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	No Decision on Release of Diocesan Records on Priest Sex Abuse By Daniel Tepfer Connecticut Post November 9, 2009 http://www.connpost.com/ci_13748630 WATERBURY -- A Superior Court judge is expected to decide later this week how to release to the public hundreds of documents detailing allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. During a hearing Monday at Waterbury Superior Court, lawyers for the diocese offered to go through the documents themselves and decide which ones should be made public. "I believe we could do it in a day," said Ralph Johnson, one of three lawyers representing the diocese during the hearing. Judge Barry Stevens said he would reserve decision on the diocese's offer. Johnson explained that he and his associates, along with the lawyers for several priests, would sit down and separate the documents into groups, with one to be released to the public. The judge could oversee the process, he suggested. Johnson said the diocesan lawyers would be prepared to go through the documents next Monday if the judge could provide them with a room. Paul Guggina, the lawyer for The Hartford Courant, said later he would prefer if the judge went through the documents with the diocesan lawyers watching. But he did not object to the diocese's offer. Johnson also asked the judge to only release copies of the documents and return the originals to the diocese. But Timothy Smyth, who represents The New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post, countered that there may be a difference between the originals and the copies. The process for releasing the diocesan records is under review after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month ended nearly a decade of appeals by the diocese trying to block the release of more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests. In March 2001, the diocese agreed to pay about $15 million to two dozen people who claimed they were abused by priests in the 1970s and early '80s. Since 1998 the diocese, under court order, had to turn over to the court documents requested by the lawyers representing people who claimed they were abused by priests. The documents come from the diocese's so-called secret archive and detail complaints of abuse that were brought to diocese officials and what actions were taken by those officials, specifically then-Bishop Edward Egan. Some documents that became public during earlier court proceedings show that Egan had re-assigned priests to new posts when they were accused of abuse. Also included among the documents is a transcript of a deposition, or interview, between Egan and the lawyers for the victims. Courts have previously ruled the public can't see the medical records of priests and any document that mentions the name of any of seven priests whose information is included in the documents, but were not part of the original lawsuit. DIOCESE RECORDS What's included in the Diocese of Bridgeport records on sex-abuse claims against priests: n Transcript of Cardinal Edward Egan's deposition n Written complaints to diocese officials about abuse n Letters from Egan re-assigning priests accused of abuse n Reports from mental health facilities where accused priests were examined
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