Documents, Including Letter To Ratzinger, Sought In Priest Sex Abuse Lawsuit

Courant.com ^ | May 18, 2010 | DAVE ALTIMARI

[TSgt]

Attorneys for the Diocese of Norwich are trying to keep secret hundreds of documents — including a letter written to the pope when he was a cardinal — that discussed the status of a priest accused of molesting more than a dozen young girls.

The letter from Bishop Michael Cote to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in April 2005 concerned "canonical processes" regarding Thomas W. Shea, a retired priest accused of molesting as many as 16 girls at 11 different parishes during a nearly 40-year career, according to court records.

The letter is one of more than 600 documents that the diocese is trying to keep secret in a lawsuit pending in Superior Court in Hartford that alleges that Shea sexually molested a 12-year-old girl, identified as Jane Doe, while he was at St. Joseph's Church in New London in 1976.

The list of documents is included in a motion filed by New London Attorney Robert Reardon, who is representing Jane Doe. Reardon wants Judge Mitchell K. Berger to look at all the documents, including the letter to the pope, to see if they should be turned over to him.

Court records do not show whether Ratzinger ever responded to Cote's concerns. Shea died in 2006 in a West Hartford nursing home, still a priest in good standing.

Diocese of Norwich spokesman Michael Strammiello said Monday that he had "no idea" what the bishop could have written in a note that is now 5 years old.

"This is a confidential matter and it will have to be addressed in court," Strammiello said.

As a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI headed the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which is the office that decides whether accused priests should get church trials called canonical trials that could eventually lead to their being defrocked. He was in that post from 1981 to 2005.

The pope has come under criticism recently for a similar case in Wisconsin, in which a bishop there sent him a letter seeking to have a priest accused of molesting deaf children defrocked. But a church trial never occurred after the accused priest wrote a letter to Ratzinger asking him not to go forward with the trial.

The documents in Wisconsin were unsealed by a judge despite efforts by the diocese there to keep them secret.

Doe was 12-years-old when she first met Shea, who was a priest at St. Joseph's Church in New London in 1976, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that Shea identified her as a child in need of help so he started paying attention to her and "conditioned her to comply with his directions."

"Father Shea sexually assaulted and battered the plaintiff by kissing her on the lips, touching and fondling her and committing other acts of sexual assault," the lawsuit said.

In court Monday on other legal issues regarding the case, Reardon said the abuse went much farther and that Shea forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Reardon said Shea gained the trust of the 12-year-old girl who just followed his instructions when he told her to "provide the Father with oral sex because he's had a tough day."

The lawsuit claims that church officials were well aware of Shea's behavior but assigned him to St. Joseph's anyway. Shea had been on a "sick leave" from 1973 to 1975 before he was placed at St. Joseph's, records show.

Shea was ordained a priest in 1946 and served in several parishes throughout the diocese, mostly in the New London area. Shea admitted as far back as 1953 that he had kissed a girl from his parish and taken photos of her in a bathing suit, according to court records.

The lawsuit alleges that the Diocese of Norwich concealed the results of an internal investigation that determined that Shea had fondled other young girls and had been sent for treatment. By keeping it secret, the diocese "allowed Shea to continue using her as a sex object" the lawsuit alleges.

As part of the initial discovery, Reardon subpoenaed Shea's personnel records. The diocese's attorneys turned over 405 pages from Shea's file, but refused to turn over 661 pages that they claim are "privileged."

Besides the letter to the pope, other documents that the church is trying to keep sealed include letters from St. Luke's Institute in Maryland, memos concerning Thomas Shea's treatment in the mid-1980s and evidence that the church received complaints about Shea's inappropriate behavior as far back as 1965. St. Luke's Institute was a place that church officials sent priests accused of sexual misconduct for treatment.

Church records show that Shea was transferred all over the diocese and put on sick leave at least twice after complaints from parishioners about inappropriate behavior with young girls.

Reardon is using the church's actions in the Shea case to try an unusual legal tactic alleging that the church, the bishops and other church leaders were in effect running a racketeering enterprise by concealing crimes from civil authorities.

[Gamecock]

***announced its bishops were free agents and not under any kind of control by the pope! lol.***

I saw that the Vatican is trying that defense.

