Boston Roman Catholic cardinal defends late predecessor against abuse claim

Tuesday, March 26th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOSTON (AP) _ Cardinal Bernard Law defended his predecessor from accusations that he groped a boy more than two decades ago, the latest sex-abuse allegation to rock the Roman Catholic church.

In a statement released Monday, Law said he was ``deeply saddened'' by the allegation against former Cardinal Humberto Medeiros.

Garry Garland, now 38, alleges in a lawsuit that he was sexually abused at age 14 by Monsignor Frederick Ryan, then vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston.

On Sunday, Garland's lawyer said he planned to amend the lawsuit to include the allegation that Medeiros groped his client as he was led to Ryan's quarters where additional abuse is alleged to have occurred.

Law said church files contained no indication that the late Cardinal Medeiros had ever been accused of wrongdoing. Medeiros died in 1983.

``My heart goes out to the family of Cardinal Medeiros,'' Law said. ``They and the Catholic Church have been deeply hurt by the reporting of this unsubstantiated allegation.''

Garland's lawyer Daniel Shea said early Tuesday morning that another alleged victim of Ryan has stepped forward. David Carney was scheduled to appear with Garland at a Tuesday press conference, Shea said.

Shea said Garland did not come forward earlier with allegations against Medeiros because Garland was ashamed.

Cardinal Law said those who lived and worked closely with Medeiros ``deny categorically the plausibility of such an allegation.''

Ryan has been put on leave from his position as pastor of St. Joseph's Parish in Kingston and head of the Plymouth Vicariate, which includes 16 parishes.

The Roman Catholic Church has struggled with sexual abuse scandals nationwide since January, when it was disclosed that a Boston-area priest suspected of abuse was moved from parish to parish.

On Monday, prosecutors in Maine and southwestern Ohio said they were seeking records of child molestation allegations against priests in their areas.

The Diocese of Portland, which encompasses the entire state of Maine, has been asked to provide documents going back 75 years to cover the case of any living victim, said Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson. Church officials welcomed the review as an opportunity to begin rebuilding trust, said diocese spokeswoman Sue Bernard.

In Ohio, prosecutors served the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati with a subpoena requesting records of abuse allegations.

Church officials at the diocese, which encompasses 19 southwest Ohio counties, said they would have volunteered the records but wanted the subpoena to assure the documents would be kept confidential.

In related developments Monday:

_In Wisconsin, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee appointed five people to a committee that will review its sexual abuse policy and the cases of six priests accused of past sexual misconduct with minors.

_In North Dakota, the head of the Catholic Diocese in Bismarck said he has asked two priests to resign because of sexual misconduct involving minors years ago.

_In California, Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, defended his handling of alleged child abuse by priests but offered his ``sincere apologies'' to the victims.

_In New Jersey, an ongoing review of clergy personnel records by the Archdiocese of Newark has turned up ``a few instances'' of past allegations of sexual abuse, and Archbishop John J. Myers said that the priests in question have voluntarily removed themselves from church activities pending an internal church inquiry.