One example: When Law was named a defendant in 25 of the lawsuits, Rogers asked a judge to impound any reference to the cardinal, arguing that his reputation might be harmed. . One of his alleged victims, Anthony Muzzi Jr., said in an interview last week that in addition to his own abuse, his uncle caught Geoghan abusing his son. Geoghan bore guards' abuse The Scituate house, a seven-room home at 64 Oceanside Drive with sweeping views of the Atlantic, is assessed at $268,500. And Im thinking, Where is Pelton Street in West Roxbury? And I looked at it, and it was around the corner from my house.. image5off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/nav_jan23/financial_cost_off.gif"; His earlier statements to reporters, Benzevich said, had been misconstrued. "It embarrasses me that the church is so negligent," Gallant wrote. Three weeks after Geoghan arrived in Weston, Bishop D'Arcy protested the assignment to Law, citing Geoghan's problems and adding: "I understand his recent abrupt departure from St. Brendan's, Dorchester may be related to this problem. If you see this guy, run, he told them. He warned that he would seek court-imposed sanctions even if Globe reporters asked questions of clergy involved in the case. In news reports after accusations against Geoghan surfaced publicly, Benzevich was also quoted as saying church officials threatened to reassign him as a missionary in South America for telling them about Geoghan. It was written by Rezendes. He was a seminarian for Down and Connor. Geoghan's free rein was made possible because the archdiocese said nothing to Lane, St. Brendan's pastor, about Geoghan's history, according to a teacher in the parish whom Lane has confided in. [3] That same month, Mullins wrote that Geoghan had "fully recovered", and Brennan stated that there was no need for restrictions on his work as a priest. The latter was serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for killing a man who allegedly made sexual advances toward him. "Go home." It reads: "12/11/84 Dr. [Robert] Mullins - Father Geoghan `fully recovered.' The legal response by the cardinal, narrowly drawn in response to the lawsuit against him, omits any reference to Geoghan's molestation of children at St. Brendan's in Dorchester. The sins of Father Geoghan St. Brendan, one of Dorchester's great Catholic churches, seems destined to close next month. No responsible clinician would have said it was safe to transfer him to another parish in light of what the church knew about his pattern of deviant behavior, MacLeish said. 2002 Spotlight Report: Clergy sex abuse crisis, Timeline of Spotlight report investigations, 1/6/2002: Church allowed abuse by priest for years (Part 1 of 2), 1/6/2002: A revered guest; a family left in shreds, 1/7/2002: Geoghan preferred preying on poorer children (Part 2 of 2), 1/31/2002: Scores of priests involved in sex abuse cases, 2/24/2002: Church cloaked in culture of silence, 2/24/2002: Hundreds now claim priest abuse, 3/14/2002: Ex-Mass. Parents who learned of the abuse, often wracked by shame, guilt, and denial, tried to forget what the church had done. Richard Sipe, a former priest. But Church records note that Rossiter was aware of Geoghan's history. Around 1968, a man complained to church authorities that he had caught Geoghan molesting his son. After Geoghans 1989 return to St. Julias, it was another 38 months before Law took him out of the parish. The victim was John Geoghan, a defrocked priest who became one of the most notorious symbols of the clergy sexual abuse crisis that erupted in Boston in 2002. Gary E. Balcom. But one of Laws bishops thought that the 1984 assignment of Geoghan to St. Julias was so risky, he wrote the cardinal a letter in protest. He lived in Guernsey and Belfast. In addition, they had been warned by an inmate that Druce intended to attack Geoghan. Read more from the 2002 Boston Globe report on the Catholic Church abuse crisis. Father Lane was almost destroyed by this, the teacher said. The killer was Joseph Druce, who was. DArcy urged Law to consider restricting Geoghan to weekend duty while receiving some kind of therapy. The Globe could find no evidence that Law accepted that advice. Despite his history of abuse, diocesan leaders moved the abusive priest to one parish after another. Plaintiffs in the 84 pending lawsuits are refusing to settle their claims as easily, and the churchs internal documents are subject to being revealed in the litigation. Officials claimed not to know how the videos, recorded by the prison surveillance systems, were made public. The last person to live there before Loney bought the place was Geoghans sister, Catherine Geoghan, who died about a year ago after being sick for some time, he said. An assessment in 1954 noted him as "markedly immature. spotlight@globe.com. "[3] He was placed on sick leave three days later and ordered by Cardinal Humberto Medeiros to undergo counseling. "He said, `We're very good at keeping secrets,' " McSorley said. One was just 4 years old. Druce is returned from hospital, September 5 According to McSorley, Geoghan, who knew the family from St. Andrew's, learned of his father's suicide and dropped by to offer condolences to his mother, who is schizophrenic. A former priest, Anthony Benzevich, has said he alerted church higher-ups that Geoghan frequently took young boys to his rectory bedroom. [19] D'Arcy retired in 2009 and died in 2013. I froze up, McSorley said. var s_code=' '//--> image14on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/documents_on.gif"; Riding home after getting ice cream, McSorley says, Geoghan consoled him. Please have experience assisting with feeding. Then she met Geoghan, who oversaw altar boys and Boy Scouts at the parish. Also, Mueller said, Geoghan was insisting they tell no one. No American diocese has faced a scandal of similar dimensions since 1992. I was petrified." image13on = new Image(); Then, under oath, Benzevich changed his story. And for good reason, the Spotlight Team found: The archdiocese already had substantial evidence of Geoghans predatory sexual habits. It embarrasses me that the church is so negligent, Gallant wrote. The Rev. Miceli, until recently a member of Laws cabinet, contradicted Mueller in his own deposition. His offers to help, often by taking the children for ice cream or praying with them at bedtime, were accepted without suspicion. That is because almost all the evidence in the lawsuits about the church's supervision of Geoghan has been under a court-ordered confidentiality seal granted to church lawyers. image15on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/about_site_on.gif"; Nicholas Driscoll, who confirmed last week that he had been removed from St. Julias before Geoghans arrival - but for alcohol and depression problems, not sexual abuse. Law allowed Geoghan to stay in Weston for more than eight years before removing him from parish duty in 1993. Almost always, his victims were grammar school boys. . MacLeish declined to provide any information about the family, and said a legal claim has yet to be filed over the sons treatment by Geoghan. Wilson D. Rogers Jr., the cardinal's attorney, defended the move last summer, saying the archdiocese had medical assurances that each Geoghan reassignment was "appropriate and safe.". 12/14/84 Dr. [John H.] Brennan: "no psychiatric contraindications or restrictions to his work as a parish priest." . [5] While Geoghan was assigned to Blessed Sacrament, Anthony Benzevich allegedly told church officials that the junior priest was observed bringing boys into his bedroom. The church's financial liability in the pending suits could increase dramatically if there is evidence Geoghan's superiors knew of his abuse. After two more years and more allegations of sexual abuse, Geoghan's tenure at St. Brendan's came to an abrupt end in 1984, when Lane heard complaints that Geoghan had molested children in the parish. And now, as the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Geoghan, McSorley is bitter.