[Vision2020] 09-12-04 Fox News: Orders May Have Sheltered Molester Priests

[Art Deco aka W. Fox]

Orders May Have Sheltered Molester Priests

Sunday, September 12, 2004



DALLAS - Some Roman Catholic religious orders have been sheltering priests in 
Rome despite claims that the men sexually abused minors, according to The Dallas 
Morning News.

Of the seven accused priests the newspaper located, one has been indicted in 
Arizona, but refuses to return to face the charges. Two others had admitted to 
abuse years ago, but now face additional claims.

Supervisors of the accused clergy said they were not trying to help the men 
elude law enforcement or victims, but wanted to give them a place to live and 
work away from children, the newspaper reported.

In one case, the Rev. Joseph Henn (search), a member of the Salvatorian order, 
was indicted last year in Arizona on child molestation charges. The Diocese of 
Phoenix, where he had worked, had already reached a settlement with one of his 
accusers in the 1990s, the newspaper said.

Salvatorian officials said in a written statement to the newspaper that they had 
told Henn to return and face authorities, but he refused.

The Arizona prosecutor in his case, Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, noted 
that priests take vows of obedience and said Henn's superiors have the authority 
to order him back to America.

In another case, the Rev. Barry Bossa (search), a member of the Pallottines 
order, was criminally charged last year in Massachusetts. He has been accused of 
sexually abusing young boys in the 1970s, when he taught at a Bridgewater, 
Mass., parish. Bossa had separately pleaded guilty in 1974 to misdemeanor sexual 
abuse.

A colleague of Bossa's who had monitored him in the United States, the Rev. 
Terzo Vinci, said the religious order moved Bossa to Rome to isolate him from 
children and now he was unable to return because of his health.

"It's not a promotion," Vinci said. "He went to Rome in exile. Zero promotion. 
Zero anything."

The Rev. James Tully (search), of the Xaverian Missionary Fathers, was moved to 
Rome two years ago, about a month after he was accused of inappropriately 
touching a boy several decades earlier, the newspaper said. Tully had pleaded no 
contest to disorderly conduct in 1992 for giving alcohol to three boys and 
grabbing one of them.

An official with Tully's order said his transfer to Rome was unrelated to the 
abuse allegations. The official said the clergyman was recovering from working 
in war-torn parts of Africa and was not ready for ministry in the United States.

The newspaper identified the men as part of a yearlong investigation that found 
more than 200 priests accused of abuse have been moved from country to country. 
Nearly half of the cases involved clergy who tried to elude law enforcement, the 
newspaper said
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