Boston Sexual Abuse Lawyer Blog

The Associated Press reports that a lawyer for clergy sex abuse victims released six new names of clerics accused of abuse, saying that it shows that a crisis that began a decade ago is far from over. One of the priests is the Rev. James Nickel, a Sacred Heart priest who worked in Fairhaven and Cape Cod parishes in the Fall River diocese.

One of the men, who served in New Jersey, is alive. The other five, who served in various Northeast states, are dead, including two who were priests in the Boston Archdiocese.

One of the Boston priests, the Rev. James Lane, reported the notorious abuser John Geoghan to church leaders during the 1980s.

At a news conference, Attorney Mitchell Garabedian singled out the Boston Archdiocese for not disclosing its names first.

"We're doing their work for them by exposing these priests so children can be made safer and victims can heal," Garabedian said.

Terry Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Lane and the Rev. Rickard O'Donovan will be added to its list of priests who've been accused of child sex abuse, which was posted online in August.

But Donilon told the AP that the archdiocese was unable to substantiate the accusations against Lane and O'Donovan because they died before the accusations surfaced.

"Every effort is made to fully investigate such claims, but without the ability to question the accused priest, the investigation is limited," he said.

He added the archdiocese will "continue to provide support to survivors and all people who have suffered as a result of clergy sexual abuse."

The clergy sex abuse crisis started in 2002 in Boston and eventually went global after The Boston Globe published stories showing church officials shifted pedophile priests between parishes while keeping quiet about their crimes.

In Garabedian's updated list, the three other deceased clerics who worked in Massachusetts were: Nickel; Brother Peter-Claver, of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart order, who worked at schools in Sharon and Andover, as well as schools in Rhode Island and New Hampshire; and the Rev. Leonard Walsh, a Franciscan who worked in Brookline after postings in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

The living cleric is the Rev. Augustus Scott. He was a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual working in the Camden, N.J., diocese during the time the abuse is alleged to have occurred between 1969 and 1970. Garabedian said Scott fondled his 16-year-old client several times in Scott's car. He said Scott now lives in North Carolina.

The AP's attempt to reach Scott by searching phone listings was unsuccessful. A spokesman for the Camden diocese said Scott is not an active priest and he doesn't know where he is.

Continue reading "New abuse list includes priest who served in Fairhaven" »

Cool piece in the Somerville Journal about a man performing a one-man show about the sexual abuse he suffered as a youth at the hands of a priest. And kudos to the church for letting him perform it there.

The lawyer for a Plymouth (MA) priest placed on leave by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston pending an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse dating to the early 1980s says his client has been wrongly accused.

The Rev. James Braley, pastor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha parish, was placed on leave earlier in February. William Sullivan, the lawyer who represents Braley, told the Patriot Ledger that the charge is "unsupported, inaccurate and untruthful.''

Sullivan says Braley was shocked to learn of the allegation and wants to clear his name.

While on leave, the 62-year-old Braley is not allowed to present himself as a priest or perform any of the duties of a priest. He is also not allowed to live at the rectory.

The Boston Globe reports that the Archdiocese is coming under fire in connection with the list of priest abusers it released this week. The list apparently only names those priests who have already been publicly accused, and omits the names of dozens of accused priests from religious orders and other dioceses, as well as those who left the priesthood before accusations were leveled against them, including some deceased priests who do not have the opportunity to defend themselves.

Sad that this saga continues, and that those who have been victimized can never get the peace and closure they deserve.

The Archdiocese of Boston says four inactive priests have been defrocked over decades-old allegations of child sexual abuse.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley announced Monday the removal of Robert F. Daly, John Keane, Robert Knapp and Benjamin McMahon.

None had been in active ministry since the 1980s. Their whereabouts have not been disclosed.

The archdiocese says Keane pleaded guilty in 2008 to indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and had been absent without permission since 1989.

Daly took leave in 1984 and was accused later. Knapp was accused in 1985 and has been absent without permission since 1988. McMahon took leave in 1986 and was suspended when he was accused in 1991.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests says the Catholic church should keep accused clergy members away from the public, not simply dismiss them.

