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	Giuliani Criticized for Employing Priest Accused of Abuse By Catholic News Service iobserve October 28, 2007 http://iobserve.org/nn1026b.html NEW YORK – A small group of victims of clergy sex abuse handed out fliers Oct. 24 criticizing Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani for employing a Catholic priest accused of abuse on the staff of a consulting firm founded by the former New York mayor. Msgr. Alan Placa, a priest of the Rockville Centre Diocese, works for Giuliani Partners, a management consulting and security consulting business. Giuliani has said he has "great confidence" in the priest, a friend of his for more than 35 years. Rockville Centre diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan told Catholic News Service Oct. 25 that since June 2002 the diocese has asked Msgr. Placa to refrain from exercising his priestly ministry publicly, "pending completion of a canonical investigation of as yet unproven allegations" against him. He noted that the priest has not been suspended, as some news reports have stated. In June 2002, Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre removed Msgr. Placa, his former vice chancellor, from all priestly ministry after receiving notice that a local district attorney's office was investigating sexual abuse claims against the priest. Two men accused him of abusing them 25 years before at St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale. Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, told CNS she and four other people handed out about 500 fliers asking citizens to call Giuliani, and urge him to fire Msgr. Placa and "explain and apologize for his recklessness" in hiring him. An Oct. 23 ABC News report said that in testimony before a Suffolk County grand jury in 2002 two former students and a former altar boy accused Msgr. Placa of past sex abuse, but the statute of limitations had expired. Citing the grand jury report, ABC said Msgr. Placa also had been accused of covering up abuse by other clergy. When asked for a response, Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel referred CNS to what Giuliani said in an Oct. 23 interview with WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston. She also said Msgr. Placa did not have any statement. "He's a friend of mine for over 35 years," Giuliani said about the priest. "I have great confidence in him. You know, people in this country get the benefit of the doubt when they're accused of something. ... The fact is, he hasn't even been formally accused of anything." He said he understands "that people feel very hurt about this issue in general, they have every right to. But then you just can't ... assume that people are responsible for things that they're accused of. You've got to give the whole process a chance, right?" Msgr. Placa is in residence at St. Aloysius Parish in Great Neck.
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