"In Geoghan's case, the church defied its own most basic values of protecting the young and fostering celibacy," said A.W. More allegations were made to the Archdiocese and Bishop Daily began to be worried.
image15off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/about_site_off.gif";
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The civil and criminal allegations Geoghan faces in Middlesex and Suffolk counties suggest that he allegedly abused at least 30 more boys after Law sent him to Weston in 1984 - both before and after the half years sick leave in 1989. He was found guilty on February 21, 2002, of indecent assault and battery for grabbing the buttocks of a 10-year-old boy in a swimming pool at the Waltham Boys and Girls Club in 1991, and was sentenced to nine to ten years in prison. Geoghan's criminal defense attorney, Geoffrey Packard, said his client would have no comment on any of the allegations against him. The civil and criminal allegations Geoghan faces in Middlesex and Suffolk counties suggest that he allegedly abused at least 30 more boys after Law sent him to Weston in 1984 - both before and after the half year's sick leave in 1989. No responsible clinician would have said it was safe to transfer him to another parish in light of what the church knew about his pattern of deviant behavior, MacLeish said. Comparable homes on the same street have sold recently for $460,000 to $625,000, according to real estate records. . In 1983, Father Geoghan and his sister bought the houses from their mother and uncle for less than $100 . [7], On November 28, 1990, Banks recommended that Geoghan return to the parish, but left the decision up to Cardinal Law and another bishop. father geoghan scituate. In November, acting on a motion by the Globe, Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney ordered those documents made public. American Catholic priest and child rapist, Effects of the Geoghan case on other church leaders, sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston, "Spotlight Church abuse report: Church allowed abuse by priest for years", "Former priest says he warned of acts against children", "Papers in Pedophile Case Show Church Effort to Avert Scandal", "Ex-Priest Gets Maximum Sentence in Abuse Case", "Geoghan victims agree to $10m settlement", "Geoghan ruling sparks anger: Alleged victims protest erasure of conviction", "Prosecutor: Inmate considered Geoghan 'a prize', "Long Planning Is Cited in Death Of Former Priest", "Alleged Geoghan killer led troubled life, records show", "Former priest slain in prison is buried in Brookline cemetery", "Green Bay's Bishop Banks submits letter of resignation", "Bishop John M. D'Arcy, 80; warned against transfer of pedophile to new parish", "Bishop Emeritus John D'Arcy dies at 80; he warned about sex abuse", "Cardinal Bernard Law to be honored Thursday with Vatican funeral", "Billy Talent Interviews - Devil In A Midnight Mass (Ben & Aaron)", Diocesan and court records relating to John Geoghan, Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, Category:Catholic priests convicted of sexual abuse, Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Parish transfers of abusive Catholic priests, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Debate on the causes of clerical child abuse, Media coverage of Catholic sexual abuse cases, List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Boston, Our Lady of Good Voyage, the Seaport Shrine, St. Mary St. Catherine of Siena, Charlestown, Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Geoghan&oldid=1139456891, 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests, American people who died in prison custody, American people convicted of indecent assault, Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in the United States, Prisoners who died in Massachusetts detention, Deaths by strangulation in the United States, American people convicted of child sexual abuse, Catholic priests convicted of child sexual abuse, American members of the clergy convicted of crimes, Articles with dead external links from February 2020, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox criminal with known for parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 06:51. Thomas, who is now retired, declined to be interviewed. Before long, he was visiting her apartment almost every evening - for nearly two years. So the archdiocese has moved aggressively to keep information about its supervision of Geoghan out of public view. A high-ranking cleric talks to the mother of the children.
