Stephen Brady of the watchdog group Roman Catholic Faithful has responded to news that an investigation backs up the claims he’s made over the years about the shenanigans in the diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
While he’s happy that certain admissions have been made, he’s less happy that there is a failure to acknowledge the reality.
What is most noticeable in this report by the diocese is that the bishop never uses the words homosexual or sin. The problem of homosexual clergy is never addressed. ... The sexual misconduct mentioned includes Bishop Daniel Ryan sodomizing teenage boys he picked up off the street. In some cases he would hear the boys’ confession in order to ease their young consciences. This information was made available to Cardinal Francis George of Chicago in 1997 and to Bishop George Lucas in 1999.
Brady has harsh words for all of the bishops named, plus Bishop Joseph Imesch of Joliet, whose sex-abuse lawsuit depositions have become famous. He also disputes other findings of the report as whitewashing certain incidents, including that related to the former chancellor of the diocese, Msgr. Eugene Costa, who was hospitalized after a beating he got in a park by two men he allegedly propositioned. The report says Costa was removed from ministry by Bishop Lucas immediately when the allegations were raised. Brady’s response?
More lies. Costa was removed by Bishop Lucas only after he was beaten in the park. Costa’s homosexual activity was common knowledge years earlier. In 1997, Jimmy Lago (the investigator for Cardinal George and now his chancellor) specifically asked me about allegations against Costa. In interviews with the State Journal-Register after his beating, some of Costa’s parishioners admitted knowing of his homosexuality.
He says that the man who was initially seen as a suspect in Casta’s beating—before the boys were arrested—claimed he was being set up by the diocese because he’d been paid for sexual favors by several Springfield clergy and knew of others who were homosexual.
There’s much, much more. The bottom line is that Brady says the rot in Springfield is rampant and that the report is an attempt to come clean on the least damaging allegations while keeping the worst stuff under wraps, minimizing the PR damage. Is he right? Brady has been right on so much else, stuff from around the country, that I’m hesitant to doubt him on something in his own backyard that he’s been dealing with for decades.
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