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	Report: Archdiocese Orders Former Priest from Seminary News Times March 28, 2007 http://leisure.newstimeslive.com/news/updates.php?id=1036544 Hartford (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest accused in lawsuits of child molestation may be looking for a new home. The Hartford Courant reported that Archdiocese of Hartford on Tuesday ordered the Rev. Stephen Foley to leave St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. Foley also was ordered by Archbishop Henry Mansell to sell the police-equipped Crown Victoria he's been driving for years even though he no longer serves as a police or fire chaplain. Foley is accused by at least 11 men of using his position as chaplain for local fire departments and the state police to molest them when they were teenagers in the 1970s. His accusers say he lured them by using a car similar to a police cruiser. "The bishop has taken immediate action," diocesan spokesman the Rev. John Gatzak said Tuesday. "Stephen Foley is no longer welcome to reside at St. Thomas Seminary. He has been asked to make immediate plans to vacate and he's been told to get rid of the car." He has not been charged with a crime, but was named in 11 civil claims filed against the Archdiocese of Hartford. Eight claims have been settled. Foley's lawyer Walter Hampton Jr., has said his client adamantly denies the allegations. The Courant reported that Foley bought the car from a New Hampshire car dealer and used the name of the New England Association of Fire Chiefs. Officials of the association of fire chiefs say they never authorized Foley to use the group's name. State police have begun an investigation into how a priest accused in lawsuits of child molestation obtained a car outfitted with emergency lights, police scanners and antennas. Gatzak said Foley will not be housed in a different diocesan-owned building. "I asked the archbishop where (Foley) would live and he gave me the impression that that's (Foley's) concern. He's got to find a place," Gatzak said. He said Foley does not have to stay in Connecticut. But Hampton said Tuesday it is "incorrect" to say that his client is leaving the seminary. "That would be a very disappointing outcome if that were the case," Hampton said. "There certainly would need to be some legal and ecumenical issues resolved before that were to happen." Hampton said Foley still has the car. "There would be absolutely no reason for him to turn in the car. The fact he drives a Crown Victoria is no different than me driving a Subaru," Hampton said. But Gatzak responded that Archdiocese position is clear. "When the archbishop says something, the archbishop means it," Gatzak said. Foley was removed from his Glastonbury parish in 1993 when the diocese received an abuse complaint against him, and he was ordered not to wear the Roman collar when the church was sued in 2002. He has lived at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield since 1993, performing no duties while receiving free room and board, health insurance and a monthly stipend. The diocese will still pay Foley the monthly stipend and provide him with health insurance because it is obligated to do so for all of its priests after they are ordained, Gatzak said.
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