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Supreme Court: Release records on Bridgeport priest abuse

October 5, 2009

Daniel Tepfer
Connecticut Post
Staff writer

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to block the release of thousands of documents detailing claims of sexual abuse against priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport.

The justices turned down a request by the diocese to keep secret the records, some dating as far back as the 1960s.

The documents, which chronicle years of lawsuits against the diocese by people sexually abused by its priests, have been under seal since the diocese settled the cases in 2001. Courts in Connecticut ruled previously that the papers should be public.

"We are disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to extend the stay," the diocese said in a statement posted on its website. "The content of the sealed documents soon to be released has already been extensively reported on."

Since the 1990s, 20 priests in the Bridgeport diocese have been suspended in the sex-abuse scandal. In March 2001, the diocese paid $15 million in settlements and in October 2003 it paid out another $21 million.

In an interview Monday, Bishop William Lori pointed out the documents pertain to a court settlement that occurred before he became bishop here later that same year.

"My concern is not about the content of the documents, much of which has already been written about extensively, but it's more a question of legal principles at stake," Lori said. "This ruling compromises the right of churches to govern themselves.

He also said that priests named in the litigation haven't been in the ministry for many years.

Prodded to directly acknowledge that priests in the diocese, in fact, had abused children, Lori said: "I acknowledged it then and I acknowledge it now."

In the past, he said he apologized to victims of abuse by priests and that the diocese has made strides to ensure that sexual abuse by its priests will no longer occur.

A different note, however, was sounded by groups critical of the way the church hierarchy has handled the sex-abuse scandal.

"We are grateful with the Supreme Court's decision, but at the same time we are troubled that diocese officials fought so hard and so long to keep these records hidden," said David Clohessy, director of the Chicago-based SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

"These documents will contain information about diocese officials who actively concealed the sexual abuse of minors and, in some cases, are still working in the diocese," he said.

"This is not a case about the diocese's First Amendment right to choose its ministers and determine their suitability and assignments," said Dan Sullivan, a lawyer and co-chairman of the Voice of the Faithful chapter in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

"Rather, it is a case about the failure of the diocese to supervise properly its priests and take appropriate action to protect innocent children from priests that it knew to be sexual predators," he said.

The Supreme Court decision ends a legal battle that dragged on for years and could shed light on how recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the abuse allegations when he was bishop of the Bridgeport diocese.

A hearing on how the documents will be released to the public has been scheduled Nov. 9 before Waterbury Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens.

"This is a story of the betrayal and deception of children and their families by an individual in the ultimate position of trust. To understand the enormity, one must appreciate the fact that for the victims, their abuser was the closest thing to God," said Cindy Robinson, a lawyer at Tremont & Sheldon, who along with lawyers Jason Tremont and Douglas Mahoney, represented 24 victims in clergy abuse suits filed against the Diocese of Bridgeport dating back to 1993.

At the time, these Bridgeport diocese abuse cases were among the first of their kind in the nation.

"It makes perfect sense that the public should have access to documents filed in a public court, especially when it involves the sexual molestation of children," Jason Tremont said of the decision.

The Supreme Court action ends years of diocesan litigation battling the release of the documents.

A Waterbury Superior Court judge said in May 2002 the documents were subject to a presumption of public access. The diocese appealed that decision to the state Appellate Court, which sided with its arguments. However, the state Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision, ordering that the documents be released. The diocese then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in August denied the diocese's request to continue a stay on release of the papers, prompting the church to appeal to the full court. That appeal was turned down Monday.

Among the priests accused in lawsuits of abusing children in the diocese over the last several decades include: the Revs. Charles Stubbs, Martin Federici, Joseph Gorecki, Alfred Bietighofer, Raymond Pcolka, Richard Grady, Stanley Bonaszek, Henry Albecke, John DeShan, William Donovan, Vincent Veich, Sherman Gray, Albert McGoldrick, Robert Morrissey, Martin Ryan and W. Phillip Coleman.

Gorecki and Grady died of natural causes. Bietighofer hanged himself in May 2002 at a Maryland psychiatric hospital, weeks after being accused of molesting four altar boys at Blessed Sacrament Church in Bridgeport in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Federici, accused of molesting boys at Assumption Church in Westport, St. Ambrose Church in Bridgeport, St. Theresa Parish in Trumbull and St. Thomas Church in Norwalk, he later agreed to leave the priesthood after abuse allegations were made public.

According to court documents in 1988, DeShan initiated a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl while assigned to St. Augustine's Cathedral. The girl became pregnant in 1989 and DeShan was subsequently laicized, or dismissed, from the priesthood. He now teaches elementary school in New Jersey.

Ryan, accused in complaints filed in court of molesting three teen-age girls at St. Theresa's Parish in Trumbull in the mid-1970s, remains an active priest. His last assignment was at St. Joseph the Confessor Church in New Fairfield.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport documents on sex-abuse cases involving priests will be unsealed according to the following steps: On Oct. 21 the lawyers for the diocese and news organizations that requested the release of the documents must file legal arguments on the process for releasing the documents. Those written arguments must be filed by Nov. 4. On Nov. 9, Waterbury Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens will hold a hearing. He will then issue a ruling setting the guidelines for how the previously secret records will be made public.

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