BishopAccountability.org
	Motion Filed to Keep Bridgeport Priests' Sexual Abuse Documents Sealed By Dave Altimari Hartford Courantt July 18, 2009 http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-diocese-churchabuse0718.artjul18,0,2664320.story More than 12,000 documents detailing sexual abuse charges against priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport — and how church officials dealt with those allegations — will likely remain sealed indefinitely awaiting word on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the church's case. A diocesan attorney filed a motion Friday asking the state Supreme Court to extend the sealing of the documents because church officials plan to ask the nation's highest court to hear their case. The documents were scheduled to be unsealed Monday, but now will stay sealed at least through next week. Parties to the case have a week to file responses to the diocese's motion, according to an order issued Friday by Paul Hartan, deputy chief clerk of the state Supreme Court. In his motion, the diocese's attorney, Ralph W. Johnson III, said he will file the diocese's petition with the U.S. Supreme Court by Aug. 31. "The diocese believes there are important constitutional issues touching on religious beliefs and privacy issues that are important to pursue," Johnson said. Church officials said in a statement Friday that there are two main reasons to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court: the state court's unconstitutional interpretation of what a "judicial document" is and the First Amendment rights of the priests involved. The Connecticut Supreme Court was wrong to decide that all documents filed with the court, sealed or not, are "judicial documents" and presumed to be accessible to the public and the media, church officials said. "The purpose of the 'judicial document' doctrine is to shine light on the information used in the decision-making process of the courts, not to grant the media unfettered access into the private affairs of individuals and organizations," the church statement said. It will then take time for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether to hear the case. The court gets thousands of writs but usually decides to hear fewer than 100 each session. The church is asking the state Supreme Court to keep the files sealed at least until the higher court has decided whether to take up the diocese's appeal.Critics of the diocese questioned the church's motives for continuing a legal fight that it has lost at every step of the process. "No one wins here except a handful of self-serving, secretive top Catholic officials whose complicity in child sex crimes remains hidden even longer," said David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "This is more evidence that there has been virtually no reform in the church hierarchy despite repeated pledges of openness about pedophile priests." The attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, known officially as Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., is the last legal maneuver church officials can take in what has been a protracted battle with media organizations trying to get the files unsealed. Four newspapers, The Courant, New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post, have been fighting since 2002 to get the files unsealed. Many of the lawsuits go back to the mid-1990s and were settled all at once in March 2001. The files, however, were not destroyed and the newspapers went to court seeking intervenor status in the cases. The state Supreme Court ruled in May, 4-1, that the court documents involving 23 lawsuits against seven priests from the diocese should be unsealed. The court ruled that all but 15 of the more than 12,600 documents in the 23 separate files are public records. Those 15 documents, at least two of which are depositions, were not submitted as legal documents and are to remain sealed. Among the court documents are three depositions by then-Bishop Edward Egan, who was in charge of the Bridgeport diocese when most of the lawsuits against priests under his control were filed and adjudicated. Egan recently retired as the archbishop of New York.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.