More Shame

The case of John Geoghan sparked the current scandal in
the Boston Archdiocese. Geoghan, 66, a defrocked
Catholic priest, was found guilty in January 2002 of
molesting a boy in a swimming pool 10 years ago. He
faces two other criminal cases, and more than 130 people
have accused him of sexual abuse during his 30-year
career in six parishes. The Catholic Church already has
paid out at least $10 million stemming from lawsuits filed in
connection with Geoghan, and multiple lawsuits are
pending.

Paul Shanley, 71, a retired priest, was arrested in May 2002 on
charges that he raped a young boy as a priest in the Boston area. In
April 2002, Boston Archdiocese officials released internal
documents that said Shanley had publicly advocated sex between
men and boys and that church officials had known since 1967 about
allegations of sexual abuse leveled against him. Some critics have
demanded the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, Boston's
archbishop, because he moved Shanley from parish to parish
despite the allegations.

In March 2002, Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell, 63, resigned
from the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, after admitting he
sexually abused a seminary student in the 1970s. O'Connell
was rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal,
Missouri, and he admitted to allegations by Christopher Dixon,
who said the two touched inappropriately in bed. Dixon, a
teen-ager at the time, had asked O'Connell for counseling
when the incident occurred.

In May 2002, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Archbishop Rembert Weakland, 75,
amid reports that he sexually assaulted a former Marquette
University graduate student. Weakland denied abusing anyone
but acknowledged a settlement agreement with Paul Marcoux,
the former student.

In June 2002, J. Kendrick Williams, 65, resigned as bishop of
the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky. Lawsuits accused the bishop
of sexual abuse while as a priest in Louisville. In a statement to
Cross Roads, the biweekly newspaper of the Diocese of
Lexington, Williams denied the allegations of abuse against him
made by two men in lawsuits and said he would fight to clear his
name.

Bishop James F. McCarthy resigned in June 2002 after
admitting "a number of affairs with women over several years,"
according to the Archdiocese of New York. Archdiocese
spokesman Joseph Zwilling said McCarthy's resignation came
after the church received a letter about the affairs. McCarthy
was pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Shrub Oak,
New York, just north of New York City. He also was auxiliary
bishop at the archdiocese.