Letters Reveal Former Philadelphia Archbishop Reassigned Abusive Priest

Former Archbishop Rev. Anthony J. Bevilacqua reportedly wrote letters and advised the bishop of Brooklyn, N.Y. to reassign a priest outside of the Brooklyn diocese. The priest, Rev. Roman Ferraro, sexually assaulted two boys in the Diocese of Metuchen, N.J. where he was reassigned to. Ferraro's psychotherapist apparently rebuffed the idea of reassignment to a post involving minors before completely treatment for earlier offenses.

Rev. Anthony Bevilacqua, 87

The Survivors of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) released the letters Tuesday, which had been gathered form the Brooklyn diocese after a civil suit was filed by a Miami law firm in 2005. According to prosecutor Jessica Arbour, the diocese worked hard to prevent the nearly 1,200 documents from being handed over to the courts, all from Ferraro's personal file.

According to the Inquirer, two grand jury reports issued in 2005 and this year criticized Bevilacqua's handling of abuse cases in his dioceses, citing that the archbishop simply reassigned clergy members in an effort to hide the offenses from the public.

Ferraro has been accused of sexually assaulting minors in the 1970s and in 1986 or 1987. He reportedly realized his attraction to young boys in 1955 when he was only 21 years old. At 76, he is currently serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2004 for abusing a boy in Massachusetts in the 1970s.

This revelation is in the wake of the suspension of 3 priests in the Philadelphia archdiocese after a report surfaced about abuses committed by such men and possibly 34 others in the 1990s.

Recent years have witnessed a flood of cases brought against the Catholic Church and its inability to effectively handle sexual abuses by members of the clergy. Catholics across Europe erupted in outrage last year when it was reported that Pope Benedict XIV may have know about abuses during his time as a bishop in Germany, but did not remove the accused priests from their posts.

The secrecy of the Vatican has placed it in incredible scrutiny and public opinion has taken a downward turn. What may contribute to the repeating problem is the consistently decreasing numbers of men entering the priesthood. The need for clergy in metropolitan parishes has forced dioceses to relocate priests based on the size of parishes lacking personnel.

It cannot be proven whether Bevilacqua, 87, is directly involved with the abuses by Ferraro, but if such a verdict is determined, it could mean jail time for the remaining years of the retired palate's life.