Editorial
Nation’s Psychiatrists and Boston Globe Liable for Geoghan’s Molestations

Cardinal Law Comes in a Distant Third 

The Attack Continues

In a later story on January 16, the Globe attempted to put all the blame on Cardinal Law alone with this headline, “Doctors who ok’d Geoghan lacked expertise, review shows.” 

They revealed that one of the doctors, Robert W. Mullins, was a general practitioner and not a psychiatrist, and the psychiatrist, John H. Brennan, who was more involved, had “no background in treating sexual offenders.” 

They also had discovered that Dr. Brennan had been accused in 1977 by a female patient of sexually molesting her. The suit was settled by the doctor’s insurance company for $100,000. She also filed a complaint with the state Board of Registration in Medicine. But that complaint was dismissed in 1989, possibly because it had become so old at the time. 

Brennan was also accused by a second woman in 1992 who said he molested her some 12 years earlier. A Suffolk County jury did not believe the woman and found no liability against the psychiatrist.  Her complaint with the state Board of Registration was also dismissed. 

All of which caused many observers to note that it would be difficult to find many doctors today who have not been charged with malpractice. Also, they point out that a professional person has no control over what his insurance company does. Although the doctor may be indignantly screaming his innocence, all companies settle the case if possible, rather than pay the costs of defending it. So the fact that his insurance company paid does not necessarily prove anything. 

Observers say that the Globe would be upset if such flimsy evidence were used to destroy most people’s reputations as it is attempting to do with the doctor. 

Back to the Question

The Globe also had lots of selective, after-the-fact advice from a lot of people, but we don’t know what else the experts said to the Globe because that paper is obviously out to get the church. 

They quoted two experts on the subject, one of whom said, “It was highly known by [the 1980s] that sex offenders were highly likely to repeat the behavior.” 

(We will put that quote into storage for the next time the Globe laughs at parents when a sex offender has been released into their neighborhood.) 

But while it may have been “known” by experts in the field, it was not so obvious to a lay person such as the Cardinal. 

While Cardinal Law was clearly culpable, his blame appears to many to pale beside that of the Globe and the psychiatric profession.

The Boston Globe did an excellent job last month of exposing the molestation of young boys by a priest in the Catholic Church.

But many wonder why their concern is evident only when the Catholic church is involved.

We should all be outraged by what occurred and by the neglect of the church. The tales are horrific and they curdle the blood.

But many believe that the nation’s psychiatrists and the Globe itself are more responsible for John J. Geoghan’s shameful history.

The psychiatrists and psychologists are still trying to normalize pedophilia. Both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association got into serious trouble three years ago when the psychologists published a study which indicated that pedophilia can have a positive influence on a child.

They backed off when Congress condemned them by a vote of 355-0, but they haven’t changed their beliefs. (You can read about this sordid story in detail in our Archives by searching for the names of the two organizations.)

In its second article about the former priest, the Globe revealed that he received “at least four clean bills of health” from doctors, including a psychiatrist, between 1980 and 1990. Those doctors kept advising the church there should be no restriction to his work as a parish priest. It wasn’t until the mid-1990’s that they said he was an “incurable pedophile.”

So whose fault was it that this person continued to torment boys? Was Cardinal Law responsible or were the doctors? Most people believe the Cardinal made serious mistakes, and he did. But the fault was mainly that of the doctors. This is what they are trained to do. Was the Cardinal negligent in relying on those experts?

The Globe story indicated that it is also responsible. The priest pointed out in 1995 that his misconduct occurred “during a time of sexual exploration for this country.”

That “time of sexual exploration” is exactly what the Globe has endorsed for years – and continues to endorse until this day.As the experts cited by the Globe said, these molesters are “nice” people. They are excellent at hiding their true nature. Therefore, we all wish to pretend it’s not happening, including Cardinal Law in the Catholic church and the Boston Globe in our schools and other institutions.

Not Just the Church

It’s not just in the church that boys are threatened. It’s also happening in our schools. Has the Globe never heard of Fistgate? Doesn’t that give them a clue that the same thing is happening to boys in the schools?

