Posted on 05/19/2010 8:30:24 AM PDT by 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.
” ... attorneys who make their life’s work bringing down the Pope and destroying the church.”
They’ve paid out what 2.5 bil so far in the US to victims? Seems to me they should of thought about that before all this crap was allowed to continue.
“Its political and anti-religion.”
Don’t the victims deserve justice?
As soon as a victim accepts a cash settlement for their victimhood, they cease being a victim and are transformed into a merchant.
Punishment for the offender and his removal should be the only legitimate end, not a payday. For the church to want to protect itself from the people who would destroy it is no crime.
And I don't need links to material condemning Mahony. I said I wasn't a fan.
LOL LOL
And just how is “punishment” being metered out? Especially when this thread about an article where the “offender” is hoping some court denies a “victim” the right to discovery in the amount of over 600 “secret” documents?
At your own spiritual peril
So no voluntary settlements in lieu of prosecution, no repayment of/compensation for losses to the victim, only punishments to the guilty following a court verdict? What court-imposed punishment would you recommend for a priest found guilty of statutory rape?
Do you attend a church, Deb?
"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
Exactly
One, as I said, even when an accuser recants that doesn't mean the accused is innocent when there are a number of other victims (without “”). And certainly not when the accused admits the abuse.
Two, If the bishops wanted to make a point of false accusations being made, where are the press conferences and publicity, where are the examples you say exist?
The fact is the cases being settled instead of going to court are those of credible accusations. When the diocese's lawyers in Boston challenged accusers in court the resulting publicity made the Catholic church look like bullies abusing the victims a second time.
The only good news for the Catholic church in this scandal is no news.
Three, By Benedict's own reckoning it is those inside the Catholic church who are responsible for the present problems, not those outside.
Four, Those who are bringing lawsuits ARE church members and in ever so many cases it was the refusal of the hierarchy to right the wrongs and protect the innocent that caused nonmembers involvement, lawyers and law enforcement.
But maybe you're more comfortable with claims of "secret documents" and sources that only include the leftist attorney.
Actually, I think I can.
Consider the Mosaic case law in Deuteronomy 22:22. The Old Testament proscribed death for adulterers, but only when marital vows to another are involved. In cases when the participants are unmarried/under no vows, such as explained in Exodus 22:16-17, the adultery (surprisingly) is not handled as a capital offense! Instead, the seducer becomes legally responsible to compensate the victim financially, and held liable to marry the victim! The seducer has even lost the right to contest responsibility to marry (financially support the victim for life). Only the mercy (or repulsion) of the victim's father can free the seducer from that lifelong responsibility (v17). Only the victim is allowed to refuse marriage or initiate a divorce afterwards. In all cases, the dowry payment is still surrendered. The seducer is given no choice but to compensate the victim for the loss of virginity/innocence/reputation.
Lol. Thank you, Alex, for providing your usual solid evidence and clarifying observations backed up by the old black and white.
How else to make the hierarchy take their responsibilities seriously?
Do you honestly believe that?
Do you have children?
Because that is NOT the normal reaction of parents upon learning their child has been sexually molested by some pedophile priest.
ping to 137
Produce all those many letters from men who "admitted they lied."
$700 million paid out by the L.A. archdiocese on one day to settle abuse claims. Added to the $300 million paid out the year prior, that adds up to one billion dollars paid out of the coffers of hard-working Roman Catholics who assume their weekly offerings are going towards something other than court costs defending the indefensible.
Christianity is not under assault by these sexual abuse cases; the Vatican is. As we've learned on this forum, they are not the same thing.
The church in Rome teaches that its priests are "another Christ;" an "alter Christus" in "both their personal as well as professional lives," as Father Kenneth Baker explained to us.
That is not Christianity.
The church in Rome teaches that Mary is a mediator between God and men (contrary to 1 Timothy 2:5) and a co-redeemer and a dispensatrix of all grace.
That is not Christianity.
Most of us didn't know the church in Rome believed such errors until we learned from FR RCs themselves as to what the papacy preaches.
It is another gospel. And it is reaping what it has sowed.
Amen.
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