Grand jury reports Long Island diocese protected 58 abusive priests

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 21, 2003 by Gill Donovan

Though the grand jury report didn't name the team, according to Newsday, one of the members was, in all likelihood, Msgr. Alan Placa, the diocese's former vice chancellor who in April was temporarily removed from ministry for allegations that he had sexually abused minors at a school where he served as dean 25 years ago. The paper identified Placa as "Priest F" in the grand jury report.

Priest F was the diocese's chief engineer of its legal defense policy. He often served the diocese by collecting information that might challenge the credibility of an alleged victim, should a lawsuit be brought. In many cases, Priest F was the first person from the diocese to contact alleged victims.

Only rarely did he identify himself as an attorney. The report quoted a memo from Priest F in which he asked a diocesan official to not identify him to alleged victims as a lawyer:

"In fact, in these cases, I am functioning in an administrative capacity," he wrote. "My legal training is very useful in helping to gather and analyze facts, and in helping us to avoid some obvious pitfalls, but we must avoid `frightening' people: I have had several people refuse to see me without having an attorney of their own present, because they are afraid that `the church lawyer' will somehow do them harm."

Priest F, according to the report, "ignored, belittled and revictimized" victims. "In some cases, the grand jury finds that the diocese procrastinated for the sole purpose of making sure that the civil and criminal statutes of limitation were no longer applicable." The report said that in once instance, Priest F told a nun that seeing one victim was a waste of his time because the statute of limitations in the case had expired.

According to the report, the nun's response was, "You bastard, these people are hurting. Why do you care about the statute of limitations? That's not why we are here."

Responding in a news release Feb. 10 the diocese called the report unfair. It said that the diocese "unequivocally rejects the characterization of its actions" in the document.

"Specifically, the accusation that the Diocese of Rockville Centre conceived and agreed to a plan using deception and intimidation to prevent victims from seeking legal solutions to their problems is simply not true," the release said.

Elsewhere in New York, a clerical abuse review panel met in Manhattan Feb. 10 to hear testimony from Daniel Donohue, a former seminarian who has accused Msgr. Charles Kavanagh of having molested him. Kavanagh, suspended in May, previously served as pastor for St. Raymond's Church, one of the largest parishes in the Bronx. Kavanagh is regarded as one of New York's leading fundraisers.

Donohue appeared at the meeting with 10 members of his family. After the meeting the family told The New York Times that neither side seemed satisfied. The archdiocese said it wouldn't comment on the panel's activities.

The archdiocese, according to Donohue, wants to see a letter Kavanagh sent Donohue, who has said that since it is his last leverage for obtaining a meeting with New York Cardinal Edward Egan, he won't show it until he meets with the cardinal. Egan has declined to meet with him.