Judgment Day

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 04, 2004

New Hampshire priest Fr. Joseph T. Maguire abused no fewer than ten boys over a 30-year period.

"I'm not sure where you're going in your next life, sir, but your track record here isn't going to help you," Fauver told Maguire.

Without knowing anything further of the characters or the context, we can confidently declare one profession to which Fauver does not belong.

Fauver called Maguire a "wolf in sheep's clothing" who used his status as a faith healer and parish leader to prey on altar boys he was supposed to protect. Fauver said he wanted the sentence to be a "perpetual reminder to people of the cloth" that penalties in sexual abuse cases will be "extreme."

The parents of the victims were decidedly "in touch with their feelings," and during the sentencing hearing spared neither Maguire nor the Church officials who kept him in predatory mode:

One victim spoke by video statement and thanked New Hampshire prosecutors for "doing what the Catholic church should have but did not do." The victim also forgave Maguire, but said he hoped Maguire would spend the rest of his life in prison for abusing him and his brother.

"In the winter of your life and through the murky haze of payoffs that you and the Catholic church have made, I hope that you also accept responsibility," the victim said.

Pity they didn't nail a covenant to the door of the Manchester cathedral.

A father of two victims said he had looked for Maguire "with a killing hate" and that Maguire had taken his family’s innocence and part of their lives. "He was an evil man and the church officials who sent him (to Dover) were evil men, the father said.

A mother of two other victims stood with her husband at a podium in the courtroom and fought back tears as she repeatedly asked Maguire why he had abused her sons. She said one of her sons had tried to kill himself because of Maguire's abuse.

"Promise to Protect, Pledge to Heal" T-shirts, mugs, and beer mats are available from the USCCB.