connor accusing Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard of homosexual behavior and theological transgressions. That came two days after the 57-year-old priest, who was a chaplain at the Stratton VA, signed a statement for the Albany Diocese disavowing authorship of the letter.

John Aretakis, a lawyer for dozens of alleged victims of sexual abuse, called on Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne and federal prosecutors to begin a criminal investigation of the Rev. Kenneth Doyle, who he claims tricked Minkler into believing he had broken the law when he sent the alleged O'Connor letter.

In February, coroner Thomas said results of an autopsy could take several days pending toxicology tests. In mid-March, he said he'd received all toxicology tests but one from the Albany lab probing the unattended death.

Since then, Thomas has said, about every two days, that results could be available "probably tomorrow."

A Times Union Freedom of Information Law request for a copy of the alleged suicide note found by the priest's body, and the complete autopsy report, was denied several weeks ago.

The information on Minkler's death came Tuesday as a former federal prosecutor looking into allegations of sexual misconduct by Bishop Howard Hubbard said she has interviewed more than 140 priests, former priests and lay people in the past two months.

Mary Jo White, hired by the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese's Sexual Misconduct Review Board on Feb. 16, released a statement indicating that the probe 'is proceeding actively."

The statement came a few weeks after White's investigators were accused of conducting interviews at the Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albany on March 2 without permission.

White declined to say what she has turned up so far or when the final report will be completed.

"It sounds like she's doing a very thorough job," said Goldfarb. "That's what we want."

White, a partner in the 500-member firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in Manhattan, is being paid $770 an hour. Her investigation is focused on claims raised Feb. 4 by Andrew Zalay, now of California, who released his brother Thomas' 1978 suicide notes, one of which refers to a relationship with "Howard" and calls him the bishop.

Thomas Zalay died after setting himself ablaze in his parents' Myrtle Avenue home.

Two days later, Anthony Bonneau of Schenectady claimed that Hubbard paid him for sex while he was a teenage runaway living in Washington Park in the 1970s.

The 64-year-old Hubbard, who has led the 400,000-member diocese since 1977, has denied that he ever broke his vow of celibacy.

The diocese turned to White after Clyne declined to investigate the allegations against Hubbard because he said there was no criminal basis. She promised to take her investigation wherever it leads but will not look at misconduct claims against other priests.

When Ms. White showed up, i thought for sure that the whole truth, and nothing but the truth would come out. Now i have doubts. She says that she has talked to over 140 persons so far. Is that by email, or is that in person. If its in person, i only know of two people she has talked to personally, and i am pretty close to this thing. Faher John does not need to be buried on any consecrated ground, in order to be in the presence of a Holy God. He lived a life of good, and bucked the system, namely the Albany catholic dioceses, headed up by none other than howard hubbard. I have known howard hubbard to be a liar, for many years now. I have known him to turn his back on severely beaten, raped, and even murdered children, and use the phrase,"talk to my lawyer". Father John cant be placed in or out of heaven by these people, and when the real truth is known about everything, howard hubbard wont be stepping up to the plate for any awards. Shame on howard hubbard. He has brought nothing but grief to the Albany dioceses, and its good people.

What I say is all true, you may believe it or not... And no one went to prison... Ernest To whom this may concern, My name is Robert.

i live in jacksonville, florida, and have been here since november of 1968. i also have another name, that name is dominic. please remember that name because that is the name that i was assigned as a patron saint or one step lower than a saint. i believe the word is beatitude. Please read this all through before you pass any opinion or judgment. I was assigned that name at a so called confirmation service at st. colemans home in watervliet, new york, in or about 1952-1953. A couple of years ago i got my first computer at the age of fifty-six. it was a gift, because i had become disabled and couldn't work, and i was all alone. it got pretty boring being all alone, but i soon learned how to use the internet to a small degree. while i was on the computer i found many things to do. one of them was that you could post messages that you might have wanted to say for about fifty years. i had something that was bothering me all those years, and really never knew how or what to do about this terrible thing that i witnessed first hand. By that i mean that i was about ten feet away from this horrible thing that i saw. Thats what this letter is all about. i hope you can find it in your hearts to take me seriously, and not just some whim. First of all i swear, and would swear in a court room that what i saw was true, realizing the penalty for perjury is not to be taken lightly. The message i put on that message board, about two years ago was asking if anyone would be interested in how little gilbert bonneau died at st. Colman's home at the age of eight, of all things natural causes. a few days ago i get the very last letter on my email, and it was from ernie bonneau. i couldn't believe it. after all these years i find out that gilbert had brothers, and yes they were interested because they had launched a very large campaign in and around albany, new york, including exhuming the body of gilbert, to find out the real way that their brother died, before they ever got to know him as a brother, because even family is a secret in st. colemans home. everything is a secret. just try to visit or get by the recently assigned guards, or even ask to talk to a nun, and you get nothing. i have just found this out from mickey bonneau in the last few days, that there was a sham of an investigation into the death of gilbert. no warrants were issued for records, but the bonneau brothers could spend there own money, to get a judge to sign a document to exhume the body, but no one could get a warrant to just go inside, or even look at the records. Would you try to help these brothers if you know that gilbert was beaten so bad that he had to be in the infirmary, but his pain was so bad that he could not stop screaming in pain. you see, i was in that infirmary after one of my beatings. i was the only one. there was a row of four iron beds. as you walked in the door immediately to your right. i was in the fourth bed up against the wall. i knew not to scream, or maybe it was just that this beating wasn't as bad as some. Gilbert Bonneau was in the first bed just inside the door, as i said earlier. Gilbert couldn't stop screaming, he was beaten so bad. i watched as a nun came in and she was determined to put a stop to gilberts screaming, one way or another. i was watching her and listening to her shout at gilbert, and the nun told me to face the wall, if i knew what was good for me, but i was determined also to see what was going on, so i took a peek, and what i saw ended gilberts screaming forever. a pillow over his head with a nun holding it down nice and tight. i quickly turned back to the wall. i was so scared, i peed in my bed ( which would bring on another, but lighter whipping). Now i knew nothing about this sham of an investigation because i have been living in florida for the last thirty-three years. mickey bonneau sent me the tapes, and i could not believe that nothing had been done concerning justice, and that there have been two more like deaths since then. all of natural causes you see. This thing stinks to high heaven, which i don't think many of the nuns that i knew were going to make that trip. i am asking you one more time to please help find the known truth, and let my nightmares end also. they are not as frequent as they used to be, but they have kept me up two days in a row here trying to reach out and touch someone, and i don't mean the phone company, or just let it go, and say you spent enough time on this. you never found me, and asked me, and by the records the good sisters have, it should have shown me in the fourth bed.

Thank you for your time,
Robert

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