Posted on 07/22/2007 3:08:25 PM PDT by hardback
Republican presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani has close ties to a Catholic priest accused of sexually molesting boys and who also was the lawyer for a now-closed Whitinsville counseling house for troubled priests that has been described as the center of a pedophile sex ring.
Monsignor Alan J. Placa, who works for Mr. Giuliani’s consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, was legal adviser in the 1980s to the House of Affirmation, where priests accused of sexual abuse were sent for psychotherapy and other counseling services. The center closed in 1987 amid a financial scandal.
Monsignor Placa, who while an active priest arranged the annulment of Mr. Giuliani’s first marriage, baptized his two children and officiated at the funeral of his mother, is a childhood friend of Mr. Giuliani and they both attended Manhattanville College.
He was stripped of his duties as a priest, but not defrocked, after Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, published a story in 2002 about young men who alleged that Monsignor Placa abused them in the 1970s. He has been on administrative leave since and has worked for Mr. Giuliani for the past five years.
Catholic activists who are fighting the church over the clergy sex abuse issue say Mr. Giuliani’s association with the monsignor raises serious questions about the former New York mayor’s candidacy.
“The White House should not be inhabited by a man whose closest friend is accused of being an abuser of young men,” said Ann Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org in Massachusetts. “Giuliani has a responsibility to account for his friendship with Alan Placa and I think he should speak with Alan Placa’s accusers and see how credible they are.
“For Giuliani to turn a blind eye to these credible allegations raises questions about his judgment,” she said.
Jeffrey Barker, a spokesman for Mr. Giuliani’s campaign, declined comment, directing questions to Giuliani Partners, Mr. Giuliani’s security consulting firm. Mr. Giuliani leads all GOP presidential contenders in Massachusetts polls.
“Rudy Giuliani believes Alan Placa has been unjustly accused,” Sunny Mindel, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a prepared statement.
Monsignor Placa did not respond to a request for an interview.
The monsignor was closely associated with several Central Massachusetts priests who were at the center of a clergy sex abuse scandal in the 1990s.
At least three lawsuits were filed by area residents who said they were assaulted as boys by priests at the Whitinsville facility. The accused priests included colleagues of Monsignor Placa, one of whom was the Rev. Thomas A. Kane, former pastor of St. Mary Church in Uxbridge.
Monsignor Placa still lives in the rectory of the Long Island church where Monsignor Brendan Riordan, a former director of the House of Affirmation who was named in a sex abuse lawsuit settled by the Worcester Diocese in the mid-1990s, is pastor. He has also owned property in New York with Monsignor Riordan and co-owned property in Florida with him and Rev. Kane.
A 1993 suit filed against Rev. Kane, the diocese and the House of Affirmation by Mark Barry of Uxbridge alleges that Rev. Kane repeatedly sexually assaulted him. The New York Times has reported that Monsignor Placa was the first lawyer Rev. Kane turned to after learning of Mr. Barry’s accusations.
That suit was settled for less than $50,000 and included a non-disclosure provision. Mr. Barry has not spoken publicly about the case since.
David Lewcon, 53, of Northbridge, who worked at the center in the 1970s as a painter and wallpaperer helping his father, a contractor, renovate the 1898 building, has accused Rev. Kane of sexually assaulting him. Mr. Lewcon settled what he described as a “six-figure” lawsuit with the Worcester Diocese in which he alleged he was sexually assaulted as a minor by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar at St. Mary in Uxbridge.
Mr. Lewcon described the House of Affirmation as a breeding ground for sexual predators.
“It was presented as a retreat for vocational redirection,” said Mr. Lewcon, a publisher of speciality magazines. “What we have found out since, and what it has been called in the Blackstone Valley by people who really know what went on there, is that it was a pedophile boot camp.”
Monsignor Placa’s involvement with the Whitinsville facility drew additional attention after the release of a 2003 report from a Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury that accuses him of molesting young boys and, in his role as a lawyer, helping to cover up sex abuse by other priests.
He was referred to as “Priest F” in the grand jury’s lengthy investigative report, which quotes a letter he wrote to colleagues in which he touted his track record of settling multimillion dollar clergy sex abuse claims for “sums ranging from $20,000 to $100,000.” The 180-page report was written after more than 30 priests and more than 40 victims of abuse testified.
The report notes that no indictments were issued because the alleged crimes had occurred more than five years previously and could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.
Richard Tollner, one of Monsignor Placa’s chief accusers in the Rockville Centre, Long Island, clergy sex abuse scandal, confirmed to the Salon online magazine that he was one of the victims who gave grand jury testimony and that Monsignor Placa was Priest F.
Monsignor Placa has denied Mr. Tollner’s allegations.
Mr. Tollner and other alleged victims in New York have accused Monsignor Placa of presenting himself as a priest in interviews with them when he was really acting as the lawyer for the Rockville Centre Diocese. Monsignor Placa has denied these accusations.
“He was misusing his identity and failing to disclose to them that he was a civil lawyer,” said Daniel J. Shea, a lawyer who has represented victims of clergy sex abuse in Central Massachusetts. “The grand jury report indicated he was representing himself to victims as a priest with a Roman collar.”
With news reports on Mr. Giuliani’s relationship to Monsignor Placa, some clergy abuse victims say they think Mr. Giuliani may be forced to answer harder questions about the link to his boyhood friend and employee.
George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, 47, an actor and artist who also agreed to an out-of-court settlement in a sex abuse case against Rev. Teczar, worked briefly at the House of Affirmation in the 1970s as a groundskeeper.
“It was a serious, full-blown sex mentality there,” George Shea said.
“Eventually this will stick,” he said of Monsignor Placa’s links to the GOP presidential contender.
