state
grand jury investigation into the handling of clergy sexual abuse
allegations by Cardinal Bernard F. Law and his top subordinates in the
Boston Archdiocese will not result in criminal indictments, the
spokeswoman for Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said last night.
Ann Donlan said Reilly would issue a report detailing the results of
the 16-month criminal investigation by the end of the week. ''We've been
working on this for quite some time,'' she said. ''The report . . .
documents what happened and why, and it focuses heavily on what the
archdiocese has to do to protect children now and in the future.''
However, Donlan said that the grand jury will not recommend indictments
against Law or other bishops who were responsible for handling sexual
abuse complaints against priests in the Boston Archdiocese.
The Rev. Christopher J. Coyne, spokesman for the Boston Archdiocese,
said the church would not respond until the report is released. Coyne said
he did not know whether Law, who resigned as Boston's archbishop in
December, had been informed of Reilly's conclusions.
Reilly said publicly in April that it would be difficult to indict
church officials for allowing abusive priests to remain in parish work,
because of weak child protection laws in Massachusetts and the lack of a
statute in the state mandating that clergy report allegations of sexual
abuse to state authorities.
At that time, Reilly said he believed there was clear evidence of
wrongdoing by church officials. ''This could have been stopped a long time
ago, but it wasn't,'' Reilly said then. ''There was a cover-up, an
elaborate scheme to keep it away from law enforcement, to keep it quiet.
The church and the leadership of the church felt it was more important to
protect the church than any children, and, as a result of that, needless
numbers, countless numbers of children, were harmed.''
Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer for more than 100 alleged abuse victims,
told the Associated Press yesterday that he had not seen the attorney
general's report. He expressed disappointment that there would be no
criminal charges filed.
''Given the number of tragedies that have occurred by these sexual
molestations and the allowance of these sexual molestations, many of my
clients were hoping that there would be indictments so church leaders and
individuals would be held responsible,'' he said.
Lawyers close to Reilly's office said that the report had gone through
at least three drafts before Reilly was satisfied with its organization
and wording. While it still had not been finalized late yesterday, Reilly
is intent on completing and issuing it before Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley
is installed to succeed Law. That ceremony is scheduled for July 30.
''Certainly we are endeavoring to get it to Bishop O'Malley before his
installation,'' Donlan said. ''We believe it is important for him to have
it, and we want to give it to him. Timing-wise, it is the important thing
to do,'' Donlan said.
Donlan said the report includes recommendations for further legal
measures to prevent child abuse, including the passage of a bill pending
before the Legislature to increase criminal penalties for the failure to
report suspected child abuse.
State law has long required youth workers, medical personnel, teachers,
and other professionals who work with children to report instances of
suspected child abuse, but attempts to broaden the statute to include
members of the clergy died in the Legislature several times during the
early and mid-1990s. The Legislature approved the measure last year during
the height of the scandal.
The bill authored by Reilly and promoted in the report would allow for
penalties of up to 2 1/2 years in prison and fines of as much as $25,000
if such ''mandated reporters'' fail to notify the state of suspected cases
of child abuse.
One state official close to the investigation said last night that the
strength of the report will be its detailed analysis of the roles that Law
and each of his bishops played in facilitating the continued service of
priests who were known to have abused children. The official said the
report goes into great detail into what each of the bishops ''did and
failed to do to protect children. The report is heavily focused in that
area.''
Reilly's investigation into the Boston Archdiocese's handling of clergy
sexual abuse cases was regarded as the most intensive probe into the
church since the scandal erupted in January 2002. Law spent several hours
in front of the grand jury, which met to preserve its secrecy behind
closed doors in the attorney general's office at the McCormack Building.
Several of Law's bishops also testified, including Thomas V. Daily, now
bishop of the Brooklyn Diocese; John B. McCormack, now bishop of the
Manchester, N.H., Diocese; Alfred Hughes, now archbishop of the New
Orleans Diocese; Robert J. Banks, now bishop of the Green Bay, Wisc.,
Diocese; William Murphy, now bishop of Rockville Center Diocese in New
York; and John D'Arcy, bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend,
Ind. D'Arcy, who served as auxiliary bishop in Boston, is the only Law
deputy known to have raised objections to the reassignment of priests who
had molested children.
Stephen Kurkjian of the Globe staff contributed to
this report.
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