Then came last Julys disclosure that Cardinal Bernard F. Law knew about Geoghans problems in 1984, Laws first year in Boston, yet approved his transfer to St. Julias parish in Weston. He wasnt all that familiar with the neighborhood in 2001, having lived there for only a few years. He was reassigned to several parish posts involving interaction with children, even after receiving treatment for pedophilia. Retired 2000. He said Geoghan often sought to wrestle with young boys - and liked to dress them in priest's attire. After two more years and more allegations of sexual abuse, Geoghan's tenure at St. Brendan's came to an abrupt end in 1984, when Lane heard complaints that Geoghan had molested children in the parish. Donna Morrissey, a spokeswoman for Law, said the cardinal and other church officials would not respond to questions about Geoghan. image6on = new Image();
[3] That same month, Mullins wrote that Geoghan had "fully recovered", and Brennan stated that there was no need for restrictions on his work as a priest. So D'Arcy expressed concern about "further scandal in this parish." Officials claimed not to know how the videos, recorded by the prison surveillance systems, were made public. It was written by Rezendes. For all the years that Geoghan was molesting children, clergymen were exempt from laws requiring most other caregivers to report incidents of sex abuse to police for possible prosecution. function imgOn(imgName) {
The church later reached a settlement with Mueller. However, we could not guarantee that it would not re-occur. The legal response by the cardinal, narrowly drawn in response to the lawsuit against him, omits any reference to Geoghan's molestation of children at St. Brendan's in Dorchester. In February 1981, he was sent to his fifth parish, St. Brendan's. Almost always, his victims were grammar school boys. Letter: Druce abused as a boy, September 12
Asked if that meant the Archdiocese had no interest in knowing what the questions were, Morrissey replied: "That's correct.". There is no dispute that Geoghan abused children while he was at Blessed Sacrament in Saugus after his 1962 ordination. Almost immediately, Geoghan was working with First Communicants, befriending young children and their parents, even taking some boys to his familys summer home in Scituate, where - parents say they later discovered - he sexually abused the youths. Thomas asked, according to Dussourd. We knew something wasnt right, the teacher said. He was a seminarian for Down and Connor. Thomas confronted Geoghan with the allegations, and was taken aback when Geoghan casually admitted they were accurate. On Dec. 17, Rogers sent the Globe's attorney, Jonathan M. Albano, a letter threatening to seek legal sanctions against the newspaper and its law firm if the Globe published anything gleaned from confidential records in the suits. Additional responsibilities include meal preparation. Lane, the teacher said, was so devastated that he broke down when he told her the news. Geoghan was put in charge of three youth groups, including altar boys.
function imgOff(imgName) {
Victims could now collect, October 2
I was petrified. McSorely added that Geoghan then began masturbating himself. No new panel members seen, Or leave a confidential message at this number(617) 929-7483. He cited the years Geoghan had spent studying for the priesthood, and the consequences for Geoghan if the accusations against him were publicized. Geoghan protested, saying there was no one else to celebrate the 4 p.m. Mass. [3], In 1986 new allegations of sexual abuse were made against Geoghan. One boy he allegedly molested is the son of a man who had been among the many sexually abused by Porter during the 1960s in the Fall River Diocese, according to Roderick MacLeish Jr., the attorney who represented the man and 100 other Porter victims. I didnt know what to think. Despite his history of abuse, diocesan leaders moved the abusive priest to one parish after another. Conflict raised on consultant, September 3
Parents who learned of the abuse, often wracked by shame, guilt, and denial, tried to forget what the church had done. But court records reviewed by the Globe show that when Benzevich appeared in Garabedian's office for a pre-trial deposition in October 2000, he was represented by Wilson Rogers 3d - the son of Law's principal attorney. For years, McSorley has battled alcoholism and depression. It reads: 12/11/84 Dr. [Robert] Mullins - Father Geoghan `fully recovered. . Mueller recalled the boy saying. 2002 Spotlight Report: Clergy sex abuse crisis, Timeline of Spotlight report investigations, 1/6/2002: Church allowed abuse by priest for years (Part 1 of 2), 1/6/2002: A revered guest; a family left in shreds, 1/7/2002: Geoghan preferred preying on poorer children (Part 2 of 2), 1/31/2002: Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases, 2/24/2002: Church cloaked in culture of silence, 2/24/2002: Hundreds now claim priest abuse, 3/14/2002: Ex-Mass. We couldnt tell you because Father said it was a confessional, she said one of her sons told her. One case was dropped without prejudice when the alleged victim decided not to testify. Part of your responsibilities will include . He moved into the Regina Cleri residence for retired priests.
