Introduction:

At of the heart of the Boston Archdiocese Sex Scandal was Father John Geoghan.  On January 6, 2002, The Boston Globe released a story featuring Father Geoghan, his disturbingly long history of sexual abuse, and Cardinal Law’s involvement with him by merely moving Father Geoghan from church to church for several years.  The worst part is that Father Geoghan had been performing acts of pedophilia since the beginning of his holy career.  Although many priests and their shocking sex crimes came into the public’s attention throughout the course of the Sex Scandal, the spotlight remained on Father Geoghan for a number of reasons being: the length of time he had been abusing children, the severity of the charges brought against him, and the help of the Catholic church in covering up his years of abuse.

History of Abuse:

John Geoghan was ordained as a priest in 1962.  The first church he served was the Blessed Sacrament Church in Saugus, Massachusetts.  He did not stay in Saugus for long and was transferred to St. Bernard’s in Concord, MA in 1966.  Father Geoghan was transferred for a third time just a year later to Hingham’s St. Paul’s Church.  Sometime in 1968, the first recorded account of a complaint about Father Geoghan surfaced.  A father from St. Paul’s claimed that he had caught Father Geoghan in the act of molesting his young son.  He was then ordered to undergo treatment at Baltimore’s Seton Hospital.  Following his psychiatric treatment for pedophilia, Father Geoghan returned to his priestly duties at St. Paul’s.  Unfortunately, he also returned to molesting young boys.  During the 1970’s, Geoghan worked in St. Andrew’s Church in Jamaica Plain, MA.  Father Geoghan focused his attention on young boys in impoverished families, particularly those who had recently suffered tragedies. 

In February of 1989, Father George Geoghan admitted to molesting several boys from a family of St. Andrew’s church.  Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, the archbishop of Boston at the time, had Father Geoghan undergo psychotherapy and was put on a sick leave from the church.  However, once again, following the completion of his treatment he was allowed to go back to working as a priest at St. Brendan’s in Dorchester, MA. 

After the death of Cardinal Humberto Medeiros, Cardinal Bernard Law became the archdiocese of Boston.  Quickly upon his new assignment, Cardinal Law was made aware of Father Geoghan’s disturbing problem.  He received a letter from a woman in 1984 informing him that Father Geoghan had molested her nephew.  Law replied to her letter assuring her that “the situation was going to be investigated and appropriate procedures would be taken.”  At this time Father Geoghan was serving St. Julia’s church in Weston.  Monsignor Francis Rossiter, Geoghan’s superior at the time was also made aware of Father Geoghan’s past with molesting and sexually abusing boys, yet still put him in charge of several youth groups and altar boys.  Father Geoghan wrote to Cardinal Law asking to be promoted to pastor of St. Julia’s, but the position was granted to someone else.  Dr. Mullins, one of the doctors who had observed Geoghan during his psychotherapy treatment, had said he had fully recovered and was able to return to his work as a priest.  After several more accusations from family members of victim Father Geoghan had abused, in April of 1989, he was again forced by Auxiliary Bishop Robert Banks to undergo psychiatric treatment at St. Luke’s Institute.  At the end of his treatment in December of 1989, his doctors wrote: “The probability he would act out again is quite low. However, we could not guarantee that it would not re-occur.”  Geoghan returned to St. Julia’s, and in October 1991 another young boy claimed that the Father had molested him.

After thirty-one long years of molestation and sexual abuse claims, Father Geoghan was finally asked to retire from priesthood in 1993.  He was moved between different treatment centers and it was harshly suggested by his treatment center doctors that Geoghan was not to have any unsupervised contact with young boys.  Due to the fact that none of Geoghan’s sexual abuse claims had ever been reported to law officials, his doctors’ suggestions could not be reinforced.

Criminal Charges, Lawsuits, and Prison Time:

Once information of was released to authorities, law suits began to spring up left and right against Father Geoghan.  The infamous Father was implemented in over 130 cases of sexual abuse.  The Archdiocese was forced to pay over $10 million in 1998 to cover the Father’s many victims.  Outraged and humiliated, Cardinal Law made an emergency trek to Rome where he suggested that Father Geoghan be defrocked.  Defrocking is usually a long process that results in the removal of a priest’s collar.

On December 2, 1999, John Geoghan was indicted by a grand jury of Middlesex County Court.  He was charged with indecent assault and battery in relation to a young boy whom Father Geoghan had molested in a pool several years earlier.  Just a week later, Geoghan was indicted by the Suffolk Superior Court for charges of repeated rape and molestation.  Geoghan was convicted of the indecent assault and battery charges and received the maximum sentence with the possibility of parole after six years.  At the time of this conviction, Geoghan was still waiting for the results of the rape and molestation charges and several other civil lawsuits.

John Geoghan was sent into protective custody in Concord Prison of Massachusetts.  While serving his time, Geoghan was repeatedly tormented and tortured by not only his fellow inmates, but the guards as well.  As a child molester, he was viewed as one of the most disgusting and disturbing inmates for his committed crimes.  In April of 2003, Geoghan was transferred to another protective unit in Shirley, Massachusetts.  Again, he was tormented by his fellow inmates.  On August 23 of the same year, fellow inmate and convicted murderer Joseph Druce entered Geoghan’s cell and strangled the 68 year old defrocked