Memorial names of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse reopen old wounds

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Msgr. Charles Bermingham was such a beloved pastor at St. Aidan’s Church in Williston Park that the street outside the parish was named in his honor decades ago.

But last month, Bermingham’s name was among 101 priests on a list of clergymen who the Diocese of Rockville Center says in documents submitted to US bankruptcy court have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. .

Now advocates, lawyers and survivors are demanding authorities remove the ‘Bermingham Place’ street sign. Bermingham died in 2003.

A ‘simple act’ of deleting the name ‘would help survivors try to heal and get some degree of closure,’ said Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston-based attorney who is representing 25 survivors in lawsuits against the Church. Roman Catholic on Long Island.

In another parish in Nassau County, St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Brookville, the lower parish hall and offices are named after Msgr. Mario Costa. He too was entered on the diocesan list filed on April 15.

The room features a plaque bearing a sculpted likeness of Costa’s face and a quote that reads in part: “To live in the midst of the world without desiring its pleasures…to penetrate all the secrets; heal all wounds…have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of brass for chastity.”

Some parishioners and advocates want his name removed from the hall, along with the plaque. Costa died in 2007.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy for him to say this stuff and for them to keep him up there when he’s on their list of credibly charged priests,” said attorney Pat Stoneking. based in Manhattan with Jeff Anderson & Associates which also represents survivors. on Long Island.

“He’s on your list of priests accused of doing horrible things, and you have a plaque?”

The Diocese of Rockville Center, which oversees Catholic parishes on Long Island, said it has not made any decisions regarding street and hall commemorations.

The inaction did not sit well with critics.

A plaque at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Brookville honors its longtime former pastor, Monsignor Mario Costa, after whom a parish lower hall is named. Costa is on a list of clerics suspected of sexually abusing minors. Credit: James Hughes

“Keeping these names is another indication of the Catholic Church’s insensitivity to survivors of clergy sex abuse and its lack of interest in healing survivors,” Garabedian said.

The diocese, which declined to provide details of the allegations against the priests, says it is still investigating the matter.

“The diocese has investigated the issue of building names and is in the process of addressing it,” said Sean Dolan, a spokesman. “The diocese is not commenting on specific cases at this time. Allegations are being dealt with in the appropriate legal forums.”

Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said he was unaware of Bermingham’s inclusion on the list of alleged child sex abusers and that local authorities should meet to decide on take measures.

Bermingham began working at St. Aidan in 1960, according to court documents, and retired in 1977, according to the parish’s website.

At one point, he was leader of the Catholic youth movement in the diocese and director of Catholic charities, the newspapers said.

Costa spent 27 consecutive years as pastor at St. Paul the Apostle, beginning in 1975, except for a seven-month absence in 1982, according to the newspapers. He finished his service there in 2002.

A Long Island parishioner, James Hughes, who said he served as an altar boy for Costa when the priest served at Holy Family Parish in Hicksville in the 1970s, said he wrote to officials at the church and called on Bishop John Barres to have the plaque removed.

“To allow this plaque to remain in place and to have the hall named after Costa is a slap in the face to those who have been victimized by this guy,” Hughes said. “The culture of deception and silence continues.”

He added that “the diocese was aware of the existence of this priest, hid him from parishioners and did not make anyone who fell victim to this man feel welcomed and comforted.”

The list – the first time the diocese has provided a detailed account of the names of priests with credible allegations against them – also provides the locations where the abuse took place, motels, boats, ski resorts and even a plane, to places as far afield as -thrown in Yellowstone National Park, Bahamas, Rome, Italy and Zurich, Switzerland.

The diocese has recently come under fire for excluding the names of several dozen priests from the list, including two prominent Church figures, former Bishop John McGann and Msgr. Alan Placa, although lawsuits have been filed against them.

Bermingham is listed as priest No. 8 and the document says the alleged abuse happened at St. Aidan. During his career, he also served or lived at other locations, including St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Babylon and St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Huntington.

Costa is listed as priest No. 22 and the document says the alleged abuse occurred at St. Paul the Apostle. Dating back to the 1950s, it has also served in other parishes, including St. Patrick in Glen Cove, Ss. Cyril & Methodius in Deer Park, and Holy Family in Hicksville.

Bermingham and Costa were not previously known to lawyers for clergy sex abuse victims, Stoneking said.

Garabedian said many Catholic dioceses had halls or other buildings named after priests who were later found to have credible accusations of child sexual abuse against them.

Often, he says, church officials refuse to write down names.

Some church analysts have said the Diocese of Rockville Center and local officials may have little choice in these cases.

“Any street name, any building, anything that pays tribute to someone who later turned out to be an abuser, it needs to go,” said Reverend Thomas Reese, senior analyst for Religion News Service, an agency press specializing in religious matters. . “It can’t stay. It would be an insult to abuse survivors. It would be foolish not to get rid of these things.”

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