“Unfortunately, one of the key parishioners . . . received an anonymous phone call which made reference by name to "Vince" and alleged misconduct on his part with young boys,” Father Raymond Goedert wrote to then-Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
“We all agreed that the best thing would be for Vince to move,” Father Goedert wrote, according to documents released as part of a court settlement. “We don’t know if the anonymous caller will strike again.”
Fourteen years later in 2003, McCaffrey was sentenced to 20 years in Federal prison for possession and receipt of child pornography. Though never charged with sexually abusing kids, McCaffrey admitted during the court case that he had molested so many he couldn’t remember the exact number.
Father Goedert was promoted to Auxiliary Bishop in 1991, retired in 2003.
He acknowledged in 2007 in response to questions from lawyers deposing him that he knew 25 Priests had broken the law over the years by molesting children but that he had never alerted police.
And, even as Cardinal Blase Cupich has been outspoken on the need for the church to deal with clergy sexual misconduct and coverups amid a widening, new scandal, Bishop Goedert is still living in the “Cardinal’s Mansion” on Chicago’s Gold Coast, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Cardinal Cupich has allowed Bishop Goedert to remain at the mansion, where he says he has lived since the 1990s, moving in after “I was involved in all that.”
Asked about the message it might send that he’s living there despite his alleged mishandling of accused Priests, Goedert said, “I really don’t want to accept that as a fact. This is too difficult a situation,” Goedert said, asking that particulars about cases be emailed to him. “I don’t want to be talking 30 years later by memory.”
He has yet to respond after being sent information on McCaffrey.
Archdiocesan spokeswoman Paula Waters and other officials have refused to comment.
And so it appears that, for Cardinal Cupich, the hits just keep on coming!
No comments:
Post a Comment