They laughed at the people who tried to publicize the scandal of Fistgate. They defended the affair in an Editorial and said, “They [the teenagers] were asking the sorts of things teenagers ask every day…”

They even supported the judge as he allowed the whistle blowing fathers to be sued and as he violated their sacred Constitutional rights. There were civil rights activists all over the country who couldn’t believe their ears. The national press even sent lawyers to our courtroom to protest. But the Globe was strangely silent because they are not really concerned about young boys.

They want to vilify the church.

The Constitutional rights of the fathers, Brian Camenker and Scott Whiteman, are still being violated today as the gag order continues against them and they live with a cloud over their heads. The judge was forced to lift the order from the press, but Camenker and Whiteman are just little people.

We are still living in a “time of sexual exploration” which the Globe continues to promote.

How about the Boy Scouts? That organization is taking a courageous stand against allowing pedophiles to target their boys. But the Globe has pummeled them badly.

Why aren’t they disturbed when hundreds of “homosexual” teenagers from across the state are paraded in front of every pedophile in New England with a ball at night where used condoms litter City Hall?

Why aren’t they troubled when Channel 2 airs a “love affair” between a 29-year-old homosexual and a 15-year-old boy, with graphic, intimate sex on our television sets at 10 p.m.?

Why are they not troubled when their friends are promoting that the age of consent be lowered to 12-years so that anyone can have sex with a boy with no one having the right to protest?

How could the Globe have been foolish enough to have published this “Spotlight” series?

Can’t they see that it reflects their culpability, much more than that of the church?

Globe Wants to Get the Church

The Globe makes it clear that its motive is to get the Catholic church and Cardinal Law.

It published a not-too-subtle picture of a family entering St. Julia’s in Weston (where Geoghan ministered for many years) with a crčche at the entrance as though to say that the church is still ruining naive and innocent families.

But the task of the reporters was difficult. They were forced by the political desires of the paper to write the following, “Although the 1995 and 1996 psychiatric reports diagnose Geoghan with a deep-rooted sexual perversion, there were ample signs years earlier that he was unfit for parish work.”

No one can disagree with that statement, but the reporters’ research also required them to report that Cardinal Law was relying upon the advice of the doctors. The Cardinal was very busy with many things that needed his attention. Each doctor had only one job. That was to evaluate each patient who came before him. Clearly, they are culpable.

It’s interesting that the priest told the doctors that he was a “heterosexual,” but a hospital diagnosed him with “homosexual pedophilia.” All homosexual activists will argue vehemently with that statement because they would deny he is a homosexual.

Although the newspaper indicates that many of the boys were below 12-years, some of them were of that age, which is when schools start sending them off to homosexual meetings in Boston with homosexuals up to 22-years-old. Although most adults in the Gay/Straight Alliances in the schools are probably not abusers, it is highly naive to believe that the system is not honeycombed with pedophiles, much more so than the Catholic church.

The Globe ran a large sidebar with the headline, “In 1985, Law had report on repeat abusers.” It did this even though it also reported that the doctors were giving Geoghan a clean bill-of-health until 1995.

The paper made that clear in this statement. “Medical evaluations of Geoghan, which repeatedly cleared him to return to parish work after incidents of sexual misconduct in the 1970s and ’80s, changed dramatically in the mid-1990s.”

When judging the Cardinal, don’t forget that if he had made a move against the priest before the doctors approved the move, there were countless lawyers ready and willing to sue the church because it was “homophobic” and “attacking an innocent man.”

The Globe would have been happy to pounce on that story to attack the church.

It’s time for the Globe to inform its readers whether it believes that boys should be protected from molestation as much as girls are.

A Sickness of Society

Most people agree that this is about a sickness of our society which the Boston Globe continues to epitomize.

We have relied upon the solemn word of therapists and other experts for our wisdom and we have failed to use our common sense.

This should awaken many more people to the bad advice of the two national organizations which represent psychiatrists and psychologists.

Although many eyebrows are raised when anyone questions the judgments of these two organizations, this story should indicate that we must do much more questioning of them, their members and their policies.

 

 

 

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