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>From http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/24/25usa-priests.htm
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Church deceived hospital to keep abusive priests in fold
By Deborah Cohen in Chicago
March 25 2002
The Roman Catholic Church kept secret files on priests accused of sexual abuse
and bribed some victims to keep quiet, according to a lawsuit filed against a former
bishop and three dioceses where he worked.
The suit comes as a nationally renowned psychiatric hospital that for years treated
clergy accused of sexual misconduct says it was deceived by the Catholic Church
into providing reports used to keep abusive priests in the ministry.
The church sometimes concealed information about past complaints against clergy
sent for treatment, and disregarded warnings that the hospital's evaluations should
not determine a priest's fitness for parish work, doctors at Hartford's Institute of
Living are claiming.
As a result, the Institute unwittingly might have provided the clinical cover cited by
New York Cardinal Edward Egan and other church officials as their reason for not
suspending some accused priests, including defrocked John Geoghan in Boston,
accused of molesting more than 130 people.
"In some cases, necessary and pertinent information related to prior sexual
misconduct has been withheld from us," the Institute's chief of psychiatry, Harold
Schwartz, said. "In some cases, it would appear that our evaluations have been
misconstrued in order to return priests to ministry."
Dr Schwartz spoke of the "surprise we have experienced, to learn only recently as
these scandals were emerging in the press, that in so many instances we have been
providing treatment to individuals while being so inadequately informed."
Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed on Friday on behalf of a 34-year- old former seminary
student from Missouri, centres around alleged abuses by Anthony O'Connell, the
former Bishop of the Palm Beach diocese, Florida. The bishop resigned from his
post on March 8, a day after another former seminary student, Christopher Dixon,
went public with charges of sexual abuse against the priest he alleged took place
more than 20 years ago.
The racketeering suit, filed in a state court in Hannibal, Missouri, claims that
O'Connell, two other bishops and three dioceses he served over 40 years as a priest,
conspired to conceal O'Connell's history of sexual abuse against the defendant.
Federal racketeering charges, typically used to bring down large criminal syndicates,
are warranted in the case because they highlight a broader pattern of concealment
by the Catholic Church, the leading lawyer in the case, Jeff Anderson, said.
He alleged the Church keeps secret files on abusive priests, helps them get secure
posts in dioceses in other states, and offers bribes to some victims.
"This is an effort by this survivor to clean up a house that has been corrupted by
bribery, complicity and by denial and criminal concealment," Mr Anderson said.
The lawyer representing former Bishop O'Connell did not return a phone call seeking
comment.
The Hartford Courant and agencies
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Copyright © 2002. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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