Critics Want Bishops to Disclose Where Abusive Priests Went, by Daniel Tepfer, Stamford Advocate, February 3, 2010

Critics Want Bishops to Disclose Where Abusive Priests Went

By Daniel Tepfer
Stamford Advocate
February 3, 2010

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Critics-want-bishops-to-disclose-where-abusive-349391.php

[link to Bridgeport diocese documents]

BRIDGEPORT (CT) -- Supporters of people abused as children by priests demanded Wednesday that Roman Catholic Bishop William Lori publicly disclose the location of former diocesan priests accused of abuse.

"Documents recently released that detail abuse show that priests from the diocese were sent out all over the country where they could have been endangering children," said Terrence McKiernan, director of the Boston-based BishopAccountability.org, an organization dedicated to documenting cases of clergy abuse around the nation, during a press conference outside the Diocese of Bridgeport's Catholic Center on Jewett Avenue.

Voice of the Faithful board member John Marshall Lee, left of Bridgeport, and co-director of BishopAccountability.org Terry McKiernan of Natick, MA, protest outside the Catholic Center on Jewett Avenue in Bridgeport on Wednesday, February 3, 2010.
Photo by Brian A. Pounds

"Dioceses around the country were affected when priests were spun out of here," he said.

McKiernan, along with John Marshal Lee of Voice of the Faithful, a group of Catholics seeking more accountability from church leaders, delivered a letter to Lori's office asking him and the heads of the nation's dioceses to disclose the whereabouts of priests accused of abusing children.

"We worry that one or more members of your flock may have been hurt by one of these clerics and we suspect that one or more members of your flock may have information about one of these clerics that could be helpful to law enforcement," the letter states.

The letter urges bishops to personally visit parishes were predator priests worked, alerting unsuspecting parishioners and urging them to go to law-enforcement agencies with any information they may have about a priest's activities.

Lori is currently out of state.

"I don't want to minimize the pain and suffering these people suffered," said Brian Wallace, a diocesan spokesman. "We faced what occurred and dealt with the shame of it but we now have a great system in place that protects children and guarantees accountability."

In November, the Diocese of Bridgeport was forced by court order to release thousands of pages in documents under seal since 2001 detailing allegations of abuse by its priests.

In March 2001, the diocese paid $15 million in settlements and in October 2003 it paid out another $21 million.

Among the priests accused in lawsuits of abusing children in the diocese over the last several decades were: the Revs. Charles Stubbs, Martin Federici, Joseph Gorecki, Alfred Bietighofer, Raymond Pcolka, Richard Grady, Stanley Bonaszek, Henry Albecke, John DeShan, William Donovan, Vincent Veich, Sherman Gray, Albert McGoldrick, Robert Morrissey and W. Phillip Coleman.

All of these priests ultimately were suspended by the diocese. None were reinstated. However, the documents revealed that some of the priests, after being accused of abuse, were allowed to work in dioceses out of state, while parishioners in those parishes were never told the priests had been accused of abuse.

In one of the most notorious cases, the Rev. Laurence Brett, after being removed from ministry in Bridgeport, was allowed to minister in churches in California and Maryland where he was later accused of abusing children.