John Geoghan

John J. Geoghan ( /ˈɡeɪɡən/; June 4, 1935 - August 23, 2003) was a key figure in the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases that rocked the Boston Archdiocese in the 1990s and 2000s and led to the resignation of Boston's archbishop, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, on December 13, 2002.

Career Summary

Geoghan was a graduate of Cardinal O'Connell Seminary, and was ordained in 1962. On February 13, 1962 he was assigned as an assistant pastor at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Saugus, Massachusetts. That December, Geoghan successfully talk a man out of committing suicide by jumping of the Mystic River Bridge. While at Blessed Sacrament, Rev. Anthony Benzevich allegedly told church officials that Geoghan would bring boys into his bedroom. Benzevich would later denied this.

From September 27, 1966 to April 20, 1967, Geoghan was assigned to St. Bernard’s Parish in Concord, Massachusetts. There is no reason in church records as to why his stay here was abbreviated.

From April 20, 1967 to June 4, 1974, Geoghan was assigned to St. Paul’s Parish in Hingham, Massachusetts. Around 1968, a man complained to church authorities that he caught Geoghan molesting his son. As a result Geoghan was sent to Seton Institute in Baltimore for treatment for his pedophilic sexual impulses. In the early 1970s, Joanne Mueller, accused Geoghan of molesting her four young boys. Mueller says she informed Rev. Paul E. Miceli and he asked her to keep quiet. Miceli disputes her account.

Geoghan's next assignment was at St. Andrew’s Parish in Jamaica Plain. On February 9, 1980 Rev. John E. Thomas tells Bishop Thomas Vose Daily that Geoghan admitted to molesting seven boys. Daily then called Geoghan and told him to go home. Geoghan admitted to the abuse, but said that he did "not feel it serious or a pastoral problem." He was placed on sick leave three days later and ordered to undergo counseling by Archbishop Humberto Medeiros. Under the care of Doctors Robert Mullins and John H. Brennan, Geoghan underwent psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

On February 25, 1981, Geoghan returned to pastoral work at St. Brendan’s Parish in Dorchester. While at St. Brendan's, Geoghan allegedly raped and fondled a boy. In 1982 the family of seven of Geoghan's victims complained to Daily that Geoghan had met one of the molested children at an ice cream shop in Jamaica Plain and was in the company of another child. On September 18, 1984, Bernard F. Law, the new archbishop of Boston removed Geoghan from parish after complaints that he was molesting children.

On November 13, 1984 he is assigned by Law to St. Julia’s Parish in Weston, Massachusetts. Here is put in charge of three youth groups, including altar boys. On December 7, 1984, Auxiliary Bishop John Michael D'Arcy wrote to Law complaining about Geoghan’s assignment to St. Julia’s because of his "history of homosexual involvement with young boys." That same month Dr. Mullins proclaims that Geoghan "fully recovered" and Dr. Brennan states that there is no need for restrictions on his work as a priest. In 1986 allegations of sexual abuse return. From April 3 to 12, 1989, Geoghan stays at the Saint Luke Institute in Silver Springs, Maryland. Here he is diagnosed with homosexual pedophilia. On April 28, 1989 Bishop Robert Joseph Banks orders Geoghan to leave the ministry. He is placed on sick leave on May 24 and from August 10 to November 4, he is treated at The Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. Upon his release, Geoghan is described as "moderately improved" and it is recommend is that he return to assignment. Banks is unhappy with the Institute's Discharge Summary and on December 13, the Institute sends him a letter explaining the Discharge Summary. It states that "The probability he would act out again is quite low. However, we could not guarantee that it would not re-occur." On November 28, 1990 Banks recommends that Geoghan return to the parish, but leaves the decision up to Cardinal Law and another bishop. On October 23, 1991 the church receives a complaint about Geoghan "proselytizing" with a boy at a pool.

Retirement

Geoghan retired in 1993 and moves into the Regina Cleri residence for retired priests. In 1996, after more allegations surface, he spends four to six months in the Southdown Institute in Ontario, Canada for therapy.

Sex Abuse

Over a 30-year career in six parishes, Geoghan was accused of sexual abuse involving more than 130 children. Charges were brought in in Cambridge, Massachusetts concerning accusations of molestation that took place in 1991. Geoghan was defrocked in 1998. He was found guilty in January 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.

After initially agreeing to, and pulling out of, a $30 million settlement with 86 of Geoghan's victims, the Boston archdiocese settled for $10 million and is still negotiating with other victims. The most recent settlement proposed is $65 million for 542 victims. The settlements are being made because of evidence that the archdiocese had transferred Geoghan from parish to parish despite warnings of his behavior. As a result of allegations against Geoghan, evidence arose that the archdiocese displayed a pattern of shipping other priests to new parishes when allegations of sexual abuse were made.

Two other cases were charged against Geoghan in Boston's Suffolk County. One case was dropped without prejudice when the victim decided not to testify. In the second case, two rape charges were dismissed by a judge after hotly contested arguments because the statute of limitations had run out. The Commonwealth's appeal of that ruling was active at the time of Geoghan's death, and remaining charges of indecent assault in that case were still pending at that time.

Murder of Geoghan

On August 23, 2003, while in protective custody at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, Geoghan was strangled and stomped to death in his cell by Joseph Druce, a self-described white supremacist and inmate serving a sentence of life without possibility of parole for killing a man who allegedly made a sexual pass after picking Druce up hitchhiking. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be "ligature strangulation and blunt chest trauma."^{[citation needed]} There have been questions raised about the wisdom and propriety of placing these two men in the same unit, since prison officials had been warned by another inmate that Druce had something planned.

A Worcester, Massachusetts jury found Druce guilty of first-degree murder on January 25, 2006, after the jury rejected his insanity defense. The next day, Druce was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a second time.

A video, which shows correction officers trying to open the wedged shut prison door where the murder was occurring, was released on YouTube in June 2007. Officials don't know how the video, taken from prison surveillance systems, came to be publicly released.

See also

• Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
• Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
• Crimen sollicitationis
• Pontifical Secret
• Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
• Sex crimes and the Vatican (Panorama documentary episode)
• Barbara Blaine founder of SNAP (Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests)

External links

• Diocesan and court records relating to John Geoghan