Fall River Diocese Named in Minnesota Lawsuit

By Auditi Guha
SouthCoast Today
September 25, 2014

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140925/NEWS/409250375/-1/news

In a Minnesota lawsuit naming the Fall River Diocese as one of the defendants, a 51-year-old woman is charging that ex-priest James Porter sexually abused her when she was in the first and second grades.

Porter, a convicted pedophile who died in 2005, was at one time assigned to the Fall River Diocese and the suit — filed Tuesday by Linda Carroll in Polk County, Minnesota — charges that officials there had covered up for his actions as he was moved on to other assignments.

The suit was made public Wednesday in a news release from SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) on the same day Edgar Moreira da Cunha was installed as the eighth bishop of the Fall River Diocese.

In its release, SNAP also called on da Cunha to visit all the diocesan parishes where Porter worked. According to the lawsuit, in the 1960s he served at the former St. James Church in New Bedford and Sacred Heart Parish in Fall River, as well as St. Mary's Church in North Attleboro.

"What an inspiration it would be if Fall River's new bishop started his tenure by personally going to every parish where Porter worked begging victims to step forward and get help. We doubt this will happen but it should," said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a statement

Bishop da Cunha "was just installed today. He is going to figure out the best way to serve the diocese," spokesman John Kearns said Wednesday night. He said da Cunha was not available for comment.

Kearns said neither of them had seen the SNAP release or the lawsuit.

A serial pedophile, Porter was convicted in 1993 of molesting 28 children as a priest in Fall River but was accused of sexually abusing more than 100 children during his 14 years in the clergy. He was sentenced to serve 20 years in state prison but died in 2005 of cancer.

In 1992, as a result of the Porter scandal, then-Fall River bishop Sean O'Malley implemented several new policies to curb clergy sex abuse. O'Malley, now archbishop of Boston, was among the celebrants at da Cunha's installation Wednesday at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River.

Da Cunha has previously said that he will take necessary steps to protect children and investigate credible allegations of sexual abuse against priests and diocesan employees.

Outside da Cunha's installation Wednesday, three advocates for clergy sex abuse victims held signs accusing him of not doing enough to protect victims when he was a priest and auxiliary bishop in New Jersey.

Herald News Staff Writer Brian Fraga contributed to this report

Contact: aguha@s-t.com