Orphans tortured by nuns for 90 years

Neerkol in northern Queensland, scene of the torture according to a report Allegations that Roman Catholic nuns systematically tortured orphans over a period of 90 years are being investigated by Australian authorities.

Children at the Neerkol orphanage in northern Queensland were scalded with boiling water, locked under the floor and had their toenails pulled out with pliers, a report by a university lecturer says. Beatings, public floggings and rape were also practiced, the report alleges.

Professor Bruce Grundy discusses his report

The order which runs the home, the Sisters of Mercy, apologised earlier this month for what had happened at Neerkol.

The report by Professor Bruce Grundy of the Department of Journalism at Queensland University says the events went on for 90 years until 1976.

Official investigation

The orphanage is now under official investigation by the Queensland State Children's Commissioner, Norm Alford. He expects to release a preliminary report next month.

The orphans included 48 children who were part of a British Government orphan migration program which is under investigation by a House of Commons committee.

Punishment for holding hands

Mr Grundy said he could not think of any brutality or inhumanity that was not practiced. They ranged from floggings with a whip at the hands of workmen, to having legs plunged into boiling water.

One girl had her fingers broken because by holding a boy's hand she had broken a rule. The boy, however, was her brother.

Another former resident, Helen Carter, now in her 30s, told how the nuns once thrust a red hot poker down her back to exorcise the devil.

Mr Grundy said he had no idea why the atrocities were carried out by people who in theory subscribed to Christian principles.

"One can come up with theories that the orphanage was in a relatively isolated area, one can suggest certain sexual repressions, one can suggest that this was inculcated into them from the earliest days and it was just passed on from generation to generation -- none of which is a very satisfactory explanation" he said.

'Depthless depravity'

The report said: "Madness, ruthless and sadistic madness on the part of at least some of the nuns and a depthless depravity on the part of some of the men who inhabited the place are the defining characteristics of those who ran the orphanage."

"There was, it seems, no obvious torment or torture some of the nuns were incapable of administering. There was no limit to the sexual deviance that could be engaged in with those who were unlucky enough to find themselves singled out as 'the chosen ones'."

... "Faith" means not wanting to know what is true.

Father Jailed for Starving Toddler

.c The Associated Press

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) - The father of a toddler starved during a religious fast was sentenced to 30 days in jail Tuesday.

The judge also ordered Bruce Tharalson to serve five years' probation. Tharalson's wife, Julie, also received five years' probation.

The couple's child, 21-month-old Ashley Tharalson, starved during a 40-day fast that ended in November.

She was hospitalized one week after the fast ended. She had a fever and was suffering seizures. Her weight had dropped from 26 to 19 pounds.

She remains in foster care with relatives. A custody hearing will determine whether the child should be returned to her parents.

The couple was ordered to undergo counseling.

They said they fasted because they were short on money and believed they could secure God's help by fasting.

AP-NY-05-05-98 2141EDT

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

21-month-old Ashley Tharalson, wasted away during a *40-day* fast. She was hospitalized one week after the fast ended, and is slowly recovering.

When admitted, She had a fever and was suffering seizures, and her weight had dropped to 19 pounds.

Tharalson said the family stopped eating because they were "short on money" and thought they could secure God's help by fasting.

... People who claim GOD is on their side are dangerous as hell.

Hi Fred,

Just got done watching a piece on CBS's 48 Hours about some deluded fools in Florida, a Reverend Crossley who contracted with a hitman to kill the husband (also a fundamentalist pastor) of a woman he was screwing. Adultery and murder... these are only minor comandments he's violating, right? Subtle gray-areas subject to deep theological interpretation, right?

This piece clearly shows the delusional insanity of those who imagine themselves to be "born again".

The Rev is shown in a jailhouse interview and seems all pissed off that he got in trouble. After all "God forgives me" why shouldn't everyone else let it slide, is the gist of his attitude. And since he's a "Reverend" we're supposed to believe his typical convict bullshit of how he was railroaded.... only problem is his deal with the undercover-cop hitman was videotaped.... not a mitigating word in it at all.... I've read transcripts of Mafia hit-decision meetings that displayed less criminal intent.

These folks are clearly not just simple but insane.

