BishopAccountability.org
	Albany Priest, Diocese Sued By Matt C. Abbott Renew America May 30, 2008 http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/080530 [with text of the lawsuit] The following lawsuit was filed May 23, 2008 against Father Gary Mercure, Bishop Howard Hubbard and the Albany Catholic diocese. Several years ago, Father Mercure gave pornographic photos of himself to John Watkins, the plaintiff, who alleges that the priest manipulated him into a sexual relationship. The Albany diocese has a history of dissent and corruption, culminating in the 2004 apparent suicide of whistleblower priest Father John Minkler. SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF WARREN JOHN WATKINS, Plaintiff, VERIFIED COMPLAINT -against- Index No.: 50800 FR. GARY MERCURE, ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALBANY and BISHOP HOWARD J. HUBBARD, Defendants. The plaintiff JOHN WATKINS, by and through his attorney, JOHN A. ARETAKIS, does hereby state as and for a complaint against the defendants the following: 1. The plaintiff JOHN WATKINS, (hereinafter "PLAINTIFF") at all relevant times material to the complaint herein, is now over the age of eighteen and is a resident of the State of New York, County of Warren. 2. The defendant GARY MERCURE (hereinafter defendant "MERCURE"), upon information and belief, is a resident of the State of New York, County of Rensselaer and is a priest in the Albany Diocese. 3. The defendant BISHOP HOWARD J. HUBBARD (hereinafter "BISHOP") was and is a Roman Catholic bishop and priest who resides, upon information and belief, in the County of Albany, and defendant FR. MERCURE is under direct supervision, employ and control of defendant DIOCESE and defendant HUBBARD. INDEX NUMBER PURCHASED: 4. The defendant ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALBANY (hereinafter "DIOCESE") is a religious organization that transacts business and is located throughout the State of New York, but primarily in the State of New York, County of Albany, but also transacts business and has made statements in Warren County. 5. The material facts surrounding these claims and underlying these claims occurred in Warren County. 6. Although defendant MERCURE is on administrative leave, he is and will continue to be paid his full salary, insurance, benefits and perks as an Albany Diocese priest even though he is accused of the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable persons, and will continue to receive all of these benefits and monies even if he is permanently removed from ministry due to pedophilia, sexual abuse and/or exploiting his position and power as a priest. 7. By way of background, the defendant ALBANY DIOCESE has removed twenty-three pedophiles from the active ministry in the last five years, and all removed priests remain on the ALBANY DIOCESE payroll including insurance, pension, salary, fringes and all benefits. 8. In 1994, again in 2000 and thereafter and continuing until the present, defendant BISHOP HOWARD HUBBARD and the ALBANY DIOCESE were advised of and aware that the defendant MERCURE sexually abused children and took advantage of vulnerable persons in a sexual nature. 9. The plaintiff specifically and personally advised the defendant HUBBARD in 1994 that the defendant MERCURE had sexually abused the plaintiff and exploited his position and power as a priest. 10. The defendant DIOCESE and the defendant HUBBARD know and have had notice that FR. MERCURE has had sexual contact with children and vulnerable persons since at least 2000 from another victim of defendant MERCURE. 11. The plaintiff JOHN WATKINS, while suffering from mental illness because he was raped as a young child by his father, and while he went to defendant MERCURE for help in regard to his emotional and mental problems in connection with his abuse, was then sexually abused and exploited by FR. MERCURE when he went to FR. MERCURE for help. 12. From the defendant DIOCESE'S own policies and protocol, FR. MERCURE should immediately and permanently have been removed from ministry due to the exploitation and misuse of the power of his collar by hearing and offering counseling on the unfortunate history of JOHN WATKINS and then abusing and exploiting that history. 13. In the 1990s, FR. MERCURE would take the plaintiff to Queensbury Middle School in defendant MERCURE'S automobile so FR. MERCURE could watch the children leave school at the end of the school day and make comments about his (defendant MERCURE) sexual interest in children. This information was given to defendant HUBBARD in 1994. 14. The defendant MERCURE actually used the plaintiff to assist him in his sexual desires and interest in children in 1994 and this information was told to the defendant HUBBARD in 1994. In 1995, the defendant HUBBARD paid for part of the plaintiff's therapy due to abuse at the hands of FR. MERCURE. 