FALL RIVER -- Bishop Sean P. O'Malley said yesterday that he tried to protect children and to cooperate with the district attorney's office in investigating allegations of sexual abuse by priests.
O'Malley's statement followed an announcement last Thursday from Bristol County Dist. Atty. Paul Walsh, naming 21 diocesan priests accused of sexual abuse in the last 50 years, though no criminal charges have been filed against them. Walsh said that an additional priest, formerly of the Diocese of Fall River, had been indicted on charges of sexual abuse.
Walsh said Thursday that the diocese had dragged its feet in the investigations. "There was some cooperation, but it came like pulling teeth," he said. "These names have been sat on for at least 10 years, possibly 12."
O'Malley's response yesterday noted that he had submitted the names to Walsh in March, and would have done so earlier, had the district attorney requested the names.
"If I had had any indication that civil authorities were interested in prosecuting these older cases, I would have done this exercise sooner," the bishop wrote in a statement, noting that the cases all referred to events allegedly taking place 20 or more years ago.
He said that, in the past few months, many dioceses have reviewed their files and turned over the names of priests accused of sexual abuse in the past 50 years. The Fall River diocese gave Walsh the names in March, a spokesperson for the diocese said last Thursday.
When O'Malley arrived in the diocese in 1992, he established policies to protect children in the wake of revelations that former priest James Porter had abused dozens of area youths.
After the policies were implemented, O'Malley said he tried to make any past cases that came to his attention conform with the policies, which mandated removal of perpetrators from parish ministry and unsupervised access to children.
None of the accused is currently active in the priesthood, and several of the priests named have settled out of court with their victims. In some cases, the priests named were accused by only one person, who did not press charges. In two instances, the priests are dead.
"It is my firm conviction that child abuse is a crime," O'Malley wrote. "It is preferable to have civil authorities investigate the accusations and make a determination about their validity."
Although O'Malley's statement pledged continued cooperation with civil authorities, the bishop will be in the Spindle City for only three more weeks -- he's being installed as the bishop of the diocese in Palm Beach, Fla., on Oct. 17. O'Malley's successor in Fall River has not been named.
The diocese did not respond to phone calls from The Providence Journal yesterday following the statement's release.