I hope you got a chance to see the piece.... it is an excellent display of typical born-again thinking.... they really think its okay to do anything that pops into their head and if they simply say "Gee whiz, I'm sorry" and then claim that they prayed to god and god forgives them when they get caught its supposed to be okay.

Reminds one of the Karla Whoever who was recently executed for a pickax murder wherin she had orgasm upon orgasm with the act of murder... then she became conveniently born-again in prison and all of a sudden the usually bloodthirsty death penalty mongers of Southern bible belt thought she should be allowed to slide because she had "accepted the lord". If she'd have been a black man instead of an attractive white woman, I doubt the bible-belters would have opposed her death, born-again or not.

Is it any wonder the low-grade simpleton trash of the world find these pseudo-religions attractive? They are offered an excuse to avoid all responsibility for anything whatsoever while allowing them a self-aggrandizing notion of themselves as god's special agents. While it rarely descends to the level of murder, these folks regularly conduct themselves in the most arrogant and self-righteous ways while behaving in a manner that would shame jungle chimps much less anyone who lays claim to the title of human being.

In the neighborhood where I live there are about 30 households. Folks are generally either actively friendly or benevolently ignore each other. Guess who the one exception to this rule is? A prideful and arrogant born-again Christian who is a cowardly little scum and who is constantly harassing and occasionally even assaulting the neighborhood kids.

He has his wife terrorized into submission, she fears speaking to anyone while he is around.. Has accosted my Catholic neighbors and loves to call them "spawn of satan" and other such endearing terms. In the approx 20 years I've lived here the cops have been called because of him more times than for all other reasons combined... including medical emergencies and he's only lived here about 5 years or so. I've had to call the cops on him once myself and I'm a notorious homebody and peacemaker around here. It seems likely that I'm respected by my neighbors since they unanimously elected me Corporate Secretary of our homeowner's association.

How many acts of stupidity and evil has born-again Christian foolishness inspired or condoned? Fortunately the decimal numbering system has no upper limit and mathematicians have developed the infinity symbol for inconveniently large figures. Unfortunately, these are necessary tools when calculating Christian stupidity and evil.

Sincerely,
Caroline

From the Mesa Tribune, Thursday, May 14, 1998, Page 1

A.J. mom's motives disputed in 7-year-old girl's slaying

By Kevin Sheh, Cristina de Isasi and Kirk Mitchell The Tribune

Barbara Downey claimed she was commanded by God to kill her 7-year-old daughter.

Now the 25-year-old Apache Junction woman will answer to a mortal's court.

The woman was arrested Tuesday after she confessed to shooting her daughter "because it was God's will." Wednesday morning, Downey led police to a desert area east of Apache Junction, where they found the body of 7-year-old Jessica Helms.

"God is my attorney," Downey said to a judge during her initial appearance Wednesday. She claimed God told her to kill her daughter because the girl was born out of wedlock, police said.

But some relatives of the girl's father, Steven Helms, don't believe her. They said they think Downey killed her daughter to get back at Helms because he had a new girlfriend.

"Every time Steven would go with a girl, Barbara would get jealous and stop Steven from seeing the girl," said an uncle who Helms recently lived with. He would identify himself only as Glen. Once Downey denied the father visitation for two months, Glen said.

Still, she had a reputation for being a good mother, and friends and neighbors said that she was never religious, until last week.

Downey's live-in boyfriend, James David Ladd, told police Downey started acting odd a week ago.

"He said she was reading a certain passage in the Bible talking about children born out of wedlock," said Apache Junction police Lt. Brian Duncan. "She said it wasn't right -- and the Lord spoke to her as she read the passage."

So when Ladd discovered Downey picked up her daughter from Four Peaks Elementary School at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday -- about two hours early -- he was suspicious.

"Once he discovered his gun also was missing, he called police," about 2:50 p.m., Duncan said.

Jessica was last seen alive about 3:10 p.m., when a family friend spotted Downey driving her boyfriend's Toyota truck east on Superstition Boulevard at Geronimo Road. The friend, who was watching Downey's 4-year-old son, said Jessica was a passenger and appeared to be in good health.

Police searched for the girl in vain. About 5:30 p.m., Downey returned home. Police quickly arrived and whisked Downey to the Apache Junction police station. Within minutes, Downey was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. Police seized the boyfriend's 9mm handgun and truck.

