Altar Boy

BURLINGTON - Calling it the Diocese of Burlington's "day of reckoning," a lawyer for a former Vermont altar boy asked a jury yesterday to award up to $14 million in damages in a priest sex abuse case, telling jurors to punish the church for hiring and protecting a pedophile priest. A church lawyer, meanwhile, called Bishop John Marshall, the former head of the diocese, "well meaning but ill advised. " He urged the panel to be fair in assessing blame for the actions of the Rev. Edward Paquette, whom Marshall hired.

A teenager accused of bludgeoning his parents with a hammer before hosting a party at their home signs jailhouse autographs exclaiming "It's hammer time," calls himself "hammer boy," and says he has seen and talked to the devil, a fellow inmate told police. The inmate, Justin Toney, described 18-year-old Tyler Hadley's jailhouse fame in interviews outlined in investigative files released by prosecutors. Hadley has pleaded not guilty in the bludgeonings last July of Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley.

PHILADELPHIA - A young man told a jury in a criminal clergy abuse case Wednesday that he was sexually assaulted as an altar boy by two Philadelphia priests and that he soon turned to drugs for relief. The witness, a police officer's son, said he started smoking marijuana the summer he turned 11 to deal with the abuse, and has since tried drug treatment 23 times to battle addictions to heroin, painkillers, and other drugs. The 23-year-old testified at the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, a former secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia Archdiocese who is charged with child...

PHILADELPHIA - A young man told a jury in a criminal clergy abuse case Wednesday that he was sexually assaulted as an altar boy by two Philadelphia priests and that he soon turned to drugs for relief. The witness, a police officer's son, said he started smoking marijuana the summer he turned 11 to deal with the abuse, and has since tried drug treatment 23 times to battle addictions to heroin, painkillers, and other drugs. The 23-year-old testified at the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, a former secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia Archdiocese who is charged with child...

BURLINGTON, Vt. - A jury has awarded $8.7 million in damages to a former altar boy who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington over sexual abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a priest. The man, now a 40-year-old mechanical engineer in Lakewood, Colo., sued the diocese over molestation he contends that he suffered at the hands of the Rev. Edward Paquette, a parish priest, in the 1970s. His suit alleged negligent supervision by the diocese, accusing church officials of hiring Paquette despite warnings about allegations of molestation of boys in previous assignments.

PHILADELPHIA - Days before he was to go on trial with two other priests in a landmark sex-abuse case, a laicized Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing an altar boy more than 20 years ago in a church sacristy. Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He was immediately sentenced to two½to five years in prison and was ordered to surrender within 10 days. The charges stemmed from Avery's abuse of an altar boy at St. Jerome's Parish during the 1998-99 school year.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A priest who admitted sexually abusing a 12-year-old altar boy fled to Mexico after his bishop failed to immediately report the confession to authorities, a law enforcement official said. The Rev. Xavier Ochoa was suspended April 28 after admitting the abuse to the Roman Catholic bishop of Santa Rosa. Bishop Daniel Walsh didn't notify law enforcement until three days later, giving Ochoa time to flee, according to church and law enforcement officials. The Sonoma County district attorney's office on Thursday filed multiple misdemeanor and felony charges against...

ROME — People who were raped and molested by priests are gathering in Rome this weekend to launch a petition demanding that the United Nations designate systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity. Organizers said tomorrow’s gathering would mark the first time that abuse survivors from around the world will gather for a day of healing and to demand greater accountability from the Vatican. Organizers had hoped to stage the demonstration in St. Peter’s Square, but said they had to move it a few hundred yards away because the Holy...

A jury determined Friday that the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford should pay $1 million in damages to a former altar boy who was sexually abused by a priest decades ago, ruling that the church was reckless and negligent in allowing a known pedophile to have access to children. The decision, reported by the Hartford Courant ( http://cour.at/wlskYy), followed about three and half hours of deliberations by the Superior Court jury in Waterbury. The victim, identified in his lawsuit as Jacob Doe, was abused by Father Ivan Ferguson in the early 1980s...

PHILADELPHIA - Two priests charged with raping boys in the mid-1990s will attack the accusers' motives when the landmark trial starts next week, their lawyers said Monday. The Rev. James Brennan's lawyer will tell jurors that Brennan's accuser sought the priest out as an adult when he needed to do court-ordered community service. "He could have [gone] to a soup kitchen," lawyer William Brennan, who is no relation, argued at a pretrial hearing. "Of all places, he seeks out his alleged abuser, Father Brennan.