Contact Shaun Sutner by e-mail at ssutner@telegram.com.
I did forget to point out that Giuliani didn't go with the suggested Bronx (Brooklyn?) location for NYC's Emergency Management Center as well. The memo stated that the Bronx location was a less attractive target than the WTC.
Too much ammo for the Dems, plus his less than conservative social policies.
ROFL! Hardly. Read the thread again. Attack conservatives, call people names, attack with no provocation--it gets you banned.
Enough of the false outrage, already.
It's all good. Don't get mad or anything, like I said it's nothing personal against you.
The thing is, conservatives are not going to concede ground anymore. That's what the opposition to Rudy is about. Look what happened to CA. Look how the establishment supported Specter in 2004, Lincoln Chaffee, McCain, Harriet Miers, ports deal, shamnesty, etc. Do you think conservatives are going to support an out-and-out liberal just because he has the R on his chest?
A liberal Republican is just as bad as the Democrat. If Rudy wins the nomination, or if he's selected as VP, conservatives are going to stay home or vote 3rd party. You are asking us to forsake deeply held principles for political expedience. No thanks. I'd rather have the Rat in office than a gutless RINO.
Ok, it’s cool .... was just wondering ....
I’ve read a lot about all the candidates (REP’s and DEM’s) and so far all are lacking ... although I’m taking serious look at Fred Thompson .... but then, who would he be bringing along???
He’s not announced but if he does ......
I know that you think you are smart, but I won't buy into your or Rudy's murder scheme. Sorry. Say it my freind, God Bless Abortion!
Then you should oppose Giuliani:
Business owners who hirer illegals should be fined and shutdown if knowing breaking the law.Giuliani has opposed the enforcement of laws cracking down on illegal immigrants and their employers. He opposed the Republican's welfare reform legislation because it took away benefits from illegal aliens. He ran that largest sanctuary city in the U.S. and even sued the Federal Government because he didn't want to obey the law demanding that NYC law enforcment cooperate with federal immigration authorities. He is one of the weakest candidates when it comes to border security and immigration law enforcement.
A border fence is good.
Deportation is good.
Citizens should be allowed to care hand guns everywhere.Giuliani has confiscated more guns than any other candidate in the race, Democrat or Republican. He bragged about the number of guns he confiscated and endorsed Clinton's national gun control proposals.
Partial Birth Abortion Should be Banned.Giuliani has stated repeatedly his support for the partial birth abortion procedure, his opposition to laws restricting partial birth abortion, and has been a strong support of all forms of abortion for any reason at any point in the development of the unborn child. He ran under the Liberal Party ticket every time he ran for Mayor, having their endorsement, mostly because of his liberal abortion positions. He is the most pro-abortion Republican I've ever encountered.
Abortion should be a state issue or banned completely.
Global warming is a hoax.Giuliani has very recently stated his belief in global warming.
Agreed and more importantly apparently so did Jim.
Okay shorty, okay... little chiuaua wants a tummy rub.
I know that you think you are smart, but I won't buy into your or Rudy's murder scheme. Sorry. Say it my freind, God Bless Abortion!
“Slander”? Did he not run roughshod over the 2nd amendment, and further, try to bring punitive lawsuits against legitimite manufacturers? Maybe he is exactly what NYC needs, maybe he is telling the truth when he says he won’t do nationally what he did in NYC, but I see no reason to trust him.
I have no need to get into the abortion issue, gays, or anything else, the RKBA issue is bad enough on it’s own.
Thank you for posting the article, and for the ‘head’s up’. I too,(after 9-11) thought he might be a good president.
But, since then, so much very negative and very serious information has become available, and now, I would rather vote for my neighbor’s pit-bull. (I would feel much safer.)
Afraid to talk about abortion are you?
It's a CONSERVATIVE forum! What is it about that you don't get? We don't debate the the reasonableness/non-reasonableness of voting for Hillary--it would be wasted bandwidth. As is Rudy!
How many times are you going to post the same hogwash?
What do you find ridiculous about the headline? If anything, it didn't go far enough to state Giuliani's connection to an accused Priest who helped run a center that served as a pedophile sex ring.
Gee, what’s the big deal, I thought everyone knew Giuliani hung out with gays in the mayors mansion, cheats on his wife(s), raises money for anti-war communist groups, loves abortions, swears a government-sponsored abortion is a constitutional righyt (but the second ammendment doeant work) etc. (ALL 100% fact) so why wouldn’t he also be best buddies with pedophiles (catholic priests in general)?
I think you are misrepresenting and oversimplifying what has happened here. There are still plenty of Rudy supporters on FR. Supporting Rudy does not get you banned--calling people names and attacking conservatives/conservatism will.
I personally pinged the AdminModerator twice on this thread to some of California Patriot's abuses. I was called a "dimwitted ignoramus" and told "You and your ignorant, bigoted, hateful, anti-Republican ilk are just venting. Go fart somewhere else." I wrote nothing disrespectful to be on the receiving end of the venom. He also said "'Spiff' and his ilk needs to be squashed like the poisonous snakes they are. "
THIS kind of behavior gets you banned.
Afraid to talk about abortion are you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And Afraid to read the FR Mission Statement,,,,
Wants to be an ass-clown with his/her/it’s cracks,,,
Has had his/her/it’s ass handed to him/her/it,,,
Some folks are just “Stuck On Stupid”(Lt.Gen.Rusty Honore).
Please add me-n-Harley to your Dawg-Pack(my page),,,
Sic Em’...;0)
What is "slandering" about this headline?
"Giuliani Has Connection With Accused Priest"What in the article do you consider "slander?" These facts have been published before and no one has claimed them to be false.
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