"She answered all our questions.....She seemed very comfortable with her decision, with what she did," Duncan said. "In her mind, she was led by the will of God to do this .... because her daughter was born out of wedlock."

Wednesday morning, Downey led police to a desert area south of De Barge Road at Lost Dutchman Boulevard. There, wrapped in a tarp and lying deep in a wash, police found Jessica's body.

Downey was calm, almost nonchalant, Duncan said. Though she had been arrested for drug abuse in 1994, Downey was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol Tuesday, police said. Neighbors, friends and relatives said Downey had no mental problems or any history of abuse toward her daughter or son, police said. She had no religious affiliations, Duncan said.

"She didn't hold back or deny the fact that she killed her daughter," he said.

Clutching a red Bible with her cuffed hands, Downey was led Tuesday afternoon into the Apache Junction Justice Court for her initial appearance. She sat down silently, set a Bible on a table and rocked gently in her chair until Justice of the Peace Corwin Brundrett called her name.

After Brundrett announced she would be held without bail and ended the hearing, she grabbed the Bible and held it high as she was led out of the courthouse.

"Do you believe in God? He's coming," Downey shouted at reporters as she was whisked to Pinal County Jail in Florence. "God didn't tell me to do this....I did this for myself."

Her son was turned over to Downey's grandparents. Downey told police her son was safe because she was married when her son was born.

Ladd, who could not be reached for comment, was "very emotional" Wednesday. He will not be charged in the death, Duncan said.

"He's blaming himself for the whole thing," said Thomas, a man who lives in a trailer next door and didn't want his last name publicized.

"Sometimes you don't want to say anything to get anyone in trouble if you care about them," he said.

"What she did was pretty hard," Thomas added. "But no one can tell what she was thinking at the time. Who's anybody to say she didn't hear any voices."

Mary Black, Helms' aunt, was skeptical.

"If she found God, she found a different god than every one of us knows," said Black, who is a practicing Catholic. Asked if she would pray for Downey at church this Sunday, she paused. "That's tough," she finally said. "Yeah, I probably will. I hope she finds the real God. But I don't approve of that as a means to get off for something you've done."

Ed Packard, Downey's father, declined to discuss the death with "The Tribune." He and other family members gathered at the Packard residence -- a pink stucco house on a private dirt road at the foot of a mountain north of Apache Junction. A man wearing a gun shooed reporters away. Jessica's father, an East Valley resident, could not be reached for comment.

However, a relative of the family, Marlene Branom, said Helms met with the Packards on Wednesday to make funeral arrangements for the girl.

"Steven is as shocked as we are," said Branom, Helm's aunt. "He doesn't know what happened."

Both Downey's neighbors and Helm's relatives gave conflicting descriptions of Downey's behavior. Some said she was a happy woman who spent all her time playing with her children. Others said she hung with a strange crowd and once abandoned her children at her parents house so she could leave to figure out what to do with her life.

Branom said Downey had always been a very loving mother to Jessica.

She never saw her yell or hit the child, who was a shy, sweet girl, she said.

"It's just totally out of the ordinary for the mother," Branom said. "She was always hugging and kissing on her."

Helms, who had custody of the girl every other weekend, is taking his only daughter's death very hard, she said.

"She was the center of his life," Branom said. "He was crazy about her."

Black said she watched Downey grow from a "spunky" little girl to the young woman who eventually had a yearlong relationship with Helms. Black said she had always known Downey as a good mother, and was surprised to see the same woman on television Wednesday in handcuffs, talking about God's role in the killing.

"She's not the Barbara we all know," Black said.

But neighbors at Downey's old address on Julep Street in east Mesa said Downey hung with a strange crowd of people who wore bizarre hairstyles and pierced their bodies. They had fights that drew police and threw loud parties. One man said his first encounter with Downey was when he reprimanded her for speeding down their quiet, residential block while children were in the street.

Her brother, Mike, told neighbors that about six months ago Downey dropped her children off at her parents' house and left, not returning for about two months.

Downey had no history of violence in Pinal or Maricopa counties. But she had a few brushes with the law, according to court records in those counties.

She was arrested in 1994 in Mesa on a marijuana charge. When she did not appear for a hearing, a warrant was issued for her arrest. Police caught up with her in Scottsdale in January 1996 and Downey

[...part 2 missing...]

