Keep a lid on abuse details, church urges
Published 10:46 pm Friday, June 12, 2009
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport asked the Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday to reconsider a ruling that would make public thousands of pages of documents that detail alleged sexual abuse by priests.
The court’s 4-1 ruling last month covers more than 12,600 pages of documents from 23 lawsuits against six priests that have been under seal since the diocese settled the cases in 2001. Most of the victims were altar boys or belonged to church youth organizations.
The records could shed light on how recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the allegations when he was Bridgeport bishop.
Church officials say the ruling fails to uphold the privacy and constitutional rights of all parties to lawsuits, especially when cases are sealed, and contends the disclosure of the sealed documents is barred by the religious clauses of the First Amendment.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, criticized Bridgeport Bishop William Lori.
“It’s obvious that Lori’s terribly afraid of the church hierarchy’s complicity that is revealed in these documents,” Clohessy said.
