US: Jury selection has begun in Boston in the first of three criminal trials of a former Boston priest, John J. Geoghan (66), a self-confessed paedophile, whose 30-year history of rapes and abuse of up to 130 boys is a cause of serious embarrassment to the Boston archdiocese writes Patrick Smyth, Washington Correspondent
The latter has already settled some 50 Geoghan-related civil lawsuits for more than $10 million and another 84 are still pending in what is the biggest paedophilia scandal to embroil the church here in 10 years.
Last week, following a major investigation by the Boston Globe, Cardinal Bernard Law apologised to parishioners for moving the priest in 1984 to a new parish, where he continued to abuse, despite evidence that the known abuser was not "cured" and an appeal from one of his own bishops not to do so. Bishop John M. D'Arcy wrote at the time challenging the wisdom of the assignment in light of Geoghan's "history of homosexual involvement with young boys".
At the time the older prevailing wisdom that paedophiles could be cured was already being strongly challenged.
The repeated transfer of the priest to other parishes as new evidence emerged against him and the church's failure to report him to the police have given rise to serious local criticism.
The Globe reports that on many occasions parents of those making allegations were prevailed upon by priests not to go public with their claims.
The diocese has also done all it could in the courts to deny journalists access to records but have been ordered to open their files by the end of the month.
Cardinal Law and five local bishops are among those cited for negligence in many of the civil suits. The five, all since promoted to head their own dioceses, are Bishops Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, New York; Robert J.
Banks of Green Bay, Wisconsin; William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York; John B. McCormack of Manchester, New Hampshire, and Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans. Cardinal Law and the five bishops have all denied the accusations. Although Geoghan has been accused of molesting more than 130 children, the case beginning this week will revolve around a single charge: that Geoghan improperly touched the buttocks of a 10-year-old boy in the swimming pool of the Waltham Boys and Girls Club during the autumn of 1991.
Geoghan was finally removed from parish duties in 1993, and from the priesthood by the Pope in 1998.
He appears to have particularly targeted poor children and went to some trouble to attach himself to single-parent families. In 1995 and 1996, according to court records examined by the Globe, Geoghan explained his method: "The children were just so affectionate, I got caught up in their acts of affection. Children from middle-class families never acted like that toward me, so I never got so confused."
He was, by his own assessment, a heterosexual. But he told a therapist during his treatment sessions that his victims were usually young prepubescent boys. He said he "avoided girls", explaining, "I picked the boys because in some way they were the safest, the girls and the mothers would have been more dangerous."
Geoghan, who claims to have no assets, is being defended by a public defender in the criminal actions and by himself in the civil actions. But the Globe has also produced evidence that he sold two houses worth over $1 miliion to a family trust for a dollar only days before civil suits started landing on his doorstep.
In the past 15 years, about 1,000 paedophile priests have been identified in the US and during that period the church has paid nearly $800 million to settle with victims of sexual abuse, according to those who track the issue. There are about 50,000 priests in the US.