This article from the New York Times on America OnLine was mis-displayed in such a manner that I had to copy it to a file to see its full width... one wonders if some fanatical apologist at AOL was trying to discourage its disemination. One wonders at the spiritual "values" of one who feels a mere "tinge of disappointment" at the horrific abuse of the confidence of the youngsters abused so many years ago. The Catholic Church, in its appallingly arrogant and low-grade-human manner, never fully acknowledges even the most blatant guilt it bears. God only knows what horrors remain buried in its guilty breast.

Note to rosscourtney@sprint.ca, curry@freestamp.com, nemesis@tiac.net and edwardv@hsnp.com.... I have included you as addressees on this message and, with your permission, will continue to do so in the future....I have been corresponding with Fred Rice, David Rice, Rod Swift and David Worrell for a while now via internet email and have added you to my distribution list because of your presence on Fred's.... perhaps we have "met" in the Holysmoke FidoNet echo in the past? If you'd like me to remove you from the list, please let me know and I'll cease immediately.... if not I'd be glad to hear from you and attach some names to the email addresses.

Sincerely,
Caroline

Bishop's Admitted Sexual Misconduct Stuns Diocese

By MIREYA NAVARRO

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- At 7:30 Wednesday morning, the people attending Mass at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church here received an invitation, not to a parish event or ecclesiastical service, but to a one-on-one discussion with their pastor about relationships and "past hurts."

"I'm going to use this opportunity as a teaching opportunity," the Rev. Timothy Lynch, Mary Immaculate's parish priest, said in an interview. "If people are carrying the burden of past hurts I'd hope to be able to offer some counseling and be an instrument of reconciliation."

Personal counseling at churches and question-and-answer sessions at Catholic schools were some of the ways members of the Diocese of Palm Beach dealt Wednesday with the shock of the resignation of their bishop, after he admitted to having sexually molested five boys early in his priesthood. Another way was to ask victims of the bishop, Joseph Keith Symons, to come forward.

Although Symons, 65, is not the first Roman Catholic bishop to resign for sexual misconduct, he is believed to be the first such high-ranking church official to have admitted to sexually abusing minors.

The news stunned a small diocese with a Catholic population of about 205,000 in five Florida counties and underscored the depth of a scourge American church officials say they have struggled to address with more openness in the last five years. But the case came as no surprise to some victims' groups that say sexual abuse by clergy is more widespread than it is generally believed and that the church has yet to adequately deal with the problem.

Symons, a Michigan native who served in Florida since his ordainment in 1958 and had led the Diocese of Palm Beach since 1990, left Monday for an undisclosed location for what diocese officials described as spiritual and possibly medical treatment. Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation and appointed Bishop Robert Lynch, of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, as the apostolic administrator of Palm Beach until a successor is named.

"As painful as it is for me and will be for others, I feel it important to make public the reason for my resignation," Symons wrote in a statement released this week in which he apologized "to all of whom I have hurt" and asked others "to pray for me."

"Early in my 40 years of priestly ministry," he wrote, "I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with minors."

At a news conference Tuesday, Lynch refused to identify the parishes where the abuse took place but said the case became known five weeks ago when one of the victims, now a middle-aged man, contacted a church official and reported the bishop had molested him for several years when he was a teenager. When confronted with the allegations, Symons confessed and revealed that there were four other victims.

In his written statement, Symons said that "I have in succeeding years tried to live my promises of celibacy and chastity and have immersed myself in my ministry as priest and as bishop." He told Lynch the sexual activity stopped at least 25 years ago but Lynch on Tuesday made a point of encouraging other possible victims to seek the diocese's assistance.

Scott Cupp, an assistant state attorney in Palm Beach County who handles crimes against children, said the cases may be too old for prosecution but that the information is being disseminated to state attorney offices with jurisdiction for their review.

In recent decades, two American archbishops have resigned over sexual liaisons with adult women and the Catholic church has paid millions of dollars to victims who claim their priests abused them, often in out-of-court settlements. Officials with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops say an ad hoc committee of bishops started meeting five years ago to develop a policy to address increasing reports of sexual misconduct by clergy.

The committee came up with five principles that call for a prompt response to allegations of abuse and the removal of offenders from ministerial duties and their referral to medical evaluation and treatment. The policy also calls for reporting incidents to law enforcement, reaching out to victims, including paying for therapy, and discussing incidents with members of the church "as openly as possible."

