PANEL’S BISHOPS ACCUSED OF COVER-UP

Two of the five Roman Catholic bishops on the committee developing the church's national response to the sex abuse crisis are accused in lawsuits of helping protect priests who molested children.  Manchester Bishop John B. McCormack is one of the church leaders who is named as a defendant.  He is the chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sex Abuse of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  He is accused in Massachusetts lawsuits of knowing that priests were abusing boys and failing to intervene, and of playing a role in shuffling offenders between parishes.  Bishop John Gaydos of Jefferson City, Montana, is accused in a suit of conspiring to cover up molestation by the Rev. Anthony O'Connell, who resigned last month as bishop of Palm Beach, Florida, after admitting he abused a seminary student in Missouri more than 25 years ago.

(Concord, New Hampshire)