BishopAccountability.org
	Vote a Green Light to Rename City Bridge Kennbec Journal July 25, 2008 http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/5258817.html After the unanimous vote Monday night by the Augusta City Council urging state legislators to rename the city's Father John J. Curran Bridge, we see no obstacle to lawmakers doing just that when they reconvene in January. At least two people have come forward and claimed that Curran, an Augusta priest who died in 1976, sexually abused them when they were children. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland investigated both claims; spokeswoman Sue Bernard says the diocese believes one of the two formal accusations to be true and if Curran were alive today, the diocese would ask the Vatican to prevent him from ministering. That has already led the University of Maine at Augusta to remove Curran's name from a scholarship there. The Calumet Club in Augusta also recently removed the priest's name from a scholarship it offers through its educational foundation, although foundation leaders say it was not related to the allegations of abuse. And Bishop John Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maine, joined Calumet Club President Patrick Boucher in expressing support for the council's resolution. All of this comes after advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse made the reasonable request that the pain inflicted by abusers not be exacerbated by the existence of public monuments or memorials to those abusers. Put another way: A bridge named after a confirmed abuser is a slap in the face to his victims. The Legislature now has the green light to right that wrong.
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