15. Despite these warnings and specifics about defendant MERCURE'S mental illness and sexual interest in children, the defendant HUBBARD has allowed the defendant MERCURE to remain in ministry from 1994 to 2008 allowing children and vulnerable persons to remain at risk. 16. The plaintiff JOHN WATKINS went to the defendant BISHOP HOWARD HUBBARD with the above information in 1994 about being sexually abused and about FR. MERCURE'S sexual interest in children. 17. BISHOP HUBBARD acknowledged that FR. MERCURE sexually abused the plaintiff and that defendant MERCURE was treated for psychiatric illness. In 1995, the defendant HUBBARD paid the plaintiff for psychological treatment from the sexual abuse of the plaintiff by defendant MERCURE, indicating defendant HUBBARD'S awareness of the sexual abuse by defendant MERCURE. 18. Instead of acting properly, the defendant HUBBARD send the defendant MERCURE to St. Mary's Church in Clinton Heights in East Greenbush, New York. 19. Children and vulnerable persons in Warren County and Rensselaer County have been at risk of harm from the abusive tendencies of defendant MERCURE due to defendant HUBBARD'S leaving this dangerous sexual predator in ministry since 1994. AS AND FOR A FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION 20. Plaintiff incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein. 21. This cause of action is for injunctive relief. 22. The plaintiff has requested and requests that defendant MERCURE be permanently removed from ministry. 23. The defendant HUBBARD has only administratively removed from ministry defendant MERCURE, but he is still a priest, still around children, with access to children and still a danger to children. 24. The plaintiff respectfully requests that defendant MERCURE be stripped of his ability to ever function as a priest and be around children and to not be paid any salary, pension, insurance benefits and perks. 25. The plaintiff has a high degree of likelihood of success as it has and will be established that defendant HUBBARD had notice of his dangerous and sexually inappropriate behavior since 1994 and 2000. 26. Immediately after being placed on notice of defendant MERCURE'S sexual abuse, the defendant HUBBARD moved the defendant MERCURE to St. Mary's Church in Clinton Heights in East Greenbush. 27. The plaintiff has given the defendants credible information that defendant MERCURE has abused children and vulnerable persons, and has engaged in other actions that make the defendant MERCURE a public danger. 28. The equities weigh in favor of the plaintiff. 29. That should this equitable relief not issue, and then the plaintiff and others would have and will suffer irreparable damage. 30. Since the defendants have already removed defendant MERCURE from ministry temporarily, there will be prejudice for this relief. 31. The safety of children, vulnerable persons and the general public are at risk. 32. There is a present public danger and a danger to the community should this relief not issue. 33. The defendant HUBBARD has the authority to permanently remove the defendant MERCURE from ministry, and has yet to do so because of a severe priest shortage and due to the defendant HUBBARD'S history of the protection of predatory priests. AS AND FOR A SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION 34. Plaintiff incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein. 35. This cause of action is for libel and slander. 36. When defendant FR. MERCURE was temporarily removed from ministry in January 2008, the defendants put out the attached press release for dissemination and publication to third parties and the media (Exhibit "A"). 37. The defendant's statements were actually published to the media, and reported on by the media to the public and to third parties. 38. The statement made pertaining to the plaintiff is false and intentionally false and was known by the defendants to be false when made. 39. The defendants made the intentionally false statement with actual malice and scienter, and the libel and defamation are defamatory per se. 40. The defendant's specific false information proximately harmed the plaintiff and was outrageous and shocking to right minded thinking persons and caused the plaintiff damages. 41 The statement was released with the aid and assistance of the defendant MERCURE and for the defendant MERCURE'S benefit and in an effort to conceal and protect the actions of the defendant HUBBARD in keeping the defendant MERCURE in ministry. 42. The statement was particularly outrageous because it stated specifically that a consensual sexual relationship existed by and between two consenting adults, when in fact it was a situation of an older man in a position of power and leadership over the plaintiff who was sexually abused and exploited as young child who already had been abused, and who was suffering from mental and psychological problems and extreme vulnerability at the time of the abuse by defendant MERCURE. 43. The defendants libeled and slandered the plaintiff so as to continue to protect and shield FR. MERCURE from a well known and documented history of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable persons. The actual libel and slander is contained in the defendants' press release when the defendants announced the temporary removal of defendant FR. GARY MERCURE. 