The wrong trail

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 13, 2004

Yesterday in this space I asked, rhetorically, why 20-year-old accusations against Bishop Dupre were suddenly coming to light.

One priest of the Springfield diocese, the very talkative Father James Scahill, seems inclined to take credit. He blew the whistle, he told reporters, by calling the abuse charges to the attention of Boston's Archbishop Sean O'Malley.

Sorry, Father Scahill, but that claim isn't holding up well. Today's Boston Herald reveals that Scahill made a 2 minute phone call to the archbishop's office, back in November. He didn't speak to the archbishop himself, and how much could he have conveyed in 120 seconds? Not enough to prompt a bishop's resignation, we'd wager.

So I'm disinclined to see Father Scahill as the main source of the latest stories. Frankly, I think I was closer to the target the first time.