Soooo, how many Catholic denominations are there now?

[Gamecock]

***Your #2 means nothing because other religions and other Christian denominations don't have a central organization with a centrally recognized head.***

If church sanctioned CHILD ABUSE is the end result of having a centrally recognized head I don't want any part of it.

PS, I'm sure Mary is weeping.

[marajade]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/04/06/20100406arizona-sex-crimes-bill.html

Me thinks that may soon be coming to an end too. People are just fed up.

[Deb]

So you deny there's any kind of on-going campaign to discredit and destroy the church? I'm not Catholic, but I see it everyday.

I don't expect Catholics to "do the math", but I would imagine the people who have dedicated their lives to smearing and stomping them would have some numbers they can use in their war.

As far as the false accusers, there were many examples in Los Angeles of young men who couldn't go thru with seeing innocent priests, they had accused, being dragged thru the mud and they tearfully recanted.

It also came out, according to Cardinal Mahony, that in the early days of the instances where there was abuse, the parents of the children begged the church to keep it quiet and not make the allegations public to protect their children, not to protect the offender. I think Mahony even produced letters from the parents. Note: I am not a Mahony fan at all.

[marajade]

agree but what else could explain their what it seems to me unwillingness to make amends if not a matter of money?

A believer’s faith he/she has eternal salvation and faith that their leaders are teaching and preaching and acting the truth might be another one but I don’t see much of that either.

[TSgt]

So you deny there's any kind of on-going campaign to discredit and destroy the church? I'm not Catholic, but I see it everyday.

Hey Deb, even the Pope said the church's problems were internal.

Attacks against the pope or the church do not only come from outside; rather the sufferings of the church come from within, from the sins that exist in the church," he said. "This, too, has always been known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way: The greatest persecution of the church does not come from enemies on the outside, but is born from the sin within the church, the church therefore has a deep need to re-learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on one hand forgiveness but also the need for justice," - Pope Benedict XVI

[TSgt]

Arizona’s on the warpath!

I’m really going to have to move there! ;-)

[count-your-change]

The “zero tolerance” policy was the product of the bishop's Dallas Charter issued by the USCCB.
It became policy after the Vatican objections of violating Canon Law were seemingly addressed. Noticeably missing in the discussions were the bishops own culpability.

“If you don't think false allegations happen all the time by young gay men who are used by atheist organizations and anti-Catholic groups, you obviously lack the ability to read or you prefer to be fed lies or you're part of the God-hating war.”

I'm sure you have some examples close at hand and really, you should share them with all.

[marajade]

Unfortunately I doubt a Court in the US would be able to get the Pope to say that under oath in examination in a court case.

You know what I call it: blameshifting.

[Deb]

Yes, I saw the statement when he made it.

I appreciate your jumping in to change the subject to a question I posted to someone else, so I won't bother with you if you won't also answer the question.

[marajade]

Yeah. Politics are nasty. The real problem, like the Pope, is Pres. Obama is not a leader. Pres. Obama is crying all the problems is because he doesn’t have 60 U S Senators. His party controls the senate. Pres. Obama can tell Senator Byrd to pound sand and get rid of the filibuster.

[Deb]

I’m sure they’re still in the L.A. Times archives, although the Times downplayed the recantations at the time, they were covered a lot on our local news.

[wmfights]

People are just fed up.

I agree, but convicting someone for something that is 20+ years old and really boils down to one person's word against another is not a good solution.

[RnMomof7]

At lease one for every Bishop +..LOL

[wmfights]

...what else could explain their what it seems to me unwillingness to make amends if not a matter of money?

Concern that the reputation of their church might be tarnished. Remember they make all kinds of non Scriptural claims about their status as "the one true church", their pope is "God's representative on earth" the elevated status of their priests, etc.. If it comes out that they have an element of this "special" group that abuse children it diminishes their status.

I think the systematic cover up is the result of their own arrogance about their "lofty status" and reveals a lack of true faith.

[count-your-change]

I know false accusations are made and sometimes recanted as this example shows,

“Priest Abuse Story Recanted Oneida County DA Finds an Allegation against Monsignor False after Investigation

By Renee K. Gadoua
Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
June 7, 2002

The Oneida County district attorney may file charges against a person who fabricated a story alleging a retired Utica priest sexually abused him.

