Nun sought to warn church followers

The Associated Press/April 8, 2003
By Denise Lavoie

Boston -- A former aide to Bishop John McCormack said church officials -- including her ex-boss -- ignored her repeated pleas to warn parishioners about priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children.

In a deposition released Monday, Sister Catherine Mulkerrin said she received allegations against more than 100 priests in the Boston Archdiocese from 1992 to 1994, while she was working as an aide to McCormack. The bishop then served as Cardinal Bernard Law's delegate on clergy sexual misconduct.

McCormack is now Bishop of Manchester, N.H., and has acknowledged making mistakes during his Boston tenure. Law stepped down as Boston archbishop in December.

Mulkerrin answered questions over three days this winter in a deposition taken as part of civil lawsuits filed against the church for its handling of sex abuse allegations against priests.

Mulkerrin said she told McCormack that the archdiocese should put a notice in parish bulletins to warn parishioners that a priest who worked there during a certain time period had been accused of molesting minors.

Mulkerrin said she also expressed frustration to McCormack that priests who had been sent for treatment after being accused of sexual abuse were later allowed to return to parish work, without the kind of supervision she had recommended.