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Detroit bishop says he was abused by priest as teenager

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A bishop in the Detroit Archdiocese said Wednesday that he was touched inappropriately by a priest when he was a teenager, making him the first U.S. Catholic bishop to say he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.

Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, spoke at a news conference in support of an Ohio bill that would remove time limits that have prevented past victims from suing the church over their alleged abuse. He said some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will be is through the courts.

Ohio bishops agree with extending the time limits for future abuse cases but have lobbied against a provision allowing a one-year window for victims to sue over abuse that happened as long as 35 years ago.

"I regret that we need this kind of legislation, but I insist we do need it," Gumbleton said.

Gumbleton said he was a 15-year-old seminary student in Detroit when a priest took him and other boys to a cabin northeast of the city. Gumbleton said the priest started wrestling with him playfully, then put his hand down the back of Gumbleton's pants. He said he removed himself from the situation; he did not elaborate. "I was able to escape a terrible trauma," he said.

Even 60 years later, Gumbleton said, he's embarrassed talking about the incident, which he said explains why some victims never brought lawsuits within legal time limits, which in most states are two to five years.

"I understand why victims of sexual abuse need this new window of opportunity," he said. "For many of them, probably almost all of them, it would be very difficult to come forward and speak."

Officials at the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Catholic Conference of Ohio said they were saddened to learn of Gumbleton's abuse.

WORCESTER, Mass. - Moments after guards pried open the jammed door of John Geoghan's cell, Joseph Druce confessed that he killed the child-molesting former priest to protect other youngsters, a guard testified Wednesday as the prisoner's murder trial began.

Four guards brought Druce to the prison hospital unit, where he sobbed while confessing to killing Geoghan, guard Travis Canty said. According to prosecutors, Druce had jammed the door of Geoghan's cell shut with a book, then strangled the defrocked priest.

Druce's lawyer said Druce was mentally ill and driven by an "irresistible impulse" to kill Geoghan.

Geoghan was in prison for groping a 10-year-old boy, but had been accused of molesting 150 youngsters in civil lawsuits.

His case helped set off a scandal after court records showed that Boston Archdiocese officials allowed him to continue having contact with children even after the abuse allegations surfaced.

[Last modified January 12, 2006, 01:25:23]