The most recent Catholic priest sex abuse crisis began in 1984 with Fr. Gilbert Gauthe of Lafayette Louisiana. However, the Catholic Church’s own internal documents including priest personnel files, the so-called sub-secreto files found in each dioceses’ secret archives, and correspondence between bishops demonstrates that the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal has been going on for centuries. For our purposes, we’ll focus on what has transpired since 1984.
Fr. Gilbert Gauthe – Parents of minors had complained to officials at the Diocese of Lafayette prior to 1984. With each complaint, Gauthe was reprimanded and transferred to another parish. Some of the families that complained entered into settlements with the Diocese of Lafayette. However, one family decided to hire a lawyer who sued the Diocese. Law enforcement also became involved in the Gauthe case and he was charged and eventually convicted for his crimes. He received a long prison sentence and the family was awarded a settlement in excess of $1,000,000. In the course of the Gauthe case, other local priests were found to have molested children as well. As a result of this sex abuse scandal in Lafayette, the bishop was sent into retirement and a new bishop was charged with cleaning up the mess left behind.
The US Bishops – In the immediate aftermath of the Gauthe case, many US bishops believed the media attention would eventually subside and life would return to normal. This attitude prevailed in spite of more families coming forward with horrific stories of the sexual abuse of minors. In public, the bishops remained defensive and believed the media attention was Catholic bashing and unfair. Their treatment of the victims (a better term is survivors) of sexual abuse and their families was even worse. They denied the allegations, stonewalled investigations, refused to release important documents about their handling of priests accused of sexual abuse, and generally ignored the problem by denying it existed. Privately, they were discussing the crisis during regularly scheduled meetings held twice a year. Catholic Church officials in Rome also ignored the crisis believing that this was an “American” problem. (This in spite of similarly serious allegations in Europe. Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer was removed from his post as Archbishop of Vienna for molesting young boys at a Catholic school.)
1985 Doyle-Mouton Report – The year was a watershed in this most recent epoch of the Catholic priest abuse scandal. Rev. Thomas Doyle, OP, Rev. Michael Peterson, MD, and F. Ray Mouton authored what has come to be known as the “Doyle-Mouton Report”. Doyle, a canon (church) lawyer who’d worked in the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio’s office in Washington, DC and had experience dealing with these matters, Peterson, a priest and psychologist, and Ray Mouton a lawyer involved in the Gilbert Gauthe case wrote a manual on dealing with the growing sexual abuse crisis with the support of some influential bishops. The report, formally titled, “The Problem of Sexual Molestation by Roman Catholic Clergy: Meeting the Problem in a Comprehensive and Responsible Manner”, presented it to the bishops during their summer meeting in June 1985. A copy of the Report was mailed to every bishop in the country that December. The Report included action items that were intended to serve as a manual for bishops across the country in handling the sexual abuse crisis. However, there was never any official acknowledgement from the bishops. When spokespersons for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops were asked about the document, they responded that the Report contained nothing the bishops didn’t already know. While the bishops never sought the counsel of the authors, they questioned their motives and let the Report languish.
1992 Rev. James Porter – Porter, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River MA abused at least one hundred young boys during his 11 years as an active priest. During this period, diocesan officials are aware of Porter’s sexual abuse and transfer him numerous times including multiple stints in treatment centers for sexual addiction. In 1993, Porter pled guilty to sexually assaulting 28 young boys and is sentenced to 18-20 years in a maximum security prison. Cardinal Law, the Archbishop of Boston, slammed the media’s attention on the Porter case and called down “God’s power on the media, particularly the Boston Globe”. Nearly a decade later, Law himself would be faced with a sexual abuse crisis in Boston that eventually sent him disgraced, to Rome.
January 2002 Boston – It all started with Rev. John Geoghan. By the end of 2002, nine Boston priests had been criminally charged with rape or molestation. John Geoghan is considered to be one of the worst predator priests in the Archdiocese of Boston, if not the country. He abused more than 150 children, boys and girls during a span of three decades. In spite of numerous complaints about Geoghan the bishops and cardinals in charge of him continued to let him serve in parishes, exposing more children to his crimes. He was eventually convicted of sexually molesting a 10-year old boy in a pool in Waltham. He was sentenced to 9-10 years in prison. He was killed in prison in 2003. It was the Geoghan case that exposed not only the grisly details of priest sex abuse but the sinister manner in which the Catholic Church went to great lengths to cover up the scandal. As a result of the Geoghan case, more survivors came forward accusing other Boston priests of sexual abuse. Five former or present Boston bishops were deposed. The Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts, Thomas Reilly, stated that he had sufficient evidence to prosecute the Archdiocese of Boston under a doctrine of liability. While that never happened, it did force the Archdiocese to release thousands of internal church documents that proved instrumental in the criminal prosecution of the priests and the ensuing civil actions that eventually led to a civil global settlement for survivors of $85 million. On December 14, 2002, Cardinal Law resigned and left the Archdiocese of Boston in disgrace and humiliation. Presently, there are 229 Archdiocese of Boston and religious priests, and other religious who’ve had sexual abuse claims made against them, according to www.bishopaccountability.org
In the eleven years since the crisis in Boston, other archdioceses and dioceses have experienced a similar fate including Manchester, Louisville, Los Angeles, Chicago, RockvilleCentre, and Philadelphia.
While civil and criminal statutes of limitations in the states may prevent prosecution of priest sexual abuse cases, it’s important to speak with a priest abuse lawyer if you or a loved one has been sexually abused by a priest, deacon, brother, or religious. We handle priest abuse cases all over the country and have a team of legal experts to consult with you.
