Diocese Of Albany

Legislation targets predator priests

ALBANY -- Two men who said they were raped as children by priests from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese joined ranks with a Queens assemblywoman Tuesday to push for a measure extending the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases.

The bill proposed by Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey , D-Queens, has passed three times in the Assembly but never been presented for a vote in the Senate.

"New York, pass this law," said Heath Bromley , a sexual abuse victim of Gary Mercure, a longtime priest in the Albany diocese. "Do you support pedophiles or do you support children?"

Mercure was convicted of rape and indecent assault and battery on a child last year in Berkshire County, Mass. The investigation of Mercure started in Warren County but had to be shifted to Massachusetts because his crimes, which took place between 1986 and 1989, were not subject to prosecution under New York's statute of limitations. Mercure had raped some of his child victims during trips to Massachusetts, where the statute of limitations extends 27 years after a sexual abuse incident is reported or from when a child victim reaches the age of 16.

Michael DeSantis, who grew up in Colonie and has accused four priests of sexually abusing him as a child, also attended and supports the bill. "I applaud her for what she does to make a stand," DeSantis said of Markey. " ... This has to stop."

New York's five-year statute of limitations for prosecution begins to run when a victim reaches the age of 18. There are similar time constraints for a victim to bring a civil action against an alleged predator or institution, such as a church or sports organization.

Sexual predators should not be able to "run out the clock" for their crimes, Markey said. Her bill would extend the civil and criminal statute of limitations to five years after the victim reaches age 23.

Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum , director of the Brooklyn-based Rabbinical Alliance of America , a coalition of 800 Jewish congregational leaders, attended the Capitol news conference to lend support to the measure. Catholic church leaders, meanwhile, have argued against the bill and said it "encourages lawsuits.

Light meets bushel in the Diocese of Albany - The Lead

The Rt. Rev. William Love of the Diocese of Albany is in a quandary. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, who is extremely popular with the faithful, but not with Bishop Love and the leaders of his diocese, is coming to town. He can't tell her to stay home--the visit is canonically mandated--but he doesn't want her appearance to energize the moderate and progressive Episcopalians who constitute a far larger portion of his diocese than he would like to admit. What to do?

Nor do the venues chosen for her visit permit the Presiding Bishop the time and audience appropriate to her position or her message. Priests will be granted access to the Presiding Bishop on one occasion, and deacons on another, but there is no gathering in which the leader of our national church can address all interested laity, let alone the general public. At the Saturday healing service, the one event advertised as open to all, the letter says only that “the Presiding Bishop will be invited to be part of the prayer team.” Apparently no sermon, no questions, no answers.

The next occasion at which The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori can meet members of the diocese is one that invites only a small representation of laity. Nor is it a convenient time for laity in our far-flung diocese to meet the Presiding Bishop. Several members of the diocese have pointed out to Albany Via Media that having to be absent from one’s own parish on any Sunday, especially Lent 1, would discourage many otherwise interested Episcopalians from attending the Cathedral service and reception.

A member of AVM who has attended both conventions of neighboring dioceses has noted that the Presiding Bishop was much more accessible to the people when she attended the diocesan conventions of Western New York and Central New York. It is notable that the Presiding Bishop has not received an invitation to address a convention of the Diocese of Albany. Bishop Love has proudly described our diocesan convention as “a family reunion.” One must conclude, then, that the Presiding Bishop is not part of our family, not one of “us”. Nor, apparently, is she a guest who can be invited to speak freely or at any length within the family circle.

Diocese of Albany, the Bishop's address. A.D. 1906

Journal of the proceedings of the annual convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Albany

Journal of the ... annual convention, Diocese of Albany

A history of the diocese of Albany, 1704-1923

The Metropolitan Catholic almanac and laity's directory for the year of our Lord ...