Fourth lawsuit filed against Florida bishop - Church In Crisis - Raymond Boland - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, May 3, 2002

A federal lawsuit filed in Missouri April 18 against Bishop Anthony J. O'Connell is the fourth accusation of child molestation against the former bishop of Palm Beach, Fla.

O'Connell announced his resignation as bishop March 8 and acknowledged sexual misconduct with a high school seminarian in Hannibal, Mo., years earlier when he was the seminary rector. The victim had received a $125,000 out-of-court settlement in 1996.

On March 18 a second former high school seminarian filed a lawsuit claiming that then-Fr. O'Connell had turned counseling sessions at the seminary into an opportunity for sexual activity. A third suit was filed March 22.

The April 18 claim alleges that the relationship begun in the high school seminary lasted well beyond, ending only in the 1990s. O'Connell was made bishop of Knoxville, Tenn., in 1988 and became bishop of Palm Beach in 1998.

Minnesota attorney Jeffrey Anderson filed the March 22 and April 18 suits under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, claiming what Anderson called a conspiracy among bishops "to conceal wrongdoing, avoid prosecution and public scandal and obstruct justice."

An effort to invoke the RICO statute in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit in New Jersey was dismissed in 1995.

Named in the suit along with O'Connell were the Vatican; the dioceses of Palm Beach, Knoxville and Jefferson City; and Bishop Raymond J. Boland of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.

The plaintiff alleges he reported the abuse to Boland in 1994. On April 19 Boland denied the claim, saying he has no recollection of it.