The sexual abuse scandal in Honolulu diocese is a significant chapter in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States and Ireland.
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In 1989, Msgr. Joseph Anthony Ferrario became the first bishop to be publicly accused of sexual misconduct in the United States. The bishop's accuser was David Figueroa, a cook living in Florida who has tested HIV-positive. He made charges against Ferrario anonymously in 1989 and went public on Geraldo Rivera's TV show in 1990.
The Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi ruled that a statute of limitation effectively prevented his prosecution. Msgr. Ferrario maintained his innocence for the rest of his life. [1]
One plaintiff won $3.5 million (reduced to $1.04 million on appeal) in the case of Father Thomas Adamson. Allegations against Adamson spanned 22 years, but two Catholic dioceses kept shuttling him into new assignments. [2]
In 1992, Reverend Arthur O’Brien, a priest incardinated by Msgr. Ferrario into the diocesan presbyterium was convicted of sexual assault at a Maui parish. He was soon permanently retired by the bishop DiLorenzo. [3]
Reverend Joseph Bukoski is a Roman Catholic priest of the Hawaiian Province of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He served in the church for many years, but was removed from his post in 2003 following allegations of sexual abuse, for which he has since apologised. [4]
Reverend Mr. James "Ron" Gonsalves was the administrator of Saint Ann Roman Catholic Church in Waihee, Maui, and pleaded guilty on May 17, 2006 to several counts of sexual assault on a 12-year-old male. Bishop Clarence Richard Silva has permanently withdrawn his faculties and has initiated laicization proceedings against Deacon Gonsalves with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Bishop DiLorenzo is often credited with creating the first zero tolerance policy on allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of priests — a policy that came about well before the Catholic sex abuse scandals that plagued the rest of the nation in the early 2000s. [5]
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