poor record keeping

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Aug 27, 2004

Another glimpse into the care of souls.

Former priest James Hanley admitted he molested at least 16 boys at three Catholic churches in Morris County, and said he told former Paterson Bishop Frank Rodimer about 12 of them in 1984, long before his formal removal from the ministry last year.

... In the statement, filed yesterday in Superior Court in Morristown, Hanley said that in September 1984 during a meeting about a single accusation of sexual abuse, he told Rodimer he had molested about a dozen boys. Rodimer, however, did not ask him for the names of the other victims, Hanley said.

... In the statement, Hanley said he learned of the accusations against him at the 1984 meeting when Rodimer told him two other priests said they heard Hanley had abused a boy at St. Joseph. "He says, 'Is it true?' And I say, 'Yes, bishop, it is,'" Hanley said in the statement. "I never denied it. ... The bishop said, 'Well, Jim, I want you to know that you're not the only one (priest in the diocese to abuse boys)."

Now let's not be too quick to criticize Rodimer. After all, back in 1984 we didn't know as much about oral-genital contact with underage youth as we do today, and the same goes with the thorny problem of telling the truth to their parents.