There too, according to depositions, the priest became a regular visitor, a spiritual counselor to Mueller and a helpmate to her boys, who were between 5 and 12. Read more from the 2002 Boston Globe report on the Catholic Church abuse crisis. In the early 1970s, parishioner Joanne Mueller accused Geoghan of molesting her four young sons. On October 23, 1991, the church received a complaint about Geoghan "proselytizing" with a boy at a pool. 3 He graduated from Holy Cross High School in 1952 and entered O'Connell Seminary. I was petrified." But Miceli acknowledged receiving a call from a woman saying Geoghan was spending too much time with her children. image11off = new Image();
"I'll say the Mass myself," Daily insisted. But the appeal was denied last month.
It was only after last summers revelations that the archdiocese dropped its long-standing opposition to legislation adding clergy to the list of mandated reporters. But the legislation died in committee. image14off = new Image();
Retired Monsignor Francis S. Rossiter, Geoghan's pastor at St. Julia's, refused to be interviewed last week. "[3] Psychiatrists concluded that Geoghan had "atypical pedophilia in remission" and a "mixed personality disorder with obsessive-compulsive, histrionic and narcissistic features" but decided he could be safely reassigned. Riding home after getting ice cream, McSorley says, Geoghan consoled him. And now, as the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Geoghan, McSorley is bitter. Now, as Geoghan faces the first of two criminal trials next week, details about his sexual compulsion are likely to be overshadowed by a question that many Catholics find even more troubling: Why did it take a succession of three cardinals and many bishops 34 years to place children out of Geoghans reach? His offers to help, often by taking the children for ice cream or praying with them at bedtime, were accepted without suspicion. The priest offered to buy Patrick ice cream. ", Within the next week, two doctors cleared Geoghan for parish duty, according to an archdiocesan chronology that is in court files. The house that Carroll discovered wasnt actually a rehab facility. "I froze up," McSorley said. It was as if Geoghan had been asked if he preferred chocolate or vanilla ice cream.. Geoghan's free rein was made possible because the archdiocese said nothing to Lane, St. Brendan's pastor, about Geoghan's history, according to a teacher in the parish whom Lane has confided in. [3] On April 20, 1967, Geoghan was assigned to St. Paul's Parish in Hingham. MacLeish, who has had substantial dealings with the Boston Archdiocese, said he remains astonished at Rogers's assertion that Geoghan's assignments were deemed safe by doctors. Lawyer: Mail deluges accused, September 11
Since 1997, the archdiocese has settled about 50 lawsuits against Geoghan, for more than $10 million - but with no confidential documents ever made public. ", A copy of the letter contains a redacted paragraph, an apparent reference to the Rev. The priest. On Dec. 7, Bishop John M. DArcy wrote to Law, challenging the wisdom of the assignment in light of Geoghans history of homosexual involvement with young boys., Within the next week, two doctors cleared Geoghan for parish duty, according to an archdiocesan chronology that is in court files. image15off = new Image();
Until recent years, the church also had little to fear from the courts. . Mueller also said that Miceli asked her to keep the matter to herself: "Bad as it was, he said, `Just try - don't think about it. var s_pageName="News | Special reports | Priest sex abuse | Globe story archives (all)";
His earlier statements to reporters, Benzevich said, had been misconstrued. The uncle ordered Geoghan to leave his house, and complained to the priest's superiors at St. Paul's. And Im thinking, Where is Pelton Street in West Roxbury? And I looked at it, and it was around the corner from my house.. Please choose again. "He said, `Yes, that's all true,' " the official recalled. In 1980, for instance, he was ordered out of St. Andrew's in Jamaica Plain after casually admitting he had molested the seven boys. Geoghan consultant ties eyed, September 4
One was just 4 years old. image9off = new Image();
But for all Geoghans notoriety, the public record is remarkably skeletal. John Joseph "Jack" Geoghan (/ e n /; June 4, 1935 - August 23, 2003) was an American serial child rapist and Roman Catholic priest assigned to parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts.He was reassigned to several parish posts involving interaction with children, even after receiving treatment for pedophilia.. Three weeks after Geoghan arrived in Weston, Bishop D'Arcy protested the assignment to Law, citing Geoghan's problems and adding: "I understand his recent abrupt departure from St. Brendan's, Dorchester may be related to this problem. The Assistant District Attorney then enters the precinct and tells the policemen not to let the press get wind of what has happened. function leapto(form) {
