Posted on 09/22/2004 6:51:57 AM PDT by sidewalk
A Massachusetts judge has denied the Albany Diocese's motion to dismiss or move to New York state a clergy sexual abuse case against defrocked local priest Dozia Wilson.
According to Suffolk County Superior Court documents made available this week by attorney for alleged victims of clergy sex abuse John Aretakis, the court will try the lawsuit accusing Bishop Howard Hubbard and former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law of harboring a predatory priest.
As a result, Hubbard and other church leaders could be called upon to testify in the case that the Albany Diocese has already reached an estimated $500,000 settlement on with a past victim of sexual abuse.
"When I look at this case it gets me more angry at Hubbard than Wilson, because Wilson is a sick, sick man and Hubbard knew it, and sent him off to an out-of-the-way church where he wasn't watched and was able to molest more victims," said Aretakis.
The case was prompted by allegations against Wilson, 58, by now 37-year-old Joseph Woodward of Fort Edward, who alleges he was molested as a teenager by Wilson in New York and Massachusetts.
Woodward was befriended by Wilson in 1980 at St. Ann's Church in Fort Ann, lived with the priest for a short time and claims Wilson distracted him with expensive gifts, trips and drugs so he could allegedly sexually molest him.
Wilson's long history of sexual abuse allegations against him has been well documented and began in the early 1970s when he was removed from the Albany Diocese and sent to the Boston Archdiocese after getting caught with two boys in an Albany hotel.
Hubbard was not the bishop at the time of Wilson's removal, but was the Albany Diocese leader when Wilson was returned to the area after more allegations surfaced in Boston.
Wilson was finally removed from ministry by Hubbard in 1993, but somehow managed to land a job as spiritual adviser at the St. Christopher Residential Treatment Center in Dobbs Ferry, where he had access to hundreds of troubled youths from dysfunctional backgrounds.
He left that position last year after being found beaten into unconsciousness by a male prostitute with whom he was familiar.
Wilson never pressed charges against the prostitute, who also stole his money and car.
Over the past few months, Wilson's controversial history has spurred criminal investigations in Massachusetts and Westchester County.
Diocese spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb had no comment on the court ruling, but did take issue with Aretakis blaming the bishop for Wilson's alleged transgressions during his second go-around in Albany.
Goldfarb reiterated a statement on the matter from two years ago that Wilson was ordered to leave the Albany Diocese in the mid-1970s by then-District Attorney Sol Greenberg after the incident with the two underage boys, but no charges where filed.
Wilson was sent to Boston in 1976, but it wasn't long before allegations of sexual misconduct and stealing funds from the church began swirling around him and he was sent packing back to Albany.
At that time, Hubbard was made aware of Wilson's past in the Capital District and consulted with local law enforcement officials, who allowed Wilson to return to the Albany region.
The diocese claims to have received only minor, work-related (none sexual) reports of any problems associated with Wilson while he was in Boston, although the Boston Archdiocese had pages and pages of negative material on Wilson.
The diocese also claims that it wasn't until 1990 that Hubbard received a call from the Hudson area from someone "expressing unease" about Wilson's interaction with minors.
"The bishop was only able to act on what he knew at that time," said Goldfarb. "Once someone raised the slightest concern, not even an allegation, the Bishop took action."
However, the diocese claims no allegations of sexual misconduct were made in that instance.
Nevertheless, Goldfarb said Hubbard immediately removed Wilson from his post as associate pastor at St. Mary's in Hudson and required that he remain at a therapeutic center for an extended stay.
At the completion of his therapy, Goldfarb said, Wilson was not reassigned to ministry and never regained his priestly faculties.
In 1993, at the bishop's request, Wilson resigned from the ministry.
It wasn't until 1997 that the diocese received its first complaint of sexual abuse involving Wilson, according to Goldfarb.
Aretakis is seeking a $500,000 settlement in the case that is expected to take at least a year to go to trial.
So sue Boston! What did the diocese of Albany do wrong here?
>>Wilson was finally removed from ministry by Hubbard in 1993, but somehow managed to land a job as spiritual adviser at the St. Christopher Residential Treatment Center in Dobbs Ferry, where he had access to hundreds of troubled youths from dysfunctional backgrounds. <<
Oops. nevermind.
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