AG's Report on Clergy Sexual Abuse in NH

By Raquel Maria Dillon on Monday, March 3, 2003.

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In a few hours, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office will release a report on how the Manchester Catholic Diocese handled abusive priests. 9000 pages of documents uncovered in the course of the investigation are also expected to be released.
Catholics around the state are bracing themselves for another round of awful stories about clergy sexual abuse.
NHPR's Raquel Maria Dillon has more.

SHOUTING 62/:30
Protesters turned up at a church in Manchester again this weekend.
Bishop John McCormack was inside St. Augustin Church, preparing to say Mass.
That fact alone dissuaded non-protesting couple from going in as they had planned.
NONAME :09 I don't attend any masses where bishop mccormack is gonna be present. I do it silently, I'm not going to protest anything. My own silent protest is not to go to mass when he's gonna be around.

He wouldn't give his name, but protest organizers say they hear from many New Hampshire Catholics just like him. They let the protestors know when McCormack is scheduled to visit their parish.
FADE OUT PROTEST SOUND
While bishop and communities talk about healing and moving beyond the clergy abuse crisis, reporters, lawyers, and activists are ready to dig deeper. Today the Attorney General of will release the results of its investigation of the Manchester Diocese.
Then-Attorney General Phil McLaughlin undertook the extensive investigation over a year ago. Last December, the Diocese agreed to settle to avoid indictment for violating state child endangerment laws. Here's what McLauglin said a few months ago:
MCLAUGHLIN :14 the great corrective process in this case is the release and digestion of original information, disseminated to the media, interpreted any way you wish. It speaks for itself when you view it. It doesn't get viewed at all when you're in the process of a criminal trial.

Many legal experts said the settlement was unprecedented because Diocesan leaders had admitted responsibility - and signed on the dotted line.
Catholic Church experts say today's report is unique as well, because the Diocese has agreed to open so many Church personnel records to the public, and be reviewed by a civil authority.
The report is expected to focus on a handful of priests and several dozen victims, and document a pattern of covering up abuse.
Most of these cases did not occur under McCormack's watch. But some New Hampshire Catholics say that doesn't matter.
COUGHLIN :01 I'd like to see him resign.

Ann Coughlin is a member of Voice of the Faithful, but she speaks for herself when she asks McCormack to step down. She says the bishop and New Hampshire Church leaders have mishandled the whole situation, and now they'll have to answer to the people they lead.
COUGLIN :08 the only authority they have to face now is laity. I hope they laity will hold them accountable in ways that the law hasn't.

But without seeing the documents, UNH Professor of Sociology Michele Dillon predicts McCormack will not resign like Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law.
DILLON :15 I think the fact that he came out and quite openly said, yes we did bad things, and he's sorry, Maybe he has a better chance of moving forward. He's been a little more contrite compared to Law, at any stage during the whole scandal.

She notes that Manchester church leaders have to answer to Rome. And even if McCormack wanted to step down, the Vatican wouldn't let him, for fear that other bishops might fall.
DILLON :18 The church hates this domino effect. From point of view of Vatican. To have even less visible bishop like McCormack resign? It's in Vatican's interest and bishop's interest to stand firm and not be pushed out.

But more and more, American Catholics want their leaders to answer to them.
Clergy abuse survivors say today's revelations will be especially painful for victims. The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests is organizing a New Hampshire chapter in response.
The report will be released this morning at 9, it will be available on the Attorney General's website this afternoon.
For NHPR News, I'm RMD.