WMUR
April 4, 2011
http://www.wmur.com/r/27426772/detail.html
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The Republican leader of the New Hampshire House asked Monday for a meeting with Roman Catholic Bishop John McCormack to apologize for his choice of words in calling McCormack a "pedophile pimp."
State Rep. D.J. Bettencourt of Salem told reporters Monday when he gets his meeting with McCormack: "I will immediately be apologizing for my remarks."
Kevin Donovan, spokesman for the Diocese of Manchester, said McCormack will be happy to meet privately with Bettencourt. He said the Diocese is scheduling a meeting.
Bettencourt said his comment about McCormack was undiplomatic and inappropriate. He said he still has a strong opinion about McCormack's role in the clergy abuse sex scandal in the last decade.
"It was a shoot from the hip statement made in the heat of the moment," Bettencourt said.
McCormack was among about a dozen speakers at a rally Thursday to protest deep cuts to social services included in the House's $10.2 billion budget. Bettencourt took issue Friday, writing on his Facebook page that McCormack had no business urging lawmakers to protect the vulnerable, given his role in the clergy sex abuse scandal in the last decade.
Before being named bishop of Manchester in 1998, McCormack served as a top aide to Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston, where the Catholic sex abuse scandal began and where he was in charge of investigating sexual misconduct allegations.
In 2002, McCormack averted unprecedented criminal charges against the New Hampshire diocese by agreeing that it had harmed children by moving abusive priests from parish to parish. A spokesman for the diocese said Friday that Bettencourt's remarks were false, defamatory and detracted from the real issue - the state's obligation to the poor.
Bettencourt stood by his comments later Friday, but on Saturday sent McCormack a letter saying that upon reflection, his comments were "undiplomatic and a better choice of words was both warranted and appropriate." But Bettencourt also said that for many Catholics, McCormack's "presence as bishop is an ongoing reminder of an evil that was perpetrated on those most vulnerable and innocent."
"My comments reflected my feelings toward someone who, in his position, played such a prominent role in a terribly dark chapter in the history of the Catholic Church," Bettencourt wrote. He also defended his reaction to McCormack's criticism of the House budget. House budget writers "poured their hearts" into protecting the most vulnerable, he wrote.
Gov. John Lynch and the Washington-based group Catholics United urged Bettencourt to retract his comments. A group of Democratic lawmakers wrote Republican House Speaker William O'Brien on Monday urging him to condemn the comments.
In his meeting with reporters Monday, Bettencourt, who is Catholic, said he took time to reflect and pray about the issue during the weekend and accepts responsibility for not living up to his own high standard for public statements.
"I failed to separate the man from his church," he said of McCormack.
But he said he wanted to tell McCormack to his face his words were poorly chosen regardless of his strong opinions on the sex abuse issue.
"A man of God should not be addressed in that fashion," he said.
Bettencourt also said he has pulled down his Facebook page for a while.
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