Repeat offender
By Hwei Wen Foo and Ellen Barry
Boston Globe
April 3, 2002
Despite the Catholic Church’s attempts to provide therapy for
its sex-offender priests, some of them – like Father John Geoghan
– spent years moving in and out of the system. Geoghan is accused
of molesting 130 boys, one as young as 4 years old.
Key |
![Alleged act of abuse](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/abuse_icon.gif) |
Alleged
acts of abuse |
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![Treatment](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/treatment_icon.gif) |
Treatment | |
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![Alleged act of abuse](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/abuse_icon.gif) |
Early
1960s | At Blessed
Sacrament in Saugus, Geoghan often took young boys to his
rectory bedroom to "wrestle," said a fellow priest.
![Treatment](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/treatment_icon.gif) |
1968 | Geoghan
received treatment for sexual abuse at the Seton Institute in
Baltimore, according to a therapist there at the time.
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14 plaintiffs
have accused Geoghan of abusing them during this
period.
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![Alleged act of abuse](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/abuse_icon.gif) |
1974 | Geoghan
abuses a 12-year-old Roslindale boy at St. Andrew's Church in
Jamaica Plain, according to criminal charges.
![Treatment](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/treatment_icon.gif) |
April
3-12, 1989 | Geoghan
is assessed at St. Luke Institute in Maryland, which he
describes as "cold, mechanistic." He received an
electrocardiogram and CAT scan. Diagnosis: homosexual
pedophilia.
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90 plaintiffs have
accused Geoghan of abusing them during this period.
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![Treatment](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/treatment_icon.gif) |
Sept.-Nov.,
1989 | Geoghan spends
three months in residential treatment at the Institute of
Living in Hartford, Conn. Psychiatrist
Robert Swords offered a diagnosis of "atypical pedophilia, in
remission." Swords wrote that Geoghan was "clinically quite
safe to resume his ministry."
![Alleged act of abuse](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/abuse_icon.gif) |
1992 | Geoghan
fondles an altar boy donning vestments for a christening
ceremony, according to criminal charges.
![Treatment](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/treatment_icon.gif) |
January
1995 | Geoghan returns
to St. Luke Institute. His superiors are told he should not
have unsupervised contact with male minors.
![Alleged act of abuse](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/abuse_icon.gif) |
1995 | Geoghan
allegedly molests a Weymouth boy.
![Treatment](2002_04_03_Barry_PriestTreatment_repeat_offender_files/treatment_icon.gif) |
July-September
1996 | Geoghan in
residential treatment at Southdown, a psychiatric hospital in
Ontario. "The primary objective is to aid Fr. John in being
able to experience, identify, and express his feelings," wrote
therapist Samuel Mikhail. In December, he is granted senior
priest retirement status.
Geoghan
is defrocked. |
16 plaintiffs have
accused Geoghan of abusing them during this period.
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Sources: Court documents;
news reports; Mitchell Garabedian.
From: http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2003/public-service/works/globe13.html |
Graphic:
Globe Staff/Hwei Wen Foo and Boston.com
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