Part of your responsibilities will include . The five, all since promoted to head their own dioceses, are Bishops Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Robert J. On September 18, 1984, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, the new Archbishop of Boston, removed Geoghan from the parish after complaints that he was molesting children. Former priest John J. Geoghan leaving his family home in Scituate in November. His earlier statements to reporters, Benzevich said, had been misconstrued. In her hardscrabble neighborhood, she said in an interview, she hoped there was a priest the children could look up to. In his own defense last summer, Law wrote in the Pilot, the archdiocesan newspaper, Never was there an effort on my part to shift a problem from one place to the next., The cardinals assertion followed his disclosure, in court documents, that he was informed in September 1984 of the four-year-old allegations that Geoghan had molested the seven Jamaica Plain boys. Geoghan's second assignment - in 1966 to St. Bernard's in Concord - ended after seven months, according to a detailed chronology of Geoghan's service prepared by the church which does not explain why the assignment was so abbreviated. [3], Geoghan was assigned to St. Bernard's Parish in Concord starting on September 22, 1966. Also, Mueller said, Geoghan was insisting they tell no one. The judge refused. Donna Morrissey, a spokeswoman for Law, said the cardinal and other church officials would not respond to questions about Geoghan. It was written by Rezendes. Its irrelevant because of the real estate. He cited the years Geoghan had spent studying for the priesthood, and the consequences for Geoghan if the accusations against him were publicized. display: none; If Mueller had unwittingly facilitated Geoghans access to the children in her home in Melrose, the same role was played by Maryetta Dussourd at the priests next stop: St. Andrews, in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain, where he served from 1974 to 1980. Thomas immediately drove to archdiocesan offices in Brighton to notify Daily. Father John J. Geoghan Woodstock Letters, Volume XCI, Number 2, 1 . document[imgName].src = eval(imgName + "off.src"); On August 23, 2003, while in protective custody at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Geoghan was strangled and stomped to death in his cell by inmate Joseph Druce. ", The cardinal's assertion followed his disclosure, in court documents, that he was informed in September 1984 of the four-year-old allegations that Geoghan had molested the seven Jamaica Plain boys. image15off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/about_site_off.gif"; Gary E. Balcom. Lane is now retired. The judge also allowed attorneys to add Father Paul E. Miceli as a defendant in 57 lawsuits. But other specialists had long since warned Catholic bishops of the high risk that priests who had abused children would become repeat offenders. We knew something wasnt right, the teacher said. [19] D'Arcy retired in 2009 and died in 2013. The Spotlight Team found evidence that one of Laws top subordinates worried that Geoghan would cause further scandal at St. Julias in Weston, where he began work on Nov. 13, 1984. Under the care of doctors Robert Mullins and John H. Brennan, Geoghan underwent psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Conviction erasure protested There is no dispute that Geoghan abused children while he was at Blessed Sacrament in Saugus after his 1962 ordination. Receive the latest news and breaking updates, straight from our newsroom to your inbox. In 1980, for instance, he was ordered out of St. Andrew's in Jamaica Plain after casually admitting he had molested the seven boys. [3], On February 25, 1981, Geoghan returned to pastoral work at St. Brendan's Parish 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. , October 25 I think between her illness and what happened with John, [Catherine] kind of became a recluse, Loney said. 'Betrayal' - The New York Times Two months later, the cardinal gave Geoghan a fresh start at St. Julias. His offers to help, often by taking the children for ice cream or praying with them at bedtime, were accepted without suspicion. Then, under oath, Benzevich changed his story. First, Geoghan was put in charge of three youth groups, including altar boys. But the appeal was denied last month. . Then came last Julys disclosure that Cardinal Bernard F. Law knew about Geoghans problems in 1984, Laws first year in Boston, yet approved his transfer to St. Julias parish in Weston. alert("That is not a valid selection. The Spotlight Team found evidence that one of Law's top subordinates worried that Geoghan would cause further scandal at St. Julia's in Weston, where he began work on Nov. 13, 1984. Geoghan consultant ties eyed, September 4 And now, as the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Geoghan, McSorley is bitter. [18] He retired in 2003, having reached the church's mandatory retirement age of 75 years.