Iobserve
May 26, 2010
http://www.iobserve.org/rn0525a.html
Former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupré has moved from a treatment facility for troubled clergy and religious in Silver Spring, Md., to a residence for retired priests in Washington, D.C., according to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
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At a press conference in Springfield on May 25, SNAP claimed that Bishop Dupré, who abruptly resigned as head of the diocese in 2004 amid accusations he had sexually abused two minors when he was a priest, now lives at the Cardinal O'Boyle Residence.
The facility on Varnum Street in Northeast Washington is a home for retired priests of the Washington, D.C. Archdiocese.
Several press reports have claimed that immediately after his resignation in 2004, Bishop Dupré was a resident of St. Luke Institute, a treatment facility for troubled clergy and religious in suburban Silver Spring, Md. Springfield television station WWLP-22NEWS visited the facility six years ago and videotaped a man resembling the bishop in a doorway.
However, the Diocese of Springfield has never officially disclosed the location of the bishop, or whether it has recently changed.
William J. Nash, a local SNAP activist who held the press gathering in front of the Springfield Diocese's pastoral center, criticized the church for keeping "Bishop Dupré's whereabouts and the church's response to his crimes a closely guarded secret."
He said that his group had heard about the bishop's new home from John Stobierski, a Greenfield attorney representing several clergy sexual abuse victims, and from an individual he declined to identify.
"We are a group that deals with victims confidentially, so we have to keep it at that," Nash said.
Various federal privacy laws, particularly 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (H.I.P.A.A.), prohibit medical providers, insurers and business associates from disclosing the identity of patients or information about their medical treatment without the patient's consent.
The same principal applies to whatever pension he may be receiving from the diocese to meet his living expenses. "Our legal counsel has told us that we can't reveal the amount of any help he's getting, since it would violate his legal expectation of privacy," said Mark E. Dupont, a spokesman for the diocese.
In a written statement disseminated after the SNAP conferences, Dupont stated: "As we have repeatedly stated in the past, these matters pertaining to Bishop Dupré do not come under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Springfield" since the former bishop "has taken up permanent residence outside of this diocese.
"Under the rules of the church, we are obliged to provide retirement benefits to all former bishops," Dupont said.
"However, releasing his or any retired person's personal financial information along with health care information for any individual would be a violation of that person's reasonable expectation of privacy and in the case of healthcare issues a clear violation of H.I.P.A.A.," the statement continued.
"We would assert that SNAP's allegations today are based on their speculation," Dupont stated. "We can say, without being specific to any particular individual, that persons who are discharged from any type of treatment facility are normally required to maintain some oversight. This would be the standard."
During its May 25 press conference, SNAP called on Pope Benedict XVI to "openly investigate all charges against prelates who have been accused of sexually abusing children or vulnerable adults."
It also called on the church to disclose the whereabouts of what it termed "more than 20 other sexually offending prelates."
"We're asking the Vatican to immediately order him (Bishop Dupré) back to a secure facility," Nash said at the Springfield conference. He said the Vatican should sanction the former Springfield bishop and other bishops accused of abuse.
"It's an opportunity for the church to show they care about the protection of children," Nash said. He also called on church officials to stop fighting the passage of state laws which would eliminate the statutes of limitations on prosecuting alleged child abusers.
Nash gave reporters a November 2008 SNAP fact sheet listing several U.S. bishops who have admitted to acts of abuse, or who resigned abruptly amid accusations.
The list also labeled as offenders several bishops who had been cleared of abuse charges by church or civil authorities. Most prominent among the names is Albany, NY., Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, who was accused in 2004 of sexual misconduct.
Bishop Hubbard hired former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White to investigate the charges against him. After a four-month probe costing $2.1 million, White's investigators concluded that the bishop had never engaged in any kind of sexual activity with anyone. The lawyer who brought the charges against the bishop was later suspended from the practice of law by the state court system for professional misconduct.
When asked whether or not he was accusing the Vatican of covering up abuse by Bishop Hubbard, Nash said that "he didn't know enough about his case to comment."
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