PHILADELPHIA - Days before he was to go on trial with two other priests in a landmark sex-abuse case, a laicized Philadelphia priest pleaded guilty Thursday to sexually abusing an altar boy more than 20 years ago in a church sacristy. Edward Avery, 69, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. He was immediately sentenced to two½to five years in prison and was ordered to surrender within 10 days. The charges stemmed from Avery's abuse of an altar boy at St. Jerome's Parish during the 1998-99 school year.

PHILADELPHIA - Two priests charged with raping boys in the mid-1990s will attack the accusers' motives when the landmark trial starts next week, their lawyers said Monday. The Rev. James Brennan's lawyer will tell jurors that Brennan's accuser sought the priest out as an adult when he needed to do court-ordered community service. "He could have [gone] to a soup kitchen," lawyer William Brennan, who is no relation, argued at a pretrial hearing. "Of all places, he seeks out his alleged abuser, Father Brennan.

To keep it short: There are strong years for short films at the Oscars and there are weaker years, and 2012 appears to be one of the latter. The 10 films nominated for the best animated short and best live action short - five in each category - are showing at the Kendall Square starting today in two separate programs (with separate ticket purchases required). They are all accomplished works that do their makers proud. Precious few, though, rearrange your head and demonstrate the sort of lightning-bolt inspiration of which the format is capable at its best.

A jury determined Friday that the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford should pay $1 million in damages to a former altar boy who was sexually abused by a priest decades ago, ruling that the church was reckless and negligent in allowing a known pedophile to have access to children. The decision, reported by the Hartford Courant ( http://cour.at/wlskYy), followed about three and half hours of deliberations by the Superior Court jury in Waterbury. The victim, identified in his lawsuit as Jacob Doe, was abused by Father Ivan Ferguson in the early 1980s when Doe was 13 to 15....

ON WGBH Greater Boston 7 p.m. WGBH (Channel 2) The grand opening of the African Meeting House. Great Performances "Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert" 9:30 p.m. WGBH (Channel 2) Soprano Jackie Evancho, 11, ("America's Got Talent") performs in Sarasota, Fla. ON CHRONICLE What's Brewing? 7:30 WCVB-TV (Channel 5) The local craft beer movement. RADIO HIGHLIGHTS The Diane Rehm Show 10 a.m. WGBH-FM (89.7) Joseph Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progess, and Juliet Eilperin, environmental reporter for the Washington Post.

PHILADELPHIA - A monsignor who is the only US church official ever charged with transferring pedophile priests to unsuspecting parishes will be tried alongside three priests and a lay teacher accused of rape, a judge ruled yesterday. Common Pleas Judge Lillian Ransom denied most pretrial requests made by Monsignor William Lynn, two current priests, a former priest, and a former Catholic school teacher. The men wanted their cases tried separately and asked for many of the charges against them to be dismissed.

PITTSBURGH — The estate of a man allegedly abused by a priest in the 1980s is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, alleging he committed suicide this year after the diocese stopped paying for his mental health treatments after two other suicide attempts. Michael Unglo, 39, formerly of Etna in suburban Pittsburgh, committed suicide in May at a center in Stockbridge, Mass., according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Associated Press. He alleged he was molested in the early 1980s while an altar boy by a priest who was convicted of molesting another boy and...

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire man has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Manchester, contending that he was repeatedly abused as a youth by a priest in Colebrook. John Labbe, 53, of Plymouth, alleges that the late Rev. George St. Jean molested him for four years, beginning when he was 9 and an altar boy at St. Brendan’s parish in Colebrook. Labbe’s lawyer said he did not realize until last year that St. Jean was one of 26 New Hampshire priests who had multiple complaints filed against them for alleged sexual abuse.

ROME — People who were raped and molested by priests are gathering in Rome this weekend to launch a petition demanding that the United Nations designate systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity. Organizers said tomorrow’s gathering would mark the first time that abuse survivors from around the world will gather for a day of healing and to demand greater accountability from the Vatican. Organizers had hoped to stage the demonstration in St. Peter’s Square, but said they had to move it a few hundred yards away because the Holy See declined to give them...