16 priests named for first time in sexual abuse lawsuits
At least three still active; total of accused at 130
By Michael Rezendes and Matt Carroll, Globe Staff, 1/30/2003
The number of priests in the Boston Archdiocese accused of sexually molesting children grew to 130 yesterday, with the filing of a rash of new lawsuits that name 16 priests as molesters for the first time.
The new lawsuits, filed on behalf of 70 new alleged victims, include charges of rape, attempted rape, and fondling of minors against 40 priests and a former church worker who is believed to be a deacon. At least three of the 40 priests are in active ministry.
Also named as defendants in some of the suits are two former auxiliary bishops in Boston, Archbishop Daniel A. Cronin of the Hartford archdiocese and Bishop Daniel A. Hart of the Norwich, Conn., diocese.
They bring to eight the number of bishops, including Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who have been accused of negligence while they supervised the abusive priests.
Law resigned Dec. 13, but the seven other bishops all head their own dioceses.
Of the 16 newly accused priests, at least three are diocesan priests in active ministry, according to church records, and one is retired. At least 10 of the other 12 are believed to be dead, according to attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who filed the lawsuits.
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Now, to be fair, let's say 50% of these are false accusations. Is 50% a reasonable number?
That leaves 65 accused priests . . . in just the Boston Archdiocese . . .
That's an ugly number, man, an ugly number . . .[/b]
So, the cure for this seems not to live in Boston.
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