BOISE (ID)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE, Idaho -- Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll of Idaho says he waited nine months before informing members of a Boise parish that their deacon was under investigation for viewing child pornography because the diocese was worried about being sued over such allegations.
But that's not the case anymore, he said in his first interview since it was disclosed last month that Driscoll withheld information that St. Mary's Deacon Rapelyea Howell was the subject of an FBI investigation and continued to let Howell participate in services.
"I would just say the heck with worries about civil liabilities, let's go do it and do the right thing," Driscoll told The Idaho Statesman newspaper Tuesday. "If I make it public and it turns out to be false, I will make that very, very public so I can restore that person's name."
The 65-year-old leader of Idaho's 144,000 Catholics has been criticized by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The group alleges he is continuing a pattern of secrecy and protection of abusive church workers that began when he was an official with the Diocese of Orange, Calif., three decades ago.