Pocono News Section

Lingering Questions Concerning Scranton Diocse

Lingering Questions Concerning Scranton Diocse - Friday, November 9, 2007 at 8:34PM EST

Reported by: Joe Holden
Friday, Nov 9, 2007 @08:34pm EST

SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY- Thousands of pages of documents and memos told the story, shedding light on years of cover up. It's clear after two solid days of testimony, the Diocese of Scranton and its ordained leaders kept the lid on a scandal: the holy church swept reports of abusive priests under the carpet, hiding criminals from prosecution.

Records showed the police should have been called, but weren't.

Why is that? WBRE News was the only news organization to persistently ask that question.

When asking Bishop Emeritus James Timlin about a litany of allegations raised by witnesses in federal court, he answered "Well, I'm not going to get into that (and), run the whole case again. That wouldn't be proper. I think we did the best we could."

A victim of hideous and disturbing abuse by a priest walks away a millionaire. It's compensation that cannot compare to years of destruction because of misplaced trust. Victim "John Doe" took the church to court and hooked it on a settlement of $3 million. The victim's attorney told reporters he made more bombshells for the diocese if proceedings had continued.

During the course of two days of testimony, we learned the church knew about Father Albert Liberatore and did nothing.

Confidential memos were exchanged at the highest levels of church administration. Their contents, released in court, showed Liberatore was a known problem.

I asked attorney Dan Brier, whose client sued the Diocese, what he believes people now see about the Catholic church from testimony in court. He told me "I think the Catholic church is more transparent today than it was before in Northeast Pennsylvania."

It was openly admitted in court, the Diocese transferred priests back into service after committing sexual abuse.

New and unknown predators have come to light.

One priest, referred to as "Father Ned," an alias, reportedly abused two 13-year-old boys and admitted to it, according to church records. That was 1997. Church administrators abruptly removed the abuser and sent him away for therapy.

"Fr. Ned" was returned to active ministry and abused again. The priest was dismissed. It's unknown if he was prosecuted or removed from the priesthood.

It's just one lingering question left wide open by these proceedings.

The Scranton Diocese released a statement indicating it was still assessing how it would draw funds to compensate the victim, saying it was reviewing arrangements with its insurance carriers. Leaders did say Sunday parish collections would not subsidize the settlement, believed to be the second largest for a single victim of abuse.

To read the initial court papers filed by the victim, against the diocese .

To read a grand jury report by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office on cases of abuse in that Archdiocese .