Former Catholic Priest on trial for raping two young boys.

(former Rev.)Gary Mercure
Who has pleaded innocent
and has not yet been found guilty.

By Bob Gardinier Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Opening arguments in the trial of a former Roman Catholic priest charged with raping two boys will be postponed until Thursday because of the looming snowstorm.

Ten jurors were selected Monday for Gary Mercure's trial in Berkshire County Court, officials said. Jury selection will continue Tuesday.

But even if a complete panel is selected Tuesday, officials said, opening arguments won't be held until after Wednesday, when the storm is expected to end.

Mercure, 62, faces three counts of rape of a child with force and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, according to the office of District Attorney David F. Capeless.

Mercure, who served in two Troy parishes, was indicted in October 2008 on charges that he raped a boy in the Great Barrington, Mass., area in the fall of 1986 and another boy in New Ashford, Mass., in February 1989.

The alleged victims, who were from New York parishes and traveled to Massachusetts with Mercure, are now 34 and 35 years old, officials said.

The Albany diocese received allegations of sexual abuse against Mercure in January 2008, saidKen Goldfarb, spokesman for the diocese. From January until August 2008, Mercure was on administrative leave and was prohibited from all active ministry. He had been serving at the Sacred Heart and St. William parishes in Troy.

Following the diocese's investigation, Mercure was permanently removed from ministry in August 2008, Goldfarb said.

In New York state, Mercure was accused of but never charged with sexually assaulting several boys in Albany and Warren counties. The diocese investigated an incident relating to "misconduct with a minor" involving Mercure while he was at St. Teresa of Avila parish in Albany in the mid-1980s, authorities have said.

The statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges against Mercure in New York had already expired by the time the accusations were made. Massachusetts has a longer statute of limitations for such charges.

Mercure was ordained in 1975 and served as a priest at St. Mary's in Clinton Heights, St. Mary's Parish in Glens Falls, Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish in Queensbury, St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Albany and Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Latham.

from The Times Union , Albany, New York.

'Rogue Clerics' is a book by Anson Shupe

An advert for this book appeared today on It's Getting Better - my, er, newsy blog.

I thought some of you might be interested, even though it was published in 2007.

I should point out that I haven't read this book, I haven't even read anyone's review of it.  I simply saw the advert and thought you might like to see it too.

Micky

"During the past several years the mass media in the United States has been awash with reports of priestly pedophilia, ecclesiastical cover-up, and clerical intimidation or financial settlements intended to silence victims. Based on journalistic accounts, or scholarly research, it might be assumed that this is a recent phenomenon. Journalist reports began only within the past few years. Similarly, most sociologists of religion and particularly specialists in deviance and criminology did not reflect awareness of clerical misbehavior in their work. Despite this, Anson Shupe shows that clergy deviance, whether it is sexual or otherwise, is not merely a recent problem. It is as old as the church itself and is inevitably bound to recur due to the nature of religious groups.

"This comprehensive analysis offers the first up-to-date analysis of sexual, economic, and authoritative clergy malfeasance across faiths and denominational authority structures. Drawing on examples taken from antiquity up until the present day, and using reports by historians, theologians, church spokespersons, therapists, social scientists, and journalists, Shupe critically evaluate clergy deviant behavior, dividing it into various types. He also makes use of the therapeutic literature, addressing victimization at the level of the individual, church, and community at large. In this way, he compares the response of the clergy to victims' attempts to mobilize movements calling for church reform. Perhaps most controversial, this book considers the possible relati

"Anson Shupe is professor of sociology at the joint campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and is a member of the graduate faculties at both institutions. A prolific writer dealing with religious movements, clergy misconduct, violence, and inequality, he has most recently authored Agents of Discord: Deprogramming, Pseudo-Science and the American Anitcult Movement with Susan E. Darnell."




The publishers website from which you can preview and buy the ebook or a printed version, I understand.


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