US: Waiving his right to fight extradition, Father Paul Shanley yesterday agreed in a San Diego court to return to face child abuse charges in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was remanded without bail pending the transfer.
Father Shanley (71), who appeared in court in blue prison clothing, was arrested on Thursday on three charges after two TV stations announced the retired priest was hiding in a San Diego flat. The priest had become a particular focus of attention after a Boston court a few weeks ago ordered the archdiocese to release 1,600 pages of internal papers which showed that Catholic Church officials knew of and covered up multiple allegations of abuse against Father Shanley, even recommending him to other dioceses. The archdiocese also knew he had spoken publicly in favour of man-boy sex.
The papers contain evidence that Father Shanley even tried to blackmail the late Cardinal Humberto Medeiros with allegations of unspecified activities.
The specific criminal charges against Father Shanley relate to his repeated alleged abuse over six years of a Mr Paul Busa. Mr Busa (24) claims in a civil lawsuit that Father Shanley repeatedly molested him from 1983 to 1989, beginning when he was aged six. He says the priest warned him not to tell anyone of the abuse because no one would ever believe him.
The Cambridge District Attorney, Ms Martha Coakley, said "Father Paul Shanley, who was the pastor at the time, would come to take [the alleged victim and] others from the class for talks. The priest would take them to one of three locations - to the bathroom, often across the street to the rectory, or to the confessional, and that is where the sex abuse would occur." She claims the abuse was almost weekly.