Priest Arrested On Child Rape Charges

BOSTON -- A priest who is the focus of several civil lawsuits was arrested in Thursday on charges he repeatedly raped a young boy over several years.

The three counts of child rape were the first to be filed against the Rev. Paul Shanley, 71. He was arrested at an apartment in San Diego Thursday morning on an arrest warrant out of Massachusetts.

The criminal complaint stems from allegations made by a 24-year-old man, who went to the district attorney this week to say he was raped by the priest between the ages of 6 and 13.

Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley said that the alleged abuse occurred between 1983 and 1990, at St. Jean's Parish in Newton, Mass., which no longer exists. The alleged victim was a student in a religious-studies class, and Coakley said Shanley would remove him and other boys from the class.

"He alleges that almost on a weekly basis, Father Paul Shanley would come to take not only him but others from that class for talks," Coakley said.

Coakley said that the boys would be taken to the bathroom, across the street to the rectory or to the confessional, where the sexual abuse allegedly took place. The alleged victim told Coakley that Shanley told him that no one would believe him if he told anyone.

Parishioners in the area now attend Our Lady's Help Church, and the Rev. Walter Cuenin said that he believes those who were affected by Shanley would be pleased to know that he was arrested.

"In the American system, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and the same rights go to everybody," Cuenin said. "But I think they'll be glad to know that he's under the protection of the law."

Shanley was arrested by San Diego police, the same department where he worked as a volunteer until several weeks ago. Although authorities wanted to talk with him about allegations of child abuse, there was no arrest warrant issued until Wednesday night.

Allegations against Shanley came to light after a civil lawsuit was filed against him by Gregory Ford, 24, and his family. Ford claimed that Shanley abused him starting when he was age 6.

The Ford family said that they were grateful that Shanley had been arrested. Ford's mother, Paula, said that she believed the arrest would help all the alleged victims.

"Sleep tonight. The man that molested you is behind bars," Paula Ford said, speaking to Shanley's alleged victims. "Because of your courage to come forward -- and it took a tremendous amount of courage for all of you -- this will not happen to another child at the hands of Paul Shanley."

Coakley said that more cases could be filed against Shanley, as other alleged victims have come forward.

"There are three counts of rape at this time," Coakley said. "There will be further investigation around the disclosures made by this individual as well as what we believe are other credible witnesses against Father Paul Shanley."

The Ford case, and the release of hundreds of pages of archdiocese documents, put the international spotlight on the crisis of abuse in the Catholic Church and spurred last week's summit at the Vatican.

Documents showed that Cardinal Bernard Law and church officials did not warn a California diocese that they had received dozens of allegations of abuse by Shanley.

One of those documents described Shanley as "a very sick person." Attorneys for Greg Ford were in court earlier in the week to get more documents released by the archdiocese.

"Father Shanley is responsible for all this. The pain that he caused my family to go through for the last 18 years would take weeks to describe. It was horrific," said Rodney Ford, Greg Ford's father. "Today is just one small day, but it's a very important day for us. We finally got him removed off the streets. "

Ford family attorney Eric MacLeish said that the church must do more to protect children by adopting a zero-tolerance policy and not insisting on gag orders for victims. He said that the Vatican's efforts so far have been misguided.

"This crisis has not been caused by having too many gays in the priesthood," MacLeish said. "To suggest otherwise, as we saw at the Vatican summit, is to ignore every respectable clinical study that has ever been written about sexual orientation and pedophilia."

MacLeish also said that his clients, which include four alleged victims of Shanley, believed that the Catholic Church as a whole should not be judged by the actions of pedophile priests and members of the hierarchy who might have covered up their crimes.

"My clients care about the Catholic Church. They view it as a good church. This crisis and what has happened is not about the theology of the church.," MacLeish said. "It is not about the many good priests, and nuns who work tirelessly every day for causes that I think we all support."

The Ford case would also fall under the same statute of limitations that the current charges do. In Massachusetts, a young victim has until 10 years after the victim's 16th birthday to inform someone of abuse. Also, the statute is suspended during the time a suspect is out of the state.

Coakley praised the role that the media played in bringing the cases to light and tracking down Shanley. Broadcast reports showed that he was not living in his San Diego apartment, but he had begun staying recently with another friend.

"Without the assistance in many ways of the print media and broadcast media around these issues, ... I believe that these complaints and indictments would not have happened," Coakley said. "It is an extraordinary set of circumstances for everybody."

Rodney Ford said that he would attend Shanley's trial.

"Will I be there? I'll be there every step of the way," he said. "And I want to see him be removed and taken to jail."

Coakley said that Shanley may choose to waive extradition or fight it, so she does not know when he would return to Massachusetts.