Michael Arcuri, Oneida County district attorney, said someone came forward about two weeks ago and reported Monsignor H. Charles Sewall had recently sexually abused him. The district attorney's office investigated, found inconsistencies in the story and the person recanted, he said.

Three $20 million lawsuits filed Tuesday accuse Sewall of sexually abusing three teen-age boys in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the plaintiffs in the new lawsuits accepted an undisclosed amount of money from the diocese in 1988 to settle a lawsuit against Sewall. The lawyer for the three men said the false accusation does not involve any of his clients.” (quoted from www.bishop-accountability)

but even a recanting of an accusation is not the same as saying the accused was innocent. Usually there is more than just one victim and one incident.

Those that do make false accusations show suffer some consequences but keeping the accusations in the news is hardly what the bishops want.

[TSgt]

Benedict has a real opportunity to cleanse the church but considering his past I expect more of the same.

It’s akin to Jimmy Swaggart crying big tears into a camera after getting caught with a prostitute, “Lord, forgive me, I have sinned...again.”

People are tired of hypocrisy and scandal. This is why non-denominational churches are experiencing explosive growth.

The only problem is there is no substance to coffee, jeans and Jesus theology.

[Deb]

HuH? You don't think the church would prefer that stories about recanting "victims" stay in the public eye? Really? That's a strange notion.

But all in all I would feel better about justice being done if the people who scream allegations, bring massive amounts of crippling lawsuits and hold continuous press conferences, were either law enforcement officers or church members (with no axe to grind) and not dedicated anti-church, left-wing, "civil rights" attorneys who make their life's work bringing down the Pope and destroying the church.

The involvement of political activists in these stories proves to me that it has nothing to do with righting wrongs or protecting innocents. Its political and anti-religion.

[Alex Murphy]

So you deny there's any kind of on-going campaign to discredit and destroy the church?

I wouldn't deny it for a minute. I'm certain there's a campaign going on. But are you saying that, just because an enemy brings the charge, the charge itself can't be true?

"For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
"I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent."
-- Luke 12:58-59

I don't expect Catholics to "do the math", but I would imagine the people who have dedicated their lives to smearing and stomping them would have some numbers they can use in their war.

So "hav(ing) some numbers to use" = "dedicating lives to smearing and stomping"? Is ignorance truly bliss? How do you feel about Moses penning the books of Numbers and Leviticus in the Old Testament?

As far as the false accusers, there were many examples in Los Angeles of young men who couldn't go thru with seeing innocent priests, they had accused, being dragged thru the mud and they tearfully recanted.

If Cardinal Mahony hadn't intentionally conflated guilty and innocent priests for decades, those young men in Los Angeles would have known which priests they could be safe around. Because Mahony allowed them to remain within the others' midst, all priests suffered for it.

It also came out, according to Cardinal Mahony, that in the early days of the instances where there was abuse, the parents of the children begged the church to keep it quiet and not make the allegations public to protect their children, not to protect the offender. I think Mahony even produced letters from the parents. Note: I am not a Mahony fan at all.

But why should anyone believe Mahony's testimony?

Related threads
(all from the week of the $600 million settlement):
Mahony's Tainted Legacy: Many priests’ sex crimes will stay secret, but now some victims can rest
Nobody Would be Happier Than Me to See Cdl. Mahony Go
Should the Vatican Pay for Abuse?
About $67 per Catholic, more than $1 million per parish [Cost of LA settlement in perspective]
Phony Mahony & the Homosexual Priest Cover-Up
Keeping Secrets: The Laity, the Latin Mass and the LA Settlement
Local Victim Finds Hope In L.A. Archdiocese Case
LA cardinal apologies, offers record abuse deal

[Dr. Eckleburg]

what else could explain their what it seems to me unwillingness to make amends if not a matter of money?

Power. Power trumps money any day of the week.

Money is just a means to an end.

The RCC paid out $700 million on one day in one city two years ago, but it's just a pebble in the Tiber. Hardly a ripple..

This is not Christianity.

"I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." -- Isaiah 45:19

"Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing." -- John 18:20

Pity Ratzinger has not followed Christ's example.