In the civil lawsuits, Geoghan has no attorney, and is not contesting the charges. Other times, he fondled their genitals or forced them to fondle his - occasionally as he prayed. It reads: "12/11/84 Dr. [Robert] Mullins - Father Geoghan 'fully recovered.' . Three years later, after more allegations surfaced against him, he spent several months in therapy in the Southdown Institute in Ontario, Canada. He fell from a priest's house wi dow and nearly died. The shuttling of Geoghan from one parish to another created a devastating coincidence for one family. Geoghan's sister hits guards, September 27
}
by Denise Noe. On December 13, the institute sent Banks a letter explaining the discharge summary, stating that, "The probability he [Geoghan] would act out again is quite low. var s_code=' '//-->
"I didn't know what to think. Law denies he tried
Plaintiffs in the 84 pending lawsuits are refusing to settle their claims as easily, and the churchs internal documents are subject to being revealed in the litigation. In a recent interview with the Globe, Benzevich said he does indeed remember Geoghan taking boys to his room. But even that decision to recast Geoghan as a functionary at a home for retired priests did not prevent him from seeking out and molesting children, according to the multiple civil suits and criminal charges filed against the 66-year-old Geoghan. Former priest John J. Geoghan leaving his family home in Scituate in November. That year, in the Fall River Diocese, more than 100 of former priest James Porters victims surfaced publicly with evidence that Porters superiors - including, in the 1960s, then Monsignor Medeiros - shifted him from one parish to another as parents learned of his compulsive abuse. He said he did not recall her name, and never received a visit of the sort she described. image4on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/nav_jan23/victims_on.gif";
Theres a scene in the movie Spotlight when Boston Globe reporter Matt Carroll, played by actor Brian dArcy James, realizes that a rehab facility for priests accused of sexual abuse is located around the corner from his own house. No American diocese has faced a scandal of similar dimensions since 1992. image15on = new Image();
Please have experience assisting with feeding. Law allowed Geoghan to stay in Weston for more than eight years before removing him from parish duty in 1993. I froze up, McSorley said. The church's likely legal defense, as Rogers hinted in July, will be that doctors deemed Geoghan rehabilitated.
Dussourd was rearing her own four children - three boys and a girl - as well as her nieces four boys. image9on = new Image();
It led to the resignation of Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, on December 13, 2002. Geoghan claims guard assault, September 14
One of Geoghan's closest associates on the unit in Concord was Lewis S. Lent Jr., who is serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo of Pittsfield. Mueller, according to her deposition, summoned her three other sons and learned that Geoghan, while purporting to be taking them out for ice cream, helping them with their baths, and reading them bedtime stories, had been raping them orally and anally. image8on = new Image();
That year, in the Fall River Diocese, more than 100 of former priest James Porter's victims surfaced publicly with evidence that Porter's superiors - including, in the 1960s, then Monsignor Medeiros - shifted him from one parish to another as parents learned of his compulsive abuse. But Miceli acknowledged receiving a call from a woman saying Geoghan was spending too much time with her children. Dussourd discovered what was happening after the children finally told her sister, Margaret Gallant. Born in Canton, Ohio in 1924, Joe served our country as a medic while in the Philippines. The house in question is now owned by Michael Loney, who works for the Boston Police Department. "Do you realize what you're taking from him?" Also, Mueller said, Geoghan was insisting they tell no one. Receive the latest news and breaking updates, straight from our newsroom to your inbox. The church's financial liability in the pending suits could increase dramatically if there is evidence Geoghan's superiors knew of his abuse. image15on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/about_site_on.gif";
image10on = new Image();
"He just zeroed in on some kids.". But one of Laws bishops thought that the 1984 assignment of Geoghan to St. Julias was so risky, he wrote the cardinal a letter in protest. Abusive priests - Geoghan among them - often instructed traumatized youngsters to say nothing about what had been done to them. Finally, in 1998, the church defrocked Geoghan, removing him from the priesthood.
