Ex-priest's suit makes porn claim
By GARRY RAYNO
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 Share on Facebook
The Rev. Thomas Coover claims he was improperly dismissed after alerting the church to a pornography collection he discovered in a rectory; the diocese says the claims are baseless.
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Becareful what you wish for Joe in Manchester.
If that tragedy were to ever happen the State would need to impose hefty taxes to try an offset the services and work many times given in true charity. One can only assume you may be clueless to all the good that is being done, including saving many souls.
As for coverups and silence of abuses it’s apparent in the news this is still an ongoing scourge within a minority of leaders, teachers, parents and family members. The Church needs to be a model how to purge this evil.
- Bob, Hooksett
I too hope for justice in an open court.
And Thank God for Carolyn Disco and all the work she has done.
- Sheilagh, Manchester
I say "accolades" to Father Coover! I've had the pleasure knowing him and have heard of his many sufferings these past few years. He is a good and just man and did not deserve any of these FALSE allegations, and particularly restriction of practicing his devotion. Let justice be done and let the courts help Bishop McCormack and Fr. Arsenault find their way out of the Diocese of Manchester!
- Claudette, Dover, NH
The bishops are responsible for the continued cover-up of sexual abuse in the church so I would tend to believe Coover.
- Mark Gauer, Moorpark, CA
The Catholic church is really nothing more than legalized pederasty, isn't it? Above the law. Accountable to no one. Abusive to everyone touched by them. Can we just say "enough already" and have the police close them all down?
- Joe, Manchester
Readers can find the full text of Coover’s lawsuit at http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/080220
Your article notes the previous case of pornography being found in a rectory after a priest’s death, and Arsenault claiming there was no child pornography involved.
It is worth noting that Arsenault admitted he never checked the material himself, and that the diocese later settled a lawsuit for sexual abuse of a minor by that priest - a tragic case all around.
Whatever the merits of Coover’s claims (and I do not know one way or the other), I hope they will be determined in open court as he wishes, instead of buried in chancery files.
The diocese’s resort to first amendment objections is typical but wrong.
McCormack and Arsenault distort the church autonomy doctrine to mean they are exempt from neutral principles of law that have nothing to do with tenets of the faith.
They in effect claim the right to be as negligent as they wish either in supervising priests or honoring their rights. Why? In order to freely exercise our Catholic faith.
Judges across the country are more and more refusing to accept bishops’ claims that the freedom to believe allows freedom to act contrary to the law. Let the Coover case go forward and may justice be done.
- Carolyn Disco, Merrimack