In recent years, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin has been hailed for his efforts in Chicago to remove priests accused of sexual abuse. But a controversy from a decade ago lingers over how he may have dealt with a Cincinnati priest later convicted of sexually molesting boys.
Bernardin faces lawsuits in an Ohio court alleging that while he was head of the Cincinnati archdiocese, he allowed a priest accused of sexual misconduct to hold a series of posts that continued to bring him into contact with children.
In an unrelated civil suit filed Friday in Cincinnati, Bernardin and another priest are accused of sexually abusing a high school student from 1975 to 1977. The suit alleges that Bernardin had sex with the teen on one occasion.
While Bernardin is named in five lawsuits regarding the Cincinnati priest, he was not charged with sexual misconduct in any of them.
The lawsuits question how well Bernardin and the Cincinnati archdiocese handled the issue of sexual abuse by priests years before it became a national concern by the Roman Catholic Church.
Complaints about the reassignment of accused priests by the church in Chicago prompted Bernardin to institute new policies that are considered among the country’s most progressive. Ten years ago, however, when the Cincinnati incidents allegedly occurred, sexual abuse by priests was handled quietly and largely behind closed doors.
The Cincinnati priest, Rev. George Cooley, pleaded guilty in May 1991 to charges of child endangerment and sexual imposition involving four boys between the ages of 10 and 13 who were abused in 1983 and 1984. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and was relieved of his duties with the Cincinnati archdiocese.
In the wake of the criminal charges against Cooley have come nine civil lawsuits in Hamilton County Court involving 12 alleged victims, according to attorneys handling the cases and court records.
Bernardin was archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 to 1982, during which time several instances of abuse by Cooley are alleged to have occurred.
Donald C. Moore Jr., who is handling six of the pending cases against Cooley, said five of those suits allege that Bernardin and other church officials “either knew of or should have known” of Cooley’s misconduct.
One of the complaints filed by Moore further alleges that Bernardin “had specific knowledge that defendant Cooley had sexually abused a boy or boys who were participants” in a 1980 summer camp program run by the archdiocese.
In an interview Wednesday, Moore declined to elaborate on the allegations concerning Bernardin and other top church officials.
Also Wednesday, Cincinnati archdiocesan officials would not comment. Attempts to reach church lawyers in Cincinnati and Chicago were unsuccessful.
Tom Mack, the attorney for Cooley, said he doesn’t believe Bernardin knew of the misconduct allegations against Cooley.
According to the allegations in one of the suits filed by Moore, Cooley served as chaplain from 1976 to 1979 at Ft. Scott Summer Camp, which was operated by the archdiocese.
It was there, the suit alleges, that Cooley molested an unknown number of boys. The suit contends that archdiocesan officals “had specific knowledge” of the abuse that allegedly occurred during the next several years.
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The suit claims that in 1980 church officials, including Bernardin, directed Cooley to attend counseling, but also shifted him to Sacred Heart Parish in Fairfield, Ohio.
In 1982, Cooley was assigned to Guardian Angels Parish, Cincinnati, where among other duties he supervised altar boys, according to the suit. The suit alleges that Cooley “sexually abused several boys who were parishioners of Guardian Angels Parish.”
Criminal charges against Cooley stem from his tenure at Guardian Angels Parish. Bernardin was installed in his Chicago post in August 1982.
The suit states that after parents complained, Cooley was reassigned. In the following years, he held several other posts, including a job as a counselor. The suit alleges that Cooley, now 45, continued to abuse children.
Moore alleges that in each instance, the archdiocese did not warn those around Cooley of his past or prevent further abuse of children.
Last spring, the Cincinnati archdiocese set new policies for dealing with child abuse by priests and other church personnel. Those suspected of child abuse will be removed from their posts and can return only with permission of the archbishop.
The policy also requires background checks on clergy and volunteers.