The officials pointed at the Diocese of Palm Beach's announcement about Symons at a news conference as a reflection of the new approach. In a written statement, Bishop Anthony Pilla, president of the bishops' conference, called Symons' departure "a difficult moment" but added that "the well-being of the whole Church demands that her leaders not give, either by action or omission, any indication of tolerance of inappropriate and abusive behavior on the part of those who serve in her name."

But some victims' groups say application of the conference's policy varies widely among parishes and that incidents of sexual abuse are still shrouded in secrecy. Often the first accusations are ignored and victims are treated like enemies, they say, or priests are removed quietly.

Prosecutors tend to sit on allegations unless victims are numerous, victims say. It is not unusual for victims to wait a long time before reporting the incident, usually after many years of therapy, but many do not bother to ever come forward.

"They blame themselves much more often than in other cases and they are more pessimistic about change happening," said David Clohessy, national director of "Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests," an 8-year-old support group based in Chicago with more than 3,000 members. "They weigh their own credibility against what is often a very popular, charismatic priest and they think, 'I don't have a chance."'

Others argue that a fundamental problem is that by restricting the priesthood to a pool that leaves out women and sexually active men, the church automatically ends up with a higher risk of attracting undesirables. Jason Berry, the author of "Lead Us Not Into Temptation" (Doubleday, 1992), a history of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the United States, said incidents the church regard as aberrations are really part of "a deep, systemic problem evident worldwide.

"They can't arrest the problem without focusing on the root of the problem -- that only unmarried men can serve as priests," Berry said.

In Palm Beach, Symons was credited with fostering the growth of parishes and financial stability. Some saw his emphasis on raising money for education as atonement for his sins. Monsignor John McMahon, of Saint Joan of Arc Church in Boca Raton, said for several years the bishop also invited psychologists and lawyers to speak to priests in the diocese about pedophilia.

"He asked us if anyone had this orientation to please seek treatment," the monsignor said. "He wanted to make us aware."

Now, no one seems to know what prospects Symons faces in the church.

"There's obviously a tinge of disappointment," said the Rev. Michael Edwards, a spokesman for the Diocese of Palm Beach, "but also the recollection of a man that was very compassionate and very gentle and meant so much to so many people."

Marie Rollande Leclerc, a retired nurse and parishioner at Symons' Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens, said she would have never expected this from a priest she described as "so dignified."

"I still have my faith but I'm very, very disturbed," she said. "It is better to have some love and pray for him. It's just as if somebody had passed away."

Hello,

It'd be interesting to find out if the precursor to this killer's belief in demons was a superstitious, fundamentalist childhood indoctrination including insistence upon a belief in literal demons. Considering the Bible Belt locale, I'd guess that this sort of demon-belief was part and parcel of his neighborhood belief-system if not his home environment. I would be willing to bet that most dangerous North American satanists, meaning those who literally believe in invisible demons and fear them, were first indoctrinated on their alleged powers and existence by well-intentioned Christians. How many times have I heard the cornered Christian essentially admit that their beliefs are fantasy and then ask "But what harm does it do to believe in invisible beings... even if they aren't real?" This sort of madness is the harm... not to mention the millions of human lives and billions of dollars worth of resources wasted in pursuit of imaginary goals.

Sincerely,
Caroline

Teen Shooting Suspect Blames Demons

By JAY HUGHES
.c The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) - A teen-ager accused of fatally stabbing his mother and gunning down two classmates testified Thursday that he was driven by demons who told him he would be ``nothing'' if he didn't kill.

A sobbing Luke Woodham, 17, said he remembered getting a butcher knife and seeing his mother's bloody body - all the while, his head ringing with instructions from his satanic mentor, fellow teen-ager Grant Boyette.

Investigators say the 19-year-old Boyette led a cultlike group of teen-agers who plotted to kill students at Pearl High School. Several members of the group, including Boyette, face conspiracy charges.

``I remember I woke up that morning and I'd seen demons that I always saw when Grant told me to do something,'' Woodham said. ``They said I was nothing and I would never be anything if I didn't get to that school and kill those people.''

