Prosecutors to Remind Church to Report Sexual Abuse
State's Attorneys to Send Letters to Catholic Dioceses

By Day Staff Writer
The Day [New London CT]
February 26, 2002

The state's top prosecutors met Monday in Rocky Hill to decide whether recent sexual abuse scandals involving Roman Catholic priests and children should prompt more vigorous disclosure policies in Connecticut.

At Chief State's Attorney John Bailey's office, Connecticut's 13 state's attorneys spent 45 minutes discussing the matter at their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. They decided that the state would send out letters to the state's Catholic dioceses, reminding them that they are legally required to notify state authorities if they suspect any type of sexual abuse.

The dioceses are among the state's "mandated reporters," meaning that they have a legal obligation to report allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse. Many organizations and professionals, including social workers, teachers and doctors, also have mandated reporter status. The state's attorney's office said Monday that the letters were not intended to single out any particular group and would be sent to all mandated reporters.

A spokesman for the Most Rev. Daniel A. Hart, Bishop of Norwich, who has been in place since 1995, said Hart would not comment on the state's attorneys' meeting. Hart did, however, issue a statement on the Norwich Diocese's position.

"One of the most reprehensible crimes against children is sexual abuse. Particularly repugnant is any sexual misconduct committed by a priest or employee of the diocese," Hart wrote. "Our diocesan policy is clear: to maintain a safe environment in the Church for all people, particularly our children. For this policy to be effective, it's imperative that allegations of sexual misconduct be reported as soon as possible."

In the past decade, at least four people have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against clergy of the Norwich Diocese. A spokesman said Monday that there are no existing allegations of sexual misconduct that have not already been publicly aired.

In 1999, state police arrested Richard T. Buongirno, an associate pastor at St. Joseph Church in New London from 1984 to 1986 and pastor of St. Matthias Church in East Lyme from 1990 to 1993, on four counts of risk of injury to a minor. The charges stemmed from a lengthy police investigation that revealed Buongirno fondled a 9-year-old boy at least four times in the early 1990s, during his tenure at St. Matthias.

The statute of limitations on the crime is seven years and the charges were dismissed, but in 2000 the victim filed a civil suit against Buongirno, alleging he was molested repeatedly between 1987 and 1998. The suit alleged the Diocese of Norwich "failed to investigate, investigated inadequately or concealed the results of their investigation, allowing the defendant to continue his molestation of the plaintiff."

The year he was arrested, Buongirno requested "laicization," a process that returns a priest to lay status.

In May of 1994, two brothers, Matthew and Mark Nutt, filed a lawsuit accusing the Rev. Thomas J. Doyle of sexually abusing them during the late 1970s while a priest at St. Bernard's Church in Rockville. The diocese and the church were initially named in the lawsuit, but eventually were withdrawn when the attorney for the Nutts determined that no one in the diocese or church knew of the molestation.

In 1993, a former altar boy at Our Lady of Lourdes in Gales Ferry accused the Rev. Raymond J. Jean of sexually abusing him when he was 13, in the early 1970s. Jean has since passed away, but the case is still pending.

Also still pending are allegations against the Rev. Bernard W. Bissonnette, the former priest of St. Mary's Church in Putnam.

Bissonnette, who was ordered to New Mexico by the Norwich Diocese for treatment after several complaints of sexual abuse, is accused of sexually molesting Thomas Deary III in the 1960s. Bissonnette remains in New Mexico, where a Superior Court case is pending. Deary committed suicide in 1991.

The Archdiocese of Hartford and the Dioceses of Bridgeport and Norwich each have policies regarding sexual misconduct by clergy or employees that require church officials to notify legal authorities when a verifiable complaint of sexual abuse has been leveled. Those written policies are accessible to the public.

In the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the Roman Catholic community of Boston, church officials throughout New England and beyond have announced new, more stringent policies aimed at curbing sexual abuse by priests and have provided prosecutors with lists of clergy members accused of sexual misconduct.

Last month, Cardinal Bernard F. Law of the Archdiocese of Boston, announced a zero-tolerance policy on sexual abuse. Since then, church officials have turned over the names of 80 current and former priests accused of sexual abuse over the past four decades. So far, 10 priests have been removed from their positions.

The reforms were prompted by the arrest and conviction of former priest John J. Geoghan, who last week was sentenced to a 10-year sentence for groping a young boy in a Boston-area swimming pool a decade ago.

Geoghan is accused of molesting 130 boys and faces more than 80 civil lawsuits, but so far only the one case has gone to trial.

The accusations against Geoghan represent the most ever made against a priest in the United States.

An investigation by The Boston Globe also revealed that church officials knew about accusations against Geoghan over the past 30 years, but merely moved him from one parish to the next.

In Philadelphia, as many as 10 priests accused of sexual abuse were fired two weeks ago, and in Vermont, the Diocese of Burlington said it would launch an investigation into sexual misconduct by priests there.

In New Hampshire, a bishop provided prosecutors with the names of 14 priests accused of sexual misconduct with children from 1963 to 1987.

g.gustin@theday.com