Since 1997, the archdiocese has settled about 50 lawsuits against Geoghan, for more than $10 million - but with no confidential documents ever made public. Of the priests, few would speak publicly. "To find out later that the Catholic Church knew he was a child molester - every day it bothers me more and more," McSorley says. ". On Dec. 17, Rogers sent the Globes attorney, Jonathan M. Albano, a letter threatening to seek legal sanctions against the newspaper and its law firm if the Globe published anything gleaned from confidential records in the suits. Law allowed Geoghan to stay in Weston for more than eight years before removing him from parish duty in 1993. But Miceli acknowledged receiving a call from a woman saying Geoghan was spending too much time with her children. Victims could now collect, October 2 image6off = new Image(); In 1996, Mitchell Garabedian filed suit against Father Geoghan, a foreshadowing of the massive litigation to follow naming hundreds of Catholic priests and dioceses throughout the United States and ultimately the world. Sipe did not treat Geoghan. Richard Sipe, a former priest. One night, she testified, her second youngest son came to her, insisting that she keep Geoghan away from him. The unresolved issue in the remaining suits is whether church officials knew of the abuse at the time. No American diocese has faced a scandal of similar dimensions since 1992. And he said he could not recall notifying superiors about Geoghan's behavior with children. Boston's Suffolk County prosecuted Geoghan in two other sexual abuse cases. He warned that he would seek court-imposed sanctions even if Globe reporters asked questions of clergy involved in the case. Some light tidying up is involved. Plaintiffs in the 84 pending lawsuits are refusing to settle their claims as easily, and the church's internal documents are subject to being revealed in the litigation. The Globe could find no evidence that Law accepted that advice. The files also contain a poignant - and prophetic - August 1982 letter to Laws predecessor, the late Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, from the aunt of Geoghans seven Jamaica Plain victims, expressing incredulity that the church to which she was devoted would give Geoghan another chance at St. Brendans after what he had done to her family. [6] In 1995 Geoghan admitted to having molested four boys during his tenure at Blessed Sacrament. Then, under oath, Benzevich changed his story. And, she said, he was incensed that he had not been warned. Father Lane was almost destroyed by this, the teacher said. Geoghan's criminal defense attorney, Geoffrey Packard, said his client would have no comment on any of the allegations against him. var s_channel="News"; The house had been Geoghans childhood home. The Boston Globe's coverage of Geoghan's abuse opened the door for public knowledge of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston[2] and Catholic churches nationwide in general. "Father Lane was almost destroyed by this," the teacher said. He was found guilty on February 21, 2002, of indecent assault and battery for grabbing the buttocks of a 10-year-old boy in a swimming pool at the Waltham Boys and Girls Club in 1991, and was sentenced to nine to ten years in prison. Never before have so many bishops had to defend their roles in a case involving sexual molestation charges against a single priest. In 1984, there were still some clinicians who believed child molesters could be cured. [22] Law died in Rome on December 20, 2017. Morrissey said the church had no interest in knowing what the Globe's questions would be. "The perfect substitute father," Geoghan said of his uncle, who would dress his young nephew in the vestments of a priest for festive neighborhood parades at the family's summer home in Scituate . 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. } The civil and criminal allegations Geoghan faces in Middlesex and Suffolk counties suggest that he allegedly abused at least 30 more boys after Law sent him to Weston in 1984 - both before and after the half year's sick leave in 1989. 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. image12off.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/parish_map_off.gif"; image12on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/newnav/parish_map_on.gif"; Then, under oath, Benzevich changed his story. And in his first two years, he was in charge of altar boys, religious education for public school youngsters and a youth group, according to the church's annual directories. image2on.src = "http://cache.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/images/universal/nav_jan23/predator_on.gif"; Geoghan bore guards' abuse "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. Lane, the teacher said, was so devastated that he broke down when he told her the news. In 1981, after a years sick leave, Geoghan was dispatched to St. Brendans in Dorchester, with little chance he would be placed under scrutiny: His pastor for most of his 3 1/2 years there, the Rev. image12on = new Image(); John E. Thomas, the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas, a nearby parish, according to court documents and accounts by Dussourd and a church official who asked that he not be identified. var s_pageName="News | Special reports | Priest sex abuse | Globe story archives (all)"; That is how 12-year-old Patrick McSorley, who lived in a Hyde Park housing project, allegedly became a Geoghan victim in 1986 - two years after Geoghans assignment to Weston. Parents who learned of the abuse, often wracked by shame, guilt, and denial, tried to forget what the church had done. But Church records note that Rossiter was aware of Geoghan's history. "Do you realize what you're taking from him?" Duties include providing companionship and social interaction. The letters from Bishop D'Arcy and Margaret Gallant were among documents found by the Globe during a review of the public files of 84 civil lawsuits still pending against Geoghan. The judge also allowed attorneys to add Father Paul E. Miceli as a defendant in 57 lawsuits. But for all Geoghans notoriety, the public record is remarkably skeletal. Paul E. Miceli, a parish priest at St. Marys in Melrose who knew both Geoghan and her family. I didnt know what to think. I froze up, McSorley said. 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.