Re: Michael Jackson bust

and here's one in today's paper. CNN?

Archdiocese of Cincinnati Fined in Sex Abuse Scandal
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
 
n Ohio state judge found the Archdiocese of Cincinnati guilty
yesterday of failing to report sexually abusive priests in the 1970's
and 80's and imposed the maximum penalty possible, a fine of $10,000.

The judge's decision was the result of an agreement with the county
prosecutor in which Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk entered a
no-contest plea on behalf the archdiocese. The archbishop appeared in
the courtroom with several church officials and personally entered the
plea. 

"Do you understand," Judge Richard Niehaus of Common Pleas Court said
to the archbishop, "you admitted facts that constituted guilt?"

The archbishop, pale as he stood before the bench, answered, "Right."

The agreement was reached hastily, just as a grand jury was convened
to hear testimony against the archdiocese. It came at a time when many
bishops appear eager to dissipate the cloud of the sexual abuse
scandal that has shadowed them for nearly two years.

Some dioceses have announced settlements with victims, and several
have reported to the public the names or number of priests and other
diocesan employees dismissed after abuse accusation.

"They're trying very hard to get it off the table and get on with
trying to be a church again," said the Rev. James Coriden, a professor
of church law at Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C.

The Cincinnati prosecutor and local plaintiffs lawyers hailed the
agreement, saying it was the first time that a Roman Catholic
organization has been convicted on criminal charges related to the
mishandling of sexual abuse cases. Bishops in two other Catholic
dioceses â in Phoenix and in Manchester, N.H. â have signed agreements
with prosecutors in which they admitted some wrongdoing, but avoided
prosecution.

Under the agreement in Cincinnati, the archdiocese acknowledged that
by pleading no contest, it was admitting the truth of five
fourth-degree misdemeanor charges and agreeing to accept the judge's
sentence.

"The Archdiocese is held responsible," said Michael K. Allen, the
Hamilton County prosecuting attorney. "To my knowledge, this is the
first conviction of its kind in any jurisdiction within the United
States, and it sends a clear and unequivocal message."

In a statement, Archbishop Pilarczyk expressed "sorrow and shame," and
said: "A few years ago, I never would have thought that it would be
necessary for a bishop to be making apologies like these. But it is
necessary and I offer my expressions of sorrow and regret with the
deepest intensity of which I am capable. Victims, please forgive us
and help us to see to it that what you have suffered never happens
again."

In a news conference, Archbishop Pilarczyk said he did not intend to
resign. "Failure to report a crime is just that," he said. "It is not
some sort of concerted effort to conceal." 

The diocese was convicted of disregarding Ohio law requiring that
abuse accusations be reported to civil authorities. The charges cover
the years 1978 to 1982. Archbishop Pilarczyk was appointed to head the
Cincinnati archdiocese in December 1982, but served from 1974 as an
auxiliary bishop there. 

He served as president of what is now called the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1989 to 1992, when the first wave
of the church's sexual abuse scandal occurred. During these years, the
bishops made recommendations on sexual abuse cases that many dioceses
later admitted they failed to follow.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati also agreed to establish a $3 million
fund to compensate sexual abuse victims who cannot sue the church
because their cases are beyond the statute of limitations. A
three-member tribunal will administer the fund. 

There is a notable advantage for the archdiocese in pleading no
contest rather than guilty, said Konrad Kircher, a Cincinnati-area
lawyer who represents 67 people suing the church for what they say was
sexual abuse. Under Ohio law, a no contest plea cannot be used in
civil proceedings, he said.

The prosecutor, Mr. Allen, said in a statement that he had decided to
investigate the church after Archbishop Pilarczyk announced in March
2002 that fewer than five priests who had abused children remained
active in ministry. Mr. Allen impaneled one grand jury that in March
2003 indicted two inactive priests. He recently impaneled a second to
examine why the archdiocese never reported abuse claims to the police.

Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which has
pressed for prosecutions of church leaders, criticized the arrangement
in Cincinnati. Barbara Blaine, a lawyer who is the network's
president, was among a group who met with the prosecutor in Cincinnati
on Thursday.

"We owe a great deal of gratitude to this prosecutor," said Ms.
Blaine. "Mike Allen has really tried hard and gone out on a limb. But
at the same time we are not pleased at the actual outcome, because the
archbishop was allowed to plead no contest â he didn't enter a plea of
guilty â and no individual is being held responsible."

Judge Niehaus, a Roman Catholic, chastised his church in the courtroom
today.

"I believe that a religious organization that not only should follow
the civil law but also the moral law lost its way," he said. "And I
believe that all religious organizations ought to show greater respect
for human rights and not try to preserve themselves at the expense of
the victims."


 "Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are
 conservative." -John Stuart Mill 

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