Intimacy with the divine?

December 6, 2002

two news stories from boston. they're interesting because they

challenge our traditional notions of intimacy with the divine, moral

responsibility of religious leaders and conflicted sexual desires:

1. Archdiocese of Boston released personnel files.

BOSTON - Thousands of newly released personnel files show the

Archdiocese of Boston went to great lengths to hide priests accused

of abuse, including clergy who allegedly snorted cocaine and had sex

with girls aspiring to be nuns.

One priest allegedly encouraged girls to " be brides of Christ " and

described himself as " the second coming of Christ " to get them to

engage in sexual acts, according to the records.

The first round of the documents — roughly 3,000 pages on eight Roman

Catholic priests — were made public Tuesday on a Superior Court

order. They had previously been obtained by victims' lawyers...

In the late 1960s, the Rev. Robert V. Meffan allegedly recruited

girls to become nuns and then sexually abused them, according to 1993

letters from Sister Catherine E. Mulkerrin to her boss, the Rev. John

B. McCormack, who was a top aide to Law. Meffan allegedly would

counsel the girls to perform sexual acts as a way of progressing with

their religious studies.

Meffan allegedly engaged in sexual acts with four girls in a Cape Cod

rental, one of the girls told Mulkerrin, according to the 1993 memo.

According to the records, Meffan encouraged them to " be brides of

Christ, " and described himself as " the second coming of Christ. "

Meffan " did anything " but intercourse, one woman told church

officials, because he said that was for " the afterlife. "

On woman said Meffan " used to suggest to her that she imagine Christ

touching, kissing, having intercourse with her, " according to the

church records.

" They were all young girls planning to be nuns, " said attorney

Roderick MacLeish Jr., who represents 247 plaintiffs suing the

archdiocese.

Meffan told The Boston Globe the allegations in the documents were

true, and that he still believed his sexual relationships with the

teenage girls were " beautiful " and " spiritual, " and were intended to

bring them closer to God.

" What I was trying to show them is that Christ is human, and you

should love him as a human being, " said Meffan. " I felt that by

having this little bit of intimacy with them that this is what it

would be like with Christ. "

The Rev. Thomas P. Forry allegedly built a house on Cape Cod for a

woman with whom he carried on an 11-year affair, the documents

showed. The woman had gone to him seeking advice because of problems

in her marriage. The woman's son later alleged that Forry made sexual

advances on him.

2. Archdiocese Closer to Bankruptcy Filing

BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Archdiocese, struggling to contend with a

flurry of sex abuse lawsuits, has moved closer to a remedy usually

associated with troubled businesses and people buried in debt: a

bankruptcy filing.

(articles edited)

the full stories on news: