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.
Perhaps we should ask the Diocese of Norwich?
Wait, they won’t turn over the letters and other related documents.
I wonder why if Ratzinger is innocent?
Antoninus,
Simple question: what is wrong with you?
Maybe since Catholics have provided the ultimate target for the enemies of God in the Pope, they get the most concentrated assaults.
But people who condemn the church and not the individual, flawed humans who struggle like everyone else, need to understand they're being used by the forces who despise God.
YOPD = Your Own Personal Diocese.
So thanks for posting this thread. Pitiful so many Roman Catholics' reaction is to "ignore" the truth. No wonder this keeps happening.
Wonderful circular reference of you.
I wonder why if Ratzinger is innocent?
Some FReeper you are that doesn't believe in the 4th Amendment.
The lies and misconceptions (I should have said twisting of the truth as well) in the Wisconsin case reporting have been well documented by numerous sources which have been linked and/or posted on Free Republic numerous times.
If there are no statistics showing comparisons of Catholic "crimes and cover-ups" to other religions and the general population, that's proof this entire issue is bogus and carried out by atheist haters of God.
Well the truth will out if a court orders them to turnover the requested records.
I’d like to know how the article I linked to relates to this article.
So If I am sued in a civil suit and am innocent I should just provide all and any documentation the other party requests because I have nothing to hide, right? Is that your logic?
Have you read Ratzinger's 2001 letter which reaffirmed Crimen Sollicitationis and went even further in instructing everyone, the victim, parents, friends, priests, everyone involved NOT to go to the police with their accusations, under threat of excommunication?
The pope is not "the ultimate target for the enemies of God."
With the exposure of these crimes, he looks more like what he's going to be -- a defendant in ermine and Prada shoes.
Unless he again pleads "diplomatic immunity," in which case he may walk like all those who hide behind their couture.
Here’s a recent example from the same media outlet:
Former Conn youth minister sentenced to 6 years
http://www.courant.com/community/bridgeport/hc-ap-ct-minister-childpormay14,0,1383649.story
BRIDGEPORT, Conn.
A 32-year-old former youth minister in Monroe has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl he was counseling. Esarey had been youth minister at Stepney Baptist Church until his arrest in November, 2008.
I never stated that Catholics or any other faith or group abused more than others. It’s the systemic cover-up that plagues the church.
The article quotes the Diocesian attorney as saying it is for the courts to decide and I agree.
From the article, to clarify my response.
“”This is a confidential matter and it will have to be addressed in court,” Strammiello said.
Well it seems a court disagrees with you because if it did it wouldn’t be in court.
Paging Alex Murphy.
It's fairly alarming that anyone who thinks pederast priests should be jailed is now assumed to be an "atheist hater of God."
Your posts have ratcheted up the dialogue considerably.
Yes it is mainly a homosexual abuse issue. But pederast are notorius for having a large victim count. So one pederast can have a greater number of victims than say a homosexual who forms an obsession, abusive relationship with an adolescent(s). This means you can have fewer perpetrators but more victims. But the majority of perpetrators were homosexuals preying on post pubescent males.
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