NATION - Jesuit seminarian brings accusation of sexual harassment to '60 Minutes'; other national Catholic news briefs

National Catholic Reporter, May 21, 1999

A television show is not the place to try a lawsuit, the head of the California Jesuit province said after the CBS News program "60 Minutes" aired allegations by a former Jesuit seminarian that he was sexually harassed by members of the order.

In a "60 Minutes" segment broadcast May 9, John Bollard claimed that when he was a seminarian at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, Calif., several priests of the order including the president of the school, Fr. Thomas F. Gleeson, made sexual advances toward him, creating an intolerable environment that eventually forced him to leave the order.

In a statement May 10 from provincial headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., Jesuit Fr. John A. Privett, the provincial superior, said Bollard's $1 million sexual harassment lawsuit against the order was dismissed May 15, 1998, by the U.S. District Court of Northern California. Bollard has appealed that ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Privett said the Jesuits declined requests by "60 Minutes" to participate in the program because they did not consider that a proper forum to address the allegations. "The facts and legal complexities cannot be adequately represented in 15 minutes of air time. They deserve to be heard in a court of law," he said.

Suspect named in slaying of abortion provider

Authorities have named an antiabortion activist as a suspect in the slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an abortion provider killed in his upstate New York home last fall.

James Kopp, 44, from St. Albans, Vt., has become the focus of the investigation in the Slepian case.

"We have probable cause to believe this man, James Kopp, is responsible for the death of Dr. Barnett Slepian," Bernard Tolbert, special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Buffalo office, said May 6.

An FBI wanted notice described Kopp as active in the pro-life movement and a "devout Roman Catholic" whose "religious convictions are know to guide his daily life."

Kopp, whose whereabouts are unknown, was last seen Nov. 3, 1998, the day before authorities issued a material witness warrant in hopes of questioning him in the Oct. 23 shooting of Slepian.

Kopp was charged May 6 in federal and state complaints with second-degree murder and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by using deadly force against an abortion doctor. Both charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. The federal charge also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.

Authorities would not divulge their evidence against Kopp. But they did say a major break in the case was the discovery in April of a scope-equipped rifle buried near Slepian's home in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst.

Pastor can't be forced to testify, court says

A Tacoma, Wash., pastor cannot be forced to testify about a murder confession because doing so would violate the sanctity of the confessional, the Washington state Supreme Court has ruled.

The high court unanimously dismissed a lower court's contempt charge against the Rev. Rich Hamlin, minister of the 75-member Evangelical Reformed Church in South Tacoma. The ruling on May 6 declared Hamlin was protected by a state law guaranteeing confidentiality of religious confessions, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

Before the ruling, state law only protected confessions between a penitent and clergy in a religion with a recognized confession rite, such as the Roman Catholic or Episcopal churches, said John Ladenburg, prosecutor for Pierce County.

Prosecutors believe the ruling will significantly broaden legal protections to any religion, whether or not a particular religion has a recognized rite of confession.

But the state Supreme Court ruling has a caveat: The pastor's privilege to hear a confession could be nullified if there is a third party present -- an issue that could affect the case involving Hamlin.

Pierce County prosecutors have charged Scott Anthony Martin in the shaking death of his 3-month-old son Devyn Martin two years ago. They sought Hamlin as a witness, believing Martin confessed the slaying to the pastor.

Ladenburg said Martin's mother was present during part of his conversations with Hamlin. But the mother has told authorities she doesn't remember what she heard the two men discuss.

Abortion rights made issue for commencement speakers

Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Bradley delivered a commencement address as planned May 8 at Mount St. Clare College despite calls from a Catholic group that wanted his invitation withdrawn because Bradley supports abortion rights.

The Falls Church, Va.-based Cardinal Newman Society had asked Mount St. Clare president James Ross to cancel Bradley's invitation, but Ross refused.

"I recognize that some people disagree on certain issues, but for me, I have tremendous respect for Mount St. Clare, for the leadership here at this institution and for the young people who are graduating today," Bradley said before speaking to 102 graduates.

Meanwhile, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Anna Quindlen withdrew as commencement speaker at Villanova University May 9 because of objections to her support of abortion rights.