Diocese Was Warned about Predator Priest; SNAP Responds

SNAP
October 14, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/vt_diocese_was_warned_about_predator_priest_snap_responds

[Albany Times Union]

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

Thanks to a brave abuse victim and a Vermont judge, 88 pages of long-secret Catholic church records about a predator priest have been released. The documents show why Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard and his lawyers fought so hard to keep Fr. Gary Mercure’s files secret. Those files show that Mercure “was returned to ministry — with no restrictions regarding his contact with children — even after the diocese [knew] he had a sexual affair with a young man in the early 1990s.”

The documents also reveal that “Mercure systematically stole money from church coffers and used it to lavish young men and boys with cash, gifts and living expenses as he brazenly maintained a sexually active, homosexual lifestyle for decades.” We can’t help but wonder how many current and former Catholic employees knew of or suspected these gifts – and why they were given – but chose to keep silent rather than report possible crimes to police.

Mercure's abuse of young boys began as early as the late 1970s, not long after Mercure was ordained as a priest for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

Only about one sixth of the 500+ pages of church records about Fr. Mercure have been released, and Bishop Hubbard’s lawyers heavily redacted them. We suspect that the other 400+ pages contain equally horrific evidence of cover up by Bishop Hubbard, his staff and his predecessor.

We are grateful to the brave victim whose lawsuit is helping to reveal the truth about powerful Catholic men who commit and conceal heinous crimes against children. We hope his courage will inspire others who were hurt – by Fr. Mercure or other Albany-area clerics – to step forward, get help, call police and start healing.