But all that time, Geoghan regularly molested the seven boys in their bedrooms, Dussourd said. Thomas confronted Geoghan with the allegations, and was taken aback when Geoghan casually admitted they were accurate. ", Within the next week, two doctors cleared Geoghan for parish duty, according to an archdiocesan chronology that is in court files. [17], Robert Joseph Banks, when an auxiliary bishop in Boston, had recommended in 1989 that Geoghan remain as a parish priest despite receiving an assessment that he would likely continue to act on his pedophilia. "In Geoghan's case, the church defied its own most basic values of protecting the young and fostering celibacy," said A.W. image12off = new Image(); The legal response by the cardinal, narrowly drawn in response to the lawsuit against him, omits any reference to Geoghans molestation of children at St. Brendans in Dorchester. During his assignment in Hingham, Geoghan found victims far afield, befriending Joanne Mueller, a single mother of four boys who lived in Melrose. In written answers to complaints filed by Patrick McSorley, Law acknowledged he had received a letter in 1984 outlining allegations against the Rev. Druce was sentenced a second time to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[14]. 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. He cited the years Geoghan had spent studying for the priesthood, and the consequences for Geoghan if the accusations against him were publicized. Then, under oath, Benzevich changed his story. image13off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/archives_off.gif"; Almost always, his victims were grammar school boys. After Geoghan's 1989 return to St. Julia's, it was another 38 months before Law took him out of the parish. Parents who learned of the abuse, often wracked by shame, guilt, and denial, tried to forget what the church had done. father geoghan scituate. 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. I was 12 years old and he was an old man.. Dussourd discovered what was happening after the children finally told her sister, Margaret Gallant. I pulled out a paper map, Carroll said. A 1994 Archdiocesan memorandum, labeled personal and confidential, said Geoghan would stay in the Dussourd home even when he was on retreat because he missed the children so much. A 1994 Archdiocesan memorandum, labeled "personal and confidential," said Geoghan would stay in the Dussourd home "even when he was on retreat because he missed the children so much. When a Globe reporter went to see him recently, he slammed the door shut as soon as Geoghans name was mentioned. Richard Sipe, a former priest. Geoghan was eventually convicted of a single count of molesting a boy at a public swimming pool and later murdered by his prison cellmate. Geoghan spent the following year on sick leave, under treatment for his compulsion, but living with family in West Roxbury. Father John Geoghan sexually molested young boys for over three decades with the full knowledge of the Archdiocese of Boston. The few who complained were invariably urged to keep silent. That is how 12-year-old Patrick McSorley, who lived in a Hyde Park housing project, allegedly became a Geoghan victim in 1986 - two years after Geoghans assignment to Weston. Part of your responsibilities will include . Geoghan protested, saying there was no one else to celebrate the 4 p.m. Mass. ". But then he patted his upper leg and slid his hand up toward his crotch. . . Geoghan protested, saying there was no one else to celebrate the 4 p.m. Mass. Thomas, echoing a tack common among clerics at the time, later pleaded with Dussourd not to follow through on her threat to go public, she said. "[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. He fell from a priest's house wi dow and nearly died. Paul E. Miceli, a parish priest at St. Marys in Melrose who knew both Geoghan and her family. Law and the five bishops have all denied the accusations in legal filings. image6on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/nav_jan23/opinion_on.gif"; First, Geoghan was put in charge of three youth groups, including altar boys. By the time Cardinal Bernard Law got around to having him defrocked in 1993, Geoghan had become the poster boy for the priest-pedophilia scandal that racked every Catholic diocese in the United States. The victim was John Geoghan, a defrocked priest who became one of the most notorious symbols of the clergy sexual abuse crisis that erupted in Boston in 2002. "[3] He was placed on sick leave three days later and ordered by Cardinal Humberto Medeiros to undergo counseling. 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. . Banks was concerned about the conclusions of the institute's discharge summary. Our dependence in the past on Roman Catholic judges and attorneys protecting the Diocese and clerics is GONE, the report said. The Rev. But the answer was delayed until Morrissey's call late Friday, in which she said she would not even accept questions in writing. /* E-commerce Variables */ 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. Three years later, after more allegations surfaced against him, he spent several months in therapy in the Southdown Institute in Ontario, Canada. image4off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/nav_jan23/victims_off.gif"; But Miceli acknowledged receiving a call from a woman saying Geoghan was spending too much time with her children. Law and the five bishops have all denied the accusations in legal filings. In 1998, Benzevich told reporters he was branded as a troublemaker for reporting Geoghan, and that church officials hinted that he might be sent to Peru if he persisted. 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. But one of Law's bishops thought that the 1984 assignment of Geoghan to St. Julia's was so risky, he wrote the cardinal a letter in protest. } One of his alleged victims, Anthony Muzzi Jr., said in an interview last week that in addition to his own abuse, his uncle caught Geoghan abusing his son. The priest. var s_code=' '//--> Died 2006. image10off = new Image(); "Our dependence in the past on Roman Catholic judges and attorneys protecting the Diocese and clerics is GONE," the report said. [3], Geoghan's next assignment was at St. Andrew's Parish in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood, starting on June 4, 1974. St. Brendan, where he served three years in the early 1980s, was merely one of his myriad postings, as he was moved around by bishops more concerned with protecting the church's reputation than protecting the bodies and souls of the young people he raped. Wilson D. Rogers Jr., the cardinals attorney, defended the move last summer, saying the archdiocese had medical assurances that each Geoghan reassignment was appropriate and safe.. First Communicants, befriending young children and their parents, even taking some boys to his family's summer home in Scituate, where - parents . Benzevich would later deny this allegation. (August 24) CNN's Renay San Miguel talks to Phil . There is no dispute that Geoghan abused children while he was at Blessed Sacrament in Saugus after his 1962 ordination. ". The house in question is now owned by Michael Loney, who works for the Boston Police Department. Geoghan was put in charge of three youth groups, including altar boys. window.location=(form.dest.options[myindex].value) ; [19] D'Arcy retired in 2009 and died in 2013. [3], In 1993, Geoghan retired from active ministry at the age of 58. "He just zeroed in on some kids.". It was the home of Father John J. Geoghan, a priest accused of sexually assaulting more than 130 boys. Stay up to date with everything Boston. image11on = new Image(); She testified that Miceli assured her that Geoghan would be handled by appropriate church authorities and would "never be a priest again." Reverend John J. Goeghanwho had retired in 1993 after 28 years as a priestentered the news quietly in 1996 when a woman in Waltham, Massachusetts filed suit alleging that he had sexually abused her three sons. Geoghan was buried in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts, on August 28, 2003. "[3] He graduated in 1962 and was ordained. 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. The Archdiocese of Boston had no immediate comment yesterday. Comparable homes on the same street have sold recently for $460,000 to. "He said, `Yes, that's all true,' " the official recalled. image4off = new Image(); Im aware of some history, but the world has a history. image15on = new Image(); Daily called Geoghan and told him to go home. image8on = new Image(); image1off = new Image(); The investigation and prosecution of Geoghan were one of . MacLeish, who has had substantial dealings with the Boston Archdiocese, said he remains astonished at Rogerss assertion that Geoghans assignments were deemed safe by doctors. Bias concerns raised in probe, September 2 image14off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/documents_off.gif"; Donna Morrissey, a spokeswoman for Law, said the cardinal and other church officials would not respond to questions about Geoghan.