"Our dependence in the past on Roman Catholic judges and attorneys protecting the Diocese and clerics is GONE," the report said. According to McSorley, Geoghan, who knew the family from St. Andrew's, learned of his father's suicide and dropped by to offer condolences to his mother, who is schizophrenic. He routinely took the seven boys out for ice cream and put them to sleep at night. Its irrelevant because of the real estate. [22] Law died in Rome on December 20, 2017. image11on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/2002_scandal_on.gif";
Intending to become a priest, he attended Cardinal O'Connell Seminary. MacLeish declined to provide any information about the family, and said a legal claim has yet to be filed over the sons treatment by Geoghan. It will never happen again. . He cited the years Geoghan had spent studying for the priesthood, and the consequences for Geoghan if the accusations against him were publicized. So he went home, put a picture of Geoghan on the fridge and gathered his children, who were then aged 12, 10, eight, and six. Before long, he was visiting her apartment almost every evening - for nearly two years. Geoghan bore guards' abuse
Mitchell Garabedian has successfully represented more than 150 victims or survivors of Father John J. Geoghan. But other specialists had long since warned Catholic bishops of the high risk that priests who had abused children would become repeat offenders. During life Father Geoghan had expressed the hope that he would die with his shoes on, active to the end. And one pastor hung up the phone and another slammed a door shut at the first mention of Geoghans name. Why is nothing being done?, RELATED: More coverage of the Spotlight report. image12off = new Image();
That complaint to church officials coincides with the time frame when Geoghan received in-patient treatment for sex abuse at the Seton Institute in Baltimore, according to Sipe, the psychotherapist who was on Seton's staff at the time. . Three years later, Geoghan was still seeking out victims, allegedly including an altar boy donning vestments for a christening ceremony, according to the criminal charges. In some cases, he performed oral sex on them, according to court documents. Geoghan was the poster boy for the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Archdiocese. window.location=(form.dest.options[myindex].value) ;
To find out later that the Catholic Church knew he was a child molester - every day it bothers me more and more, McSorley says. But even that decision to recast Geoghan as a functionary at a home for retired priests did not prevent him from seeking out and molesting children, according to the multiple civil suits and criminal charges filed against the 66-year-old Geoghan. Less than a year later, he was murdered there by Joseph Druce, an inmate serving a life sentence. Almost immediately, Geoghan was working with First Communicants, befriending young children and their parents, even taking some boys to his family's summer home in Scituate, where - parents say they later discovered - he sexually abused the youths. Lane, the teacher said, was so devastated that he broke down when he told her the news. The records, including depositions of bishops and personnel files, are scheduled to become public on Jan. 26. image13off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/archives_off.gif";
image8on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/nav_jan23/church_response_on.gif";
"I was 12 years old and he was an old man.". In Thomas's presence that Saturday afternoon, Feb. 9, 1980, Daily telephoned Geoghan at St. Andrew's and, in a brief conversation, delivered a curt directive: "Go home," the official said. One example: When Law was named a defendant in 25 of the lawsuits, Rogers asked a judge to impound any reference to the cardinal, arguing that his reputation might be harmed. Earlier this month, it agreed to pay up to $30 million to 86 victims of Father John Geoghan, who was convicted in January of sexually molesting a ten-year-old boy more than a decade ago. Father John Geoghan sexually molested young boys for over three decades with the full knowledge of the Archdiocese of Boston. image6off = new Image();
Then she met Geoghan, who oversaw altar boys and Boy Scouts at the parish. Druce is hospitalized again
Geoghan was defrocked in 1998 by Pope John Paul II. Just like in the movie, Carroll ran outside, turned the corner and found himself standing in front of Geoghans house. Born in Boston in 1935 to an Irish Catholic family, John Joseph Geoghan attended local parochial schools. Miceli, until recently a member of Laws cabinet, contradicted Mueller in his own deposition. }
In a recent interview with the Globe, Benzevich said he does indeed remember Geoghan taking boys to his room. The arrest is hushed up, and Geoghan is released.
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