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	Clergy Abuse in Delaware: Diocese's No. 2 Man Denies Cover-Up By Sean O'Sullivan News Journal November 10, 2010 http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101110/NEWS01/11100333/Diocese-s-No.-2-man-denies-cover-up DOVER -- An attorney for a man who was sexually abused by a priest when he was a teenager accused the No. 2 man in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington of covering up for the pedophile priest, sparking an angry and emotional exchange in Delaware Superior Court on Tuesday. "Not correct. Not true and you know it," said a clearly agitated Monsignor Thomas Cini, the vicar general of the diocese, after attorney Stephen J. Neuberger accused Cini of withholding testimony. He also accused Cini of covering up for defrocked priest and admitted pedophile Francis DeLuca because of fears of the effect it might have on the collection plate. Neuberger, who is representing John Vai in a civil suit against DeLuca and St. Elizabeth Parish, pressed further, charging that Cini -- who served with DeLuca as a parish priest at St. Elizabeth's in 1968-69 -- was "rewarded" with a series of promotions to "chief of staff" for the bishop for his role in covering up DeLuca's crimes. "I can't believe you are asking the question," Cini shot back. "I didn't cover up for Frank DeLuca. I'm not part of a conspiracy to cover up anything. I'm shocked and surprised to be accused," Cini added later on the stand. "I had no indication it was happening. If I knew I would have said something," Cini said earlier Tuesday. John Vai filed suit under the Delaware Child Victims Act of 2007, which suspended the statute of limitations to allow children who were victims of sex abuse years ago to file civil suits seeking damages. Cini said he never saw DeLuca bring Vai or any other young boy up to the bedroom next door to his own on the second floor of St. Elizabeth's rectory when he and DeLuca were there. Cini said if he had seen such a thing, he would have reported it immediately, adding, "I didn't perceive Frank to be a danger." Cini also flatly denied last week's testimony by a man, identified in court only as "John Doe 18," who said Cini warned him to stay away from DeLuca. Doe testified he had been abused by DeLuca and one day in late 1968 when Doe was driving DeLuca's sports car back to the church, a different priest -- the parish's pastor -- came running toward the car yelling, "You told me you wouldn't do this anymore. What are they [young boys] doing in the car?" Doe, who was a senior at St. Elizabeth High School at the time, said Cini confronted him the next day and told him DeLuca was "in trouble" and that Doe, by hanging out with DeLuca, "was tempting him." Cini said he could not recall any incident like that. "I wouldn't accuse a kid of tempting a priest. ... I had no knowledge, so how could I say that," he said. Cini also testified that the diocese had paid DeLuca's legal bills for a time, but said that was done only at the bishop's direction and because at that time the diocese and DeLuca were defendants in the case together. The diocese was removed as a plaintiff in the Vai case after it filed for bankruptcy last year. Cini also denied that he admitted to a "cover-up" to one victim of priest abuse in 2004, claiming he was acting in a pastoral capacity at the time, trying to comfort the man, and was not making legal admissions. "I'm sorry for it and I repeat it today," he said. "My job was to apologize for what happened to them [victims of abuse] ... I was embarrassed by what a number of priests had done." The courtroom drama between Cini and Neuberger nearly overshadowed earlier testimony from another priest, the Rev. Thomas Peterman, who also served with DeLuca and Cini at St. Elizabeth's. Peterman, 79, testified that he saw DeLuca often hanging out with children from the parish and its schools and felt DeLuca was "too chummy" with some. Asked if he was surprised that -- years later -- DeLuca was accused of and admitted molesting young boys, Peterman first answered, "Yes and no." Because of a defense objection, the jury was briefly removed and Peterman was asked, based on what he knew of DeLuca "pre-1970," if he was surprised by the allegations, Peterman responded, "No." Defense attorney Colleen Shields then said she had no objection, but added she believed Peterman was "confused" by the question. Seconds later, after the jury was brought back and Neuberger asked the same question again, the priest responded, "Yes." Confronted about the sudden change, Peterman responded that he was "confused" by the question. Testimony in the case before Superior Court President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. will resume Friday, when plaintiff John Vai is expected to take the stand. Contact Sean O'Sullivan at 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com.
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