Former bishop says New York Diocese has covered up on child sexual abuse for decades

The diocese of the Catholic Church in Albany (capital of New York) covered for decades sexual abuse of minors by their priests send them for private treatment instead of calling the police, said its former bishop Howard J. Hubbard.

Hubbard, who He led the diocese from 1977 to 2014 and was also accused of sexual abuse, made this statement through his lawyer in response to a series of questions from the newspaper Union of times, who released the information this Saturday.

“When a complaint of sexual misconduct was received against a priest in the 1970s and 1980s, the common practice in the Diocese of Albany, and elsewhere, was to remove the priest from the ministry temporarily and send him for counseling and treatmentHubbard pointed out.

According to your statement, “It was not until a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist determined that the priest was able to return to ministry without recurrence that he was considered to replace the priest in the ministry.”

“The professional advice we received was well intentioned but imperfect and I am deeply sorry that we followed him, ”he admitted.

the Union of times Note that The response from Hubbard, 82, comes as he faces multiple allegations of child sexual abuse and is mentioned in dozens of other court cases. in which he is accused of covering up the abuses of other priests.

Hubbard denied claims he sexually assaulted minors and in August 2019 statement He assured: “I have never sexually abused anyone in my life. I have confidence in the canonical and civil legal processes and I believe this will be clarified in due course ”.

Until more than 300 lawsuits have been filed against the Diocese of Albany Under a law that came into effect in 2019 in New York City that will allow alleged victims until Aug. 14 to sue for sexual abuse they say they suffered as a child, sometimes decades ago.

The newspaper also notes that thousands of pages of court records he reviewed describe a decades-long period in the Diocese of Albany in which several priests or staff were accused of abuse and that the Diocese or Hubbard have been alerted to the allegations.

However, many of those who have come forward say they have often been ignored, the newspaper added.

THE FIRST ACCUSED

Hubbard’s remarks come just days after former American cardinal Theodore McCarrick, excluded from the priesthood in 2019, was accused of sexually assaulting a minor under the age of 16 at a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974, reported this Thursday the newspaper The Boston Globe

The floor has been converted McCarrick is the first person to serve as a cardinal in the United States to face criminal charges for sexual offense against a minor, the lawyer for the alleged victim, Mitchell Garabedian, told the newspaper.

McCarrick, 91, former Archbishop of Washington, faces three counts of indecent assault and assault and battery on a person over 14 in a court in Dedham (Massachusetts), according to documents reviewed by the World.

It’s the first time McCarrick is formally indicted by a US criminal court, after several men sued him in New York and New Jersey and claimed that the former cardinal mistreated them in these states when they were children.

The crimes reported in these cases were time barred under the laws of those states., which prevented authorities from filing a complaint against McCarrick.

In the case of Massachusetts, on the other hand, police were able to press charges because when the events occurred he was not a resident of that state., and the statute of limitations for crimes ceased to apply when he returned to his then-New York home, the newspaper explains.

(With information from EFE)

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