Posted on 12/04/2002 4:14:37 AM PST by Theodore R.
Files on Boston priests yield sordid sex tales By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - One priest had a history of molesting boys, another maintained a "double life" with his girlfriend and a third supplied cocaine to a teen-ager with whom he was having sex -- but the Archdiocese of Boston gave all three men new jobs even though it knew of their records.
The disclosures surfaced in thousands of pages from the personnel files of eight priests that were made public on Tuesday. A Massachusetts judge ordered the files released last month as part of civil lawsuits over the archdiocese's handling of the Reverend Paul Shanley, who is accused of raping boys.
The release of the documents marked the latest chapter in a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. Roman Catholic Church since January. It came amid reports the Boston archdiocese may declare bankruptcy as a way of dealing with the estimated 450 lawsuits it faces from people who charge they were sexually abused by clergymen.
Lawyers for Shanley's alleged victims said the personnel files prove a central claim in their lawsuits: that the archdiocese routinely protected and reassigned priests accused of sexual misconduct.
"These people knew that paedophiles were coming to town. They had advance warning. We didn't," said Robert Costello, who said he was abused by a Boston-area priest from 1968 to 1975.
A spokeswoman for the archdiocese did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Lawyers for the archdiocese were not immediately available for comment.
MEMO TO VATICAN
The file of the Reverend Paul Burns contains a letter Boston Cardinal Bernard Law wrote to the Vatican in 1999 in which he admitted his archdiocese had assigned the priest to two parishes even though it knew he had been accused of molesting boys and had been warned to keep him away from minors.
Burns had spent time at a centre for troubled priests in 1981 and 1982 to "treat incidents of and a proclivity toward sexual activity with boys", according to a memo that accompanied Law's letter.
"This propensity was known to officials within the Archdiocese of Boston, but overlooked in favour of Father Burns' solemn assurance of his ability to control his impulses," according to the document sent to the Vatican.
At the time the memo was written, the archdiocese said it was aware of at least six young men whom Burns allegedly molested while he worked in Boston between 1982 and 1991.
In 1996, after he left the Boston church, Burns pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he had sexually assaulted boys in New Hampshire. He was sentenced to two consecutive four- to eight-year prison terms.
COCAINE, PORN AND SEX
The church's file on the Reverend Richard Buntel show that as early as 1983 his fellow priests expressed concern to the archdiocese about his alcoholism, drug use and reports he was distributing cocaine to young people while working in Malden, Massachusetts.
In 1994, the archdiocese received a complaint from a young man who said Buntel had performed oral sex on him in exchange for cocaine while the priest was in Malden between 1978 and 1983. The man also said the priest kept gay pornography in his closet in Malden.
Buntel, in an interview with the archdiocese, acknowledged he had a drug problem and admitted he had engaged in sex with the man, who he said was a teen-ager at the time.
The archdiocese placed Buntel on administrative leave and paid $55,000 to Buntel's former sex partner, thereby avoiding a lawsuit.
But in 1999, after Buntel had received treatment, the church gave the priest an administrative job at a parish in Wilmington, Massachusetts -- although it warned his boss that Buntel should not engage in any activity that put him in contact with minors.
Buntel did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
DOUBLE LIFE
The documents also showed that the church knew in 1979 that a rectory housekeeper had accused the Rev. Thomas Forry of trying to throw her down a set of stairs in a fit of rage while he worked as associate pastor in North Scituate, Massachusetts.
In 1984, a woman came forward to the church and claimed she had maintained an 11-year affair with Forry, and that the priest had even built her a house on Cape Cod where she lived until he threw her out. Forry later admitted to the affair with the woman, who was married to another man.
Despite the knowledge of Forry's "double life," the archdiocese approved his request to work as a military chaplain. He was later assigned to work as a prison chaplain and to fill in for priests while they went on vacation.
The church abuse scandal exploded this year when files in the case of another accused paedophile priest showed that Law and other church leaders knew about the man's behaviour but instead chose to shuttle him from parish to parish.
Law has apologized repeatedly for his handling of alleged sexually abusive priests, but has rejected parishioners' calls that he step down from his post.
I am not bashing roman catholics, I am just dumbfounded by the thought that people go into a dark closet with one of these guys, kneels down before him and says “bless me father for I have sinned...”
Without getting personal and getting all jacked out of shape, could someone please explan the logic of that to me?
BOSTON (AP) -- Thousands of newly released personnel files show that the Archdiocese of Boston
went to great lengths to hide priests accused of abuse, including clergy who allegedly snorted cocaine
and had sex with girls aspiring to be nuns.
The first round of the documents -- roughly 3,000 pages on eight Roman Catholic priests -- were made
public Tuesday on a Superior Court order. They had previously been obtained by victims' lawyers.
Read it all, here: http://www.masslive.com/
I am not Catholic, so I may not have the best understanding of how the Catholic church works, but it seems to me that as far as regular priests go the problem is limited to a small minority.
On the other hand, there seems to be a pretty widespread problem when it comes to the church hierarchy covering up for the minority of regular priests with problems.
These bastids like to bugger boys. If they were married, they'd still bugger boys.
They are predators and should be treated as such.
As a former Catholic, I can honestly say that Catholics are Bible ignorant in a big way. They hear the same readings every year based on the date and aren't encouraged from the pulpit to read the Bible.
The Vatican has known about the widespread sexual abuse in America, and in other countries, for twenty years!
We are all sinners, including Italian cardinals in the Roman Curia.
You guys may read the Bible, but the fact that there are over 3,000 Protestant denominations demonstrates that you can't agree among yourselves what it means.
You don't have to call Theodore an idiot just because he says something you disagree with. If there were more priests with wives and daughters and sons, they would be more likely to object to the perverts.
This, of course, is correct.
The Church could be much more selective in the men it ordains if there was a wider pool of candidates, including married men.
Of course, this would not eliminate perversity, as all the helping professions (teaching, medicine, psychology) attract those who want access to a waiting line of vulnerable people.
You don't see the contradiction in the two statements above?
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