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	Diocese Seeks Appeal to Supreme Court WTNH July 18, 2009 http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/fairfield_cty/news_wtnh_diocese_seeks_appeal_to_supreme _court_200907172221 [with video] Bridgeport (WTNH) - Church officials are appealing a Connecticut court's decision to make public thousands of pages of documents about sexual abuse by priests. Church officials have asked the state's highest court to not release the documents while it appeals to the nations' highest court to weigh in on the matter. Lawyers for the diocese argued that only certain documents should be open to public. Survivors of alleged abuse see it differently. Jim Hackett knows what it's like to keep a secret. In the mid 1970's when he was just 12, Hackett says he was abused by priest at Blessed Sacrament in Hamden. "I, myself, told my family about it initially," Hackett said. "At least 25 years it was a secret between myself and my parents." He settled his case as part of class action lawsuit and is now part of a group called SNAP or Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, a group that wants the state to release thousands of documents detailing alleged abuse by priests in the Bridgeport Archdiocese. "I don't think it has anything to do with First Amendment protections," Hackett said. "I think it has to do with exposing people who abuse children flat and simple." That decision may wind up in the hands of the nation's highest court. The Bridgeport Diocese is appealing a State Supreme Court ruling that would make public thousands of pages of from lawsuits against six priests. The documents have been sealed from public view since the diocese settled the cases back in 2001. "To me it's just more of the cover ups protecting of priests," Hackett said. "Delay tactics within the court system, the church has shown a history of doing this." But the Diocese sees it differently issuing a statement saying, "There are constitutional rights and privacy issues of great concern for all citizens that the diocese wishes the U.S. Supreme Court to review and decide." But Jim Hackett says enough with the secrets, that's why he shares his story. "So I put my face out there and say that man did that to me so that people would know this is a true story and this stuff really goes on," Hackett said. Some say the records could shed light on recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan who handled the allegations when he was Bridgeport Bishop from 1988 to 2000.
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