Woodham is on trial in the slaying of his mother, Mary Woodham, who was found dead in her bedroom Oct. 1, the same day he is accused of killing two classmates and wounding seven others at his school. He will stand trial next week in the school shootings, the first in a string of similar rampages around the country.

Testimony ended late Thursday. Jurors will begin deliberations after closing statements are delivered first thing Friday morning.

Woodham's defense centered on claims he was not responsible for his actions because he suffers from mental illness and was under Boyette's control.

A defense medical expert testified that Woodham suffered from a variety of psychological problems.

``It's my opinion that as a result of the vulnerability of this very psychologically disturbed young man, Grant (Boyette) was able to exploit him,'' said Dr. Michael Jepsen, a forensic psychologist from Santa Fe, N.M.

Two prosecution experts testified that they believe Woodham was sane at the time of the killings.

Dr. Reb McMichael, psychiatrist at the state Hospital at Whitfield, where Woodham was examined, said he thinks Woodham may have some mental problems but wasn't insane when his mother died.

``He is not so wrong that I would consider him to have a major mental disorder,'' he said.

Breaking down in tears under aggressive questioning from prosecutors, Woodham said he recalled getting the knife and a pillow and walking to his mother's room. He said he could hear Boyette's voice in his head.

``I just closed my eyes and fought with myself because I didn't want to do any of it,'' he said. ``When I opened my eyes, my mother was lying in her bed.''

The teen-ager said he befriended Boyette in January 1997 after Boyette cast a spell from a satanic book. Woodham said he believed the spell led to a teen- ager being run over by a car and killed.

``We started a satanic group and through the hate I had in my heart, I used it to try and get vengeance on people and do what he told me to do,'' Woodham said.

He said Boyette assigned him demons to make sure he followed orders, but he didn't testify that Boyette specifically ordered his mother's death.

Boyette and Lucas Thompson, a 16-year-old authorities said was a member of the cult, appeared in court but declined to testify. Both said they had been advised to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

The jury was read a statement by 18-year-old Donnie Brooks, another defendant charged with conspiracy.

The statement, described as a tool to speed the trial along, said Brooks would have testified that Boyette called himself the ``master of high demon activity.'' Brooks also said Boyette ``told us what to do and how to do it.''

Woodham said he couldn't remember the actual killing: ``I don't know, sir. I don't know and it's eating me up every day.''

If convicted of killing his mother, Woodham could get life in prison. That is also the maximum he could get for the school shootings.

AP-NY-06-04-98 2050EDT

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

* David Samarzia, 44, who won a $650,000 judgment against the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Duluth, Minn., as damages for being molested as a kid by former pastor Daniel Reeb, told reporters in February that since the church cannot pay the judgment, he most likely would take over the house of worship himself as payment and turn it into a place to help other sex abuse victims.

Hi,

Here is another one. I wonder what the ratio of molesters is in the priesthood compared to elshwhere in Catholic-dom. I suppose it may be that molesters are drawn to the position of power and trust OR perhaps these folks know they're screwed up but have been so filled with superstitious nonsense that they try to get the invisible-magic-beings to cure them and figure being a priest will make them even more likely to figure out the necessary incantations. Becoming the "bride of christ" may be sufficiently kinky to have a psychosexual attraction for the kink-ified, too.

Sincerely,
Caroline

Monday June 8 2:12 PM EDT

Boston priest defrocked in sex scandal

BOSTON, June 8 (UPI) - A Roman Catholic priest accused of raping or molesting dozens of young children over the past several decades has been defrocked by the Archdiocese of Boston.

The action against Father John Geoghan (``GAY-gun'') marks the first time that a priest has been stripped of his title in the history of the archdiocese, which includes some 2 million Catholics in eastern Massachusetts.

It comes in the wake of a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement disclosed last week between the church and a dozen of Geoghan's victims.

Geoghan, now 63, is accused of raping or molesting more than 50 children over a period of three decades at five parishes in the Boston area.

The weekend decision by Cardinal Bernard Law is being praised by church observers and many of Geoghan's victims, who call it welcome news, even if long overdue.

Geoghan could still face indictment by a Suffolk County grand jury in at least some of the cases.

The church reportedly paid at least $2.5 million to settle the string of damage suits stemming from the priest's abuse, with some of the victims receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Payments to other victims who did not sue the church could bring the total to as much as $10 million.

Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved.