Priest admits to molesting 28 children in the 1960s
NEW BEDFORD, Mas*. (AP) — A for
mer Roman Catholic priest admitted
Monday he molested 28 children at three
Massachusetts parishes in the 1900s in
one of the largest child sex abuse cases of
its kind.
Prosecutors said 125 men and women
had come forward willing to testify that
fames R. Porter had molested them when
they were children. They said several had
complained to church officials at the
time, without results.
The pleas culminate a case that sur
faced in May 1992 and helped to focus
the Roman Catholic Church's attention
on sexual abuse by priests.
"I hope that every victim of sexual
abuse someday in their ordeal can have
a day like this," said John Robataille, one
of Porter's victims.
When Superior Court fudge Robert
Steadman asked Porter why he pleaded
guilty, he replied: "Because I am guilty.
your honor."
Initially, he had pleaded innocent.
The former priest, who remains free on
bail, was hustled from the courthouse
and did not respond to reporters' ques
tions
His attorney. Peter DeCelleke, said
Porter. 58. felt “tremendous guilt.”
“He's obviously very nervous. He feels
that he's reached a positive decision, a
decision that will allow him to proceed
with the rest of his life."
Porter pleaded guilty to 27 counts of
indecent assault and battery on a child
under 14. seven counts of unnatural acts
on a child under 16. six counts of abom
inable and detestable (Times against nature
and one charge of assault ana battery.
Porter could be sentenced to more than
200 years in prison. Sentencing was set
for Dec. 6.
Some of Porter's victims, now in their
30s and 40s. sat in the courtroom and
cried softly as court officials read a litany
of Porter's crime*.
"I've done my 30 years and now it’s his
turn," one, George Hardie. said later.
District Attorney Paul Walsh said that
In compiling the case against Porter, inves
tigators found that parents of molested
children had complained to church offi
cials. who moved Porter from one parish
to another, but otherwise took no action
Porter began his service to the church
in Massachusetts in 1960 and worked at
parishes in North Attleboro. Fall River
and New Bedford. In 1967, he left Mass
achusetts and entered a treatment pro
gram in New Mexico for pedophilia. He
was assigned to a church in Bemidji.
Minn., but left in 1970.
Several victims formed a group called
Survivor Connections and demanded that
the church make it a policy to immedi
ately investigate any sexual abuse com
plaints involving clergy; remove the per
petrator if the charges are true; and report
the complaints to civil authorities
The Diocese of Fall River, where Porter
worked in the 1960s. has since adopted
such a policy and last year reached an
undisclosed out-of-court settlement with
68 people who said they were Porter’s
victims.
A spokesman for the diocese declined
comment Monday.
Prosecutors said Porter molested his
victims in his church office, rectories, a
changing room beside the altar, a summer
camp and a junior high school locker
room, and threatened that "God would
get them" if they informed on him.
Porter left the priesthood in the early
1970s and now lives in Oakdale. Minn. He
is married and has four children.
Porter was convicted last year in Min
nesota of molesting his children’s babysit
ter and received a six-month prison sen
tence.
School of MUSIC
& Department of DANCE
OCTOBER CONCERTS
Clip and Save this Calendar!
For more information on any School of Music event, caR
346-5678. To confirm concert times and ticket prices, call
the Music Hotline at 346-3764 for a taped message.
Fri. GAMELAN SEKAR JAYA
10/8 World Musk Series • pm. Beal Hal
Music and dance of Bal with the San Francisco Bay area's
renowned Baines* gametan orchestra. Free lecture-demo
at 2 pm $10 General Admission; S8 students & seniors
Tims. OCTUBAFEST
10/12 Low-brass vaudevie and classics! Guests include Oregon
Tuba Assn, and tie Silver Fox Bayou Band. • pm Beal Hal
$4 General Admission. $2 students & senior citizens
Wed. BETTY BUSCH, Horn; SARAH MILLER, Piano
10/13 Guest Artists • p.m. Beal Hal
Music wntten by 20th century women composers.
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Thur. SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE OF LONDON
10/14 Chamber Musk Senes I pm. Beal Hal
Music by Dvorak. Schubert, and Judith Weir. Free lecture at
7:15 p m.. Room 196. Reserved seats $8, $17, $20, avaiable
at the Hult Center (687-5000) Students $5, $9 at the door.
Wed. JAZZ ARRANGERS CONCERT
10/20 UO Jazz Ensembles I p.m. Beal Hal. FREEI
Fri. SUITES, SONATAS, AND SETTS
10/22 Renaissance and Baroque dance music, with Barbara Baird,
Lisa Arkin, and guest dancer Linda Tomko. I pm Beal Hal
$5 General Admission. $3 students & senior citizens
Mon. JAZZ COMBOS I
10/25 UO Jazz Ensembles S pm Beal Hal.
$4 General Admission. $2 students & senior citizens
Wed. CHORAL CONCERT
10/27 UO Chamber Choir, University Singers I pm Beall Hal.
$4 General Admission, $2 students & senior atzens
Thur. SCANDINAVIAN MUSIC RECITAL
10/28 Featuring guest artist Gordon Epperson, celo; also with
Barbara GonzAlez-Palmer, Martin Tobias, and Enne Bailey.
• pm., Baal HaiL FREEI
Fri. HOMECOMING CONCERT
10/29 UO Symphony, University Singers, Oregon Jazz Ensemble,
Oregon Wind Ensemble. I p.m., Baal Hall. FREEI
Sun. UO BAND EXTRAVAGANZA
10/31 Oregon Wind Ensemble, Oregon Jazz Ensemble, Green
Garter Band, and UO Marching Band 2:30 p.m., Hull Center
$6 Reserved Seats. Cal 687-5000 for tickets.
Wife maims man, pleads insanity
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Virginia woman
who cut off her husband's penis will try to prove
in court she was temporarily insane at the time,
her lawyer said.
Attorney James l-owe said Lorena Bobbitt was
repeatedly beaten and raped by her husband, John
Wayne Bobbitt. After he attacked her in their Man
assas, Va., apartment on June 23, she was seized by
an “irresistible impulse" that caused her to reach
for a knife and cut him, Lowe said in an interview
in the November issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
Mrs. Bobbitt faces trial Nov. 29 on a charge of
malicious wounding.
Lowe said he will argue that people who have
been repeatedly abused or beaten often have an
altered mental state.
Mrs Bobbitt told police she mutilated her hus
band aAer he raped her when he came home drunk
from a night out with a friend.
Bobbitt has been charged with marital sexual
assault and his trial is set for Nov. 8. He denies the
charge.
Both Bobbitts face up to 20 years in prison if
convicted.
Mrs. Bobbitt told the magazine she is appalled
that some women have hailed her as a feminist
heroine for striking back against alleged abuse.
"Nobody knows what I went through," she said.
"Nobody knows anything about me."
She said that after her husband assaulted her,
she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
"it was just so many things together. I was
scared.... I was physically hurt.... The first thing I
saw was a knife, when I turned. I grabbed that
knife and, um, I went to the bedroom, and he was
there, I guess, and he kind of. like, moved or some
thing. I don't know. And I took the sheets off and I
cut him."
She said she wishes she had never done it, but
can’t say for sure if she feels remorse, or if she feels
Bobbitt deserved it.
Mrs. Bobbitt said she met her husband at a bar
for enlisted men near the Quantico Marine base
where he was posted.
After they married, their relationship deteriorat
ed quickly into physical and sexual abuse, she
said. She said she became pregnant once, but Bob
bitt told her she would not be a good mother and
forced her to get an abortion.
lames Sehn. a urologist who helped perform the
nine-and-a-half-hour operation to reattach Bob
bitt's penis, said. "He has a working organ. It's
very possible he’s already had sex, and I wouldn't
be surprised."
Bobbitt has declined requests for interviews.
Missina qirl found asleep in her house
l.AKE WORTH. Fla. (AF) —
No while rabbits or walruses
were blamed, but a five-year-old
girl whose disappearance set off
a frantic police search turned up
sleeping behind a looking glass.
Police mobilized 15 patrol
cars, a canine unit and a heli
copter in a two-hour effort to
find Fawn Davis afier her moth
er reported her missing Monday.
said Palm Beach sheriff’s
spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
Officers had searched the
house twice and were talking to
the mother. Denise Weiinann.
when Fawn emerged sleepily
from her nap.
"She apparently was rolled up
in a ball behind a mirror in the
laundry room," Barbera said
Tuesday.
Unlike her counterpart in
Alice in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass,
Fawn didn’t blame rabbits,
queens or even Tweed ledee.
She just wanted to know if
she was in trouble, her mother
said. “I didn't know whether to
hug her or beat her up."
Get results! Advertise in the ()D£!
re you looking for someone
to walk with for exercise and fun?
Student
Health Center
Walking Group
First meeting: Thursday, October 7, 4:00p.m.
Where: Room 21 at Student Health Center
Call Tania at 346-4456 for more info.