44. The actual press release statement is attached as Exhibit "A" and was done, upon information and belief to put a false proactive public position on this predatory priest and in order to deny actual notice that defendant MERCURE was a sexually abusive priest. 45. Reading and learning that the plaintiff was engaged in a consensual sexual relationship when the truth is that the plaintiff was sexually abused and exploited was painful, harmful and proximately caused damages to the plaintiff. AS AND FOR A THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION 46. Plaintiff incorporates all paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein. 47. This cause of action is against the defendant DIOCESE for libel, slander and publishing to media for widespread dissemination that this plaintiff had a consensual sexual relationship with the defendant MERCURE, and that is and was false and known to be false when made. 48. The exact quote by Diocese spokesman, Kenneth Goldfarb was "it was not a case of sexual abuse, and it did not involve a minor." 49. This statement was false and intentionally false when made in order to create an unequivocal statement of fact that the plaintiff was capable of and engaged in a sexual relationship with the defendant MERCURE. 50. The sexual contact that the defendant MERCURE had with the plaintiff and disclosed to the defendant HUBBARD in 1994 was absolutely and unequivocally sexual abuse. 51. As the plaintiff went to the defendant MERCURE due to his mental problems and for help due to his being raped as a young child and the defendant MERCURE utilizing that confidential information for his own benefit and to exploit the plaintiff, was a case of sexual abuse. 52. This quote was published in the January 29, 2008 Post Star in Warren County and other media outlets and published to third persons. 53. This quote was false and defamatory and proximately caused the plaintiff damages. 54. These statements were made with the intent to publish same, and with the intent to malign and injure the plaintiff. 55. The statement by Kenneth Goldfarb was made on and for the behalf of the defendant DIOCESE and defendant HUBBARD and also upon information and belief, with the consent and request of the defendant MERCURE. 56. The defendant HUBBARD has made or had these false comments made to try to excuse or cover the fact that since 1994, defendant HUBBARD has allowed defendant MERCURE to remain in the active ministry and be around innocent children and other vulnerable persons despite being on notice of FR. MERCURE'S predatory behavior. 57. The defendant HUBBARD continues to cover for and protect pedophile priests, and particularly because of a severe priest shortage in the Albany Diocese and has allowed that administrative problem result in a known danger to continue to children and vulnerable persons. 58. Had the defendant HUBBARD admitted that the sexual abuse of the plaintiff was actually abuse in 1994, then the defendant HUBBARD would be compelled to address his own malfeasance in allowing the defendant MERCURE to remain in active ministry for the next fourteen years. 59. Upon information and belief, at least ten additional young men have come forward to state they were sexually abused by defendant GARY MERCURE since defendant MERCURE was first publicly identified in January 2008. Despite these additional victims of childhood sexual abuse by FR. MERCURE, the defendant HUBBARD has still not formally and finally removed this dangerous predator. 60. Approximately half of the young men are in their mid-thirties and these victims of defendant FR. MERCURE are from the Queensbury, Warren County area and St. Mary's Church. 61. Approximately half of the young men are in the early to mid-forties and these victims of defendant FR. MERCURE are from the Albany area and particularly St. Theresa of Avila. 62. These persons have all been encouraged to talk to and give assistance to Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan who upon information and belief has relayed information to these victims that she will not file or pursue criminal charges against the defendant MERCURE. 63. Upon information and belief, District Attorney Kate Hogan has investigated these claims of pedophilia in Warren County, and she has indicated to the ALBANY DIOCESE that defendant MERCURE has molested numerous children, and she knows this priest has abused children in Warren County, but to date the defendants have not made a final removal from ministry. WHEREFORE, the plaintiff respectfully requests injunctive relief, damages in the amount of Two Million ($2,000,000.00) Dollars, and an appropriate amount in punitive damages and for such further and other relief the Court deems just and equitable. DATED: NEW YORK, NEW YORK MAY 23, 2008 Yours etc., JOHN A. ARETAKIS Attorney for Plaintiff JOHN WATKINS 353 East 54th Street New York, New York 10022-4965 (914) 304-4995 Facsimile (518) 286-3065
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.