Florida Bishop Resigns Over Molestation

Florida Bishop Resigns Over Molestation

NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, March 9, 2002

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The Roman Catholic bishop of the diocese of Palm Beach, Anthony J. O'Connell, resigned Friday after admitting to improper sexual touching with a seminary student 25 years ago.

He becomes the highest-ranking clergyman brought down in a wave of allegations touched off by a chuch sex scandal in Boston, according to the Associated Press.

"Yes, I would say that I was extremely ill-advised and naive in that approach," O'Connell said. "I have thoroughly regretted it, and I apologized to him when he made his complaint."

The final decision on O'Connell's fate will be up to the Vatican, which is expected to conduct an investigation. The student's allegations resulted in the removal of another priest this week.

O'Connell, 63, made the initial statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which was doing a story about his involvement with Christopher Dixon, 40.

The bishop was rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal, Mo., when Dixon was a student there. He accepted Dixon's allegation that they touched inappropriately in bed after a counseling session.

He said the behavior continued intermittently for three years.

"There was nothing in the relationship that was anything other than touches as referred to in the article," O'Connell said. "There was nothing beyond that. Nothing of any sexual nature beyond that. So, in the ordinary understanding of sexual activity, no, there wasn't.

"For those who will be angry and for those who will have a lot of worries and concerns, I certainly ask for when the time is right for them to be able to pray for my forgiveness and for the ability themselves to forgive me," he said.

In 1996, Dixon accused the Rev. Manus Daly and former priest John Fischer of molesting him while he was a student at St. Thomas and Hannibal Catholic School. Dixon received $125,000 from the Jefferson City, Mo., Diocese after making the allegations against the three priests in 1996.

Fisher was removed from the priesthood after an earlier allegation of sexual abuse. Daly was removed this week. Dixon also became a priest but later resigned.

O'Connell replaced a Palm Beach bishop who stepped down in 1999 after a sex scandal.

The revelation came hours after Florida's 10 bishops released a statement expressing "concern and compassion" for sexual abuse victims. The bishops, however, did not set up hotlines or notify authorities of potential abusers. Many church leaders have taken those steps since the Boston scandal involving priests preying on children.