NEW YORK
Long Island Press
Lauren Wolfe 07/14/2005 12:01 am
The La Salle Military Academy in Suffolk County closed down in 2001. Its land morphed into St. John's University's Oakdale campus, but its legacy is now one tainted by allegations of a priest's sexual abuse.
In March, a Roman Catholic priest named Rev. R. Thomas McConaghy was removed from his position as pastor at the Sacred Heart Church in Norwich, Conn., where he had worked since 1981. McConaghy is under investigation by church officials for allegedly molesting a student at La Salle Academy, where he was commandant in the 1970s. The victim reported the abuse to the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Now, three months after McConaghy's removal from the Connecticut parish, Long Island Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) is calling for the Diocese of Rockville Centre to publicly discuss this latest accusation. The lay organization has sent a letter to Bishop William Murphy requesting that he publish all pertinent information on the case in the Long Island Catholic, as well as in church bulletins and on the diocesan website.
Also, the group would like Murphy to actively seek out the Christian Brothers, the Roman Catholic religious-teaching congregation that founded the academy (which is unassociated with the diocese) in 1883, and contact former students with the information on McConaghy.