Kudos to Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, a fellow advocate for victims of child sexual abuse, for releasing more than 100 names of people in the church who have been accused of abuse. Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley announced in March 2009 his plans to make these names public. That has not occurred.

The Boston Archdiocese's excuse for this 22-month delay is that officials must "continue to evaluate the complexities of this initiative." However, other archdioceses across the country have managed to release their own lists.

Survivors Voice Inc, a non profit foundation founded by Massachusetts clergy abuse survivors Bernie McDaid & Gary Bergeron to help survivors of clergy sexual abuse, have started a global petition and are calling on the United Nations to define the childhood sexual abuse of children as "Crimes against humanity".

Bergeron issued a statement, in which he stated: "The one natural resource that is equally shared in each and every country in every part of the world is the one natural resource that continues to be unprotected ignored by all. It is the natural innocence of a child. If the success of the future of our race as human beings is based on the protection of our children, then the continued acceptance of the status quo of the sexual abuse of children is nothing less than crimes against humanity and should be labeled as such. We are calling on the United Nations to redefine the systemic sexual abuse of children which continues to be revealed around the world to be included in the context of 'Crimes against humanity'.

Survivors Voice Inc, has invited survivors of childhood sexual abuse, their supporter and support groups from around the globe to join together on October 31 at the Vatican in Rome for a 'Reformation Day' event where they will begin the world wide petition. This event will mark the second time the pair has traveled to the Vatican to address the continuing issue of clergy sexual abuse.

"We currently have survivors and supporters traveling from countries around the world to the Vatican to attend this event. This is the first time that the global problem of childhood sexual abuse, has been addressed on a collective global level. On Reformation Day, we are asking people around the world to reform the way the address the issue of childhood sexual abuse and by the responses we've been receiving, the world may finally be ready to act," said a statement from Bernie McDaid.

Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian is crying foul after the Archdiocesan Review Board cleared a Weymouth priest, Cambridge native Rev. Charles J. Murphy, whose last assignment was at St. Francis Xavier Church in Weymouth, of sexual abuse. Murphy had been accused of abusing a teenage boy while assigned to St. Agatha's Church in Milton during the early 1970s.

According to the Patriot Ledger, in April, the Rev. Murphy voluntarily stepped down from public ministry during the investigation.

The decision to clear him of the accusations was made by the Archdiocesan Review Board, an interfaith advisory board that includes victims of clergy sex abuse, parents and a judge. It makes recommendations to Cardinal Sean O'Malley.

Garabedian called the review board a "kangaroo court" that is biased in favor of the archdiocese. Garabedian said his client was interviewed by archdiocesan investigators but never questioned by the board. Garabedian was also the lawyer for a former Rockland woman who alleged that Murphy molested her when she was a girl and the priest was director of counseling at the Boston School for the Deaf in Randolph.

The Boston Globe reports that a Catholic priest who had been cleared of allegations of child sexual abuse is facing new ones and has been barred from any ministry.

The Rev. Thomas M. Curran, 65, was placed on administrative leave from 2002 to 2007 following the previous allegations. In 2007, he was placed in permanent disability status, which allowed him to celebrate only the sacraments with his family.

Until the new allegations, which date to the 1970s and '80s, are investigated, Curran will be barred from any ministry, including with his family, the archdiocese said in a statement. It did not disclose other details about the new allegations.

Kelly Lynch, archdiocesan spokeswoman, said church officials notified the attorney general's office and the Middlesex district attorney's office. She said the church would investigate internally.

In 2002, a prison inmate accused Curran of rape. The inmate, who was serving time for raping a young boy, alleged that the priest raped him in the 1970s and introduced him to another figure in the clergy abuse scandal, Paul M. Shanley, a former priest convicted of abuse.

Curran denied the charges, telling the Boston Globe in 2003, ''None of it is true,'' and lamenting that ''some psychopath from a prison'' would get him thrown out of the ministry. He was cleared by the archdiocese in 2007.

''This case shows, yet again, how extraordinarily flawed so-called church 'investigations' into child sex reports are,'' David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement. ''Catholics, citizens and cops should be extremely skeptical when Catholic officials claim they have 'cleared' an accused pedophile priest.''