Boston scandal keeps on giving

John McCormack, the Catholic bishop of Manchester, NH, was a protege of Cardinal Law's in Boston, and one of the worst Catholic bishops in America in terms of molester cover-ups. And now he -- and his chancellor, Fr. Edward Arsenault, have been sued by a Manchester priest, and the lawsuit's a doozy.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff, Father Thomas Coover, alleges that he made an alarming discovery in the rectory of the parish to which he'd been assigned. From the lawsuit:

In or about October of 2002, the Plaintiff Father Coover discovered large quantities of pornographic materials, guidebooks containing locations of homosexual meeting places nationwide and sexual attire including items consisting of leather and chains in multiple locations in the church rectory and garage;

Plaintiff Father Coover contacted the Diocese to disclose the discovery of such items and to request instruction as to how to proceed;

Defendant Father Arsenault, on behalf of Defendant Bishop McCormack and Defendant Diocese, instructed Plaintiff Father Coover to assemble the found items, place the items into a sealed container and deliver the container directly to the Chancery in Manchester, New Hampshire;

Plaintiff Father Coover delivered the found materials as instructed and was further instructed by Father Arsenault not to discuss the circumstances with anyone;

Plaintiff Father Coover continued to find materials of a homosexual and pornographic nature around the rectory and continued to communicate these discoveries to representatives of the Defendant Diocese;

In early 2004, Plaintiff Father Coover learned of personal and highly sensitive information relating to Defendant Bishop McCormack and Father Paul Shanley, from Boston, Massachusetts. In learning of this information, Plaintiff Father Coover conducted an independent investigation of the circumstances as they were related to him and discussed the claims and findings with a priest close to the Diocese: Father Steven Kucharski of Manchester, New Hampshire;

Next thing he knew, Fr. Coover was summoned to the chancery to face accusations of stealing bingo funds, having "inappropriate sexual contact," and threatening suicide -- all of which Fr. Coover says was untrue. Shortly after he walked out and returned to his parish, he was arrested by police, he says, based on what Fr. Arsenault at the chancery told cops. According to the lawsuit, he was carted off to a mental hospital until a hearing seven days later found no basis for his detainment. Later, the diocese kicked him out of the priesthood, in which he'd served since 1978.

Fr. Coover is suing for defamation, fraud, false imprisonment, and other things.

Here's how the Manchester Union Leader reported the story on Friday. It includes the diocese's denials of Fr. Coover's claims. If Fr. Coover really did find incriminating information linking Bishop McCormack in some personal and compromising way to Boston's notorious molester priest Paul Shanley, I hope he made copies and made sure a trustworthy third party had custody of them.

(And by the way, if you haven't purchased "The Faithful Departed," Phil Lawler's trenchant analysis of the rise and collapse of Catholicism in the Archdiocese of Boston, you really should. As I've said here before, it has a lot about the scandal in it, and the cover-up mentality that led Catholic bishops to throw Catholic children and their families under the metaphorical bus to maintain their own facade of respectability.)