Cardinal Ordered to Testify

Expressing concern that the nation’s senior Roman Catholic prelate might be quickly summoned to Rome, a judge on Monday ordered Cardinal Bernard Law to be deposed in the civil trial of defrocked priest John J. Geoghan, accused of sexually abusing scores of children.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney ordered the cardinal to appear for the deposition at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The session will be in a closed courtroom and is believed to be the first time a cardinal has been deposed. It will be videotaped for court records.

Sweeney ruled that one of Geoghan’s 86 alleged victims will be permitted in the courtroom while the cardinal is questioned.

The ruling comes on the heels of the decision late Friday by the Boston archdiocese to back out of a $15-million to $30-million settlement in the case. Church officials said the agreement would cost too much.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the plaintiffs, said he learned the archdiocese was reneging on the deal after church officials held a news conference late Friday.

“That is how sleazy they are,” Garabedian said in his office Monday. “At 4 o’clock they held a press conference. At quarter to 5 they told me.”

Garabedian and lawyers for the archdiocese negotiated for 111/2 months before the cardinal’s council of financial advisors voted Friday to reject the deal.

In court Monday, Sweeney also was critical.

“To say the rug was pulled out underneath the understanding of the attorneys working on this case is an understatement,” Sweeney said.

The judge also expressed concern that Law might be called to Rome by Pope John Paul II or be given a diplomatic post by the Vatican.

Either situation could delay a deposition--or perhaps render it impossible if Law were to be sequestered in the Vatican.

“This court has significant concerns about whether the cardinal will be available for deposition unless his deposition is taken soon,” Sweeney said.

“His choice of whether his deposition is taken is not his alone,” she continued. “It belongs to the pope in Rome. If the pope tells him to go over there, he goes.”

However, Sweeney refused to impound Law’s passport or to set a steep bond for the cardinal.

Wilson Rogers, the cardinal’s lawyer, insisted in court that his client will not dodge the deposition.

“He is committed to participate in this process,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t matter where he is.”

Law was scheduled to be deposed on four other occasions during the lengthy negotiations in the Geoghan civil suits. Each time, the procedure was postponed because both sides believed a settlement was near.

The cardinal also is scheduled for deposition next month in the case of Father Paul Shanley, another priest from the Boston archdiocese accused of molesting children.

Shanley on Monday was returned to Boston from San Diego, where he has been living for several years. In addition to a series of civil suits, Shanley faces three counts of child rape.

The January trial and conviction of Geoghan, a priest in the Boston archdiocese for more than 30 years, set off a sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Catholic church nationwide--and around the world.

Since this case was filed, Garabedian has been retained by more than 50 others who claim Geoghan molested them. Geoghan is serving a nine- to 10-year prison sentence for fondling a 10-year-old boy.

Court documents published by the Boston Globe showed that church officials moved Geoghan from parish to parish despite numerous sexual abuse complaints against him.

Law on Sunday explained that the proliferation of alleged victims was forcing the archdiocese to rethink its settlement strategy. Although he acknowledged that the change in plans might be difficult for some abuse victims, he did not apologize for reneging on the deal.

The cardinal has resisted calls for his resignation.