(Albany Bishop) Hubbard alerted to death threat

Times Union ^ | January 19, 2005 | MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON

[NYer]

ALBANY -- A distraught clergy sex abuse victim has threatened to kill Bishop Howard Hubbard if his alleged abuser is cleared of sexual misconduct allegations, according to attorney John Aretakis.

Without naming the victim or the priest, Aretakis sent a Jan. 15 letter to Hubbard's lawyer, Michael Costello, apprising him of the threat.

Aretakis, who represents a number of clergy sex abuse victims, said he does not think the threat is credible, but said he still felt a warning to Hubbard was warranted.

"I feel a moral obligation to pass this information on," Aretakis said in the letter. "Please (tell) Bishop Hubbard that he should take efforts at insuring his own safety."

Aretakis said he received word of the threat from the victim last Friday and sent the warning the next day to Costello. In the letter, he said he was moved to alert the longtime church leader, even though he feels he has "acted undignified, uncharitable and completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ."

In case he takes the person on as a client, Aretakis said he couldn't divulge further details about how the threat was sent.

Kenneth Goldfarb, who is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany's director of communications, had no comment other than to acknowledge receipt of Aretakis' letter.

On Tuesday, Aretakis said he's been personally threatened a dozen times and has also received other threats against Hubbard, and even Costello, which he has passed along to them.

"I always lend a very sympathetic ear to victims, who are very troubled people," Aretakis said Tuesday. "You get one of these (a threat) once and you throw it in the garbage. But when it happens again, you get concerned. To this one I tried to write that violence is never an answer."

Mark Lyman, a clergy sex abuse victim who now advocates for others, said Hubbard's management of the sex abuse crisis warrants concern but not harm: "A small percentage of victims aren't mentally stable. But many of us are married and have children. This is not something any victim I know would want to endorse or aspire to."

[NYer]

The saga continues.

[Mr. K]

From the title I thouhgt this was about Chelsea's dad Web

[sinkspur]

Let's see. It's been a couple of months since Aretakis had his name in the papers.

He's right on schedule.

[Mershon]

Hubbard is obviously part of the lavender mafia, as is the DA and the other folks in Albany's "justice department."

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Hadn't heard about this, but there appears to be a coverup going on in the Paul Shanley case.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

One suspects that if the truth behind the Shanley case were to come out, those involved would have to name names. And that would open a large can of worms, exposing many of the conspirators and infiltrators including the sinsiter network of anti-Catholic secret societies and their benefactors who seek to destroy the church for their own bizarre, wicked, and highly weird social engineering agenda.

The story I heard claims they are invoking the questionable nature of "recovered memories" to put the Shanley case quietly back in the closet. So...after all the noise from The Boston Globe and the exit of Cardinal Law it seems nothing really will happen. Some justice. [irony]

Has some powerful cabal sought to keep the lid on this because their boys would have been implicated as playing a role? Who is Paul Shanley and where did he come from? Who made him and who supplied him with funds and kept him out of jail for so long?