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	Priest's Conduct an Issue in 2000 By Jon Alexander Berkshire Eagle February 16, 2011 http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_17397818 The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese received a report of misconduct as early as 2000 about Gary Mercure, the priest convicted last week of raping two altar boys from his Queensbury, N.Y., parish in the 1980s. Mercure, 62, faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced today in Berkshire Superior Court. Mercure, the former associate pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Queensbury, N.Y., assaulted the boys during day trips to the Berkshires in 1986 and 1989. The victims are now in their 30s. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Albany Diocese acknowledged it had received a complaint well before the 2008 internal investigation that led to Mercure's conviction. The church says it dropped the matter when it was raised more than a decade ago because the accuser declined to press the issue. The mother of two former Queensbury altar boys who testified against Mercure in Berkshire County Court earlier this month notified the diocese of misconduct in 2000, according to a letter that surfaced during Mercure's trial. "My mother informed Rev. Louis E. Deimeke in or about 2000," the letter states. "Accordingly, the first notice received by the diocese would have been approximately eight years ago." Ken Goldfarb, a spokesman for the diocese, said the church was told the victim had no interest in pursuing a formal investigation in 2000. He said that without a formal complaint, the church's hands were tied. "The diocese called in Mercure and questioned him. He denied the allegations," Goldfarb said, adding that even after asking for more information, the individual was not willing to come forward with a complaint. Mercure continued his ministry until he was removed in 2008. At an Albany press conference on Monday, Michael Flynn, a victim who testified during the grand jury investigation of Mercure, blasted the diocese and said Bishop Howard Hubbard and diocesan leadership is culpable for the abuses. "Anyone who covers up this type of abuse is just as guilty as Mercure," Flynn said. But Goldfarb stressed there was no cover-up. "The Albany Diocese takes every complaint very seriously," Goldfarb said. "Mercure's conviction was a result of us, once we had something substantive, referring the matter to the Warren County (N.Y.) District Attorney." Mercure was permanently removed from ministry by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany in 2008, but he technically remains a priest. Only the Vatican has authority to formally secularize or "laicize" a priest, reducing a cleric to the lay state and stripping him of any religious authority. The Post-Star of Glens Falls, N.Y., contributed this report through a shared coverage agreement. Berkshire Eagle staff contributed to this report.
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