Agony in Albany - The Roman Catholic Faithful

Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. / AMDG May 2004 Albany newsletterpriests, urged an appeals court to remove the judge,contending the jurist is biased in favor of theChurch....“The latest questions about confidential communicationsbetween the judge and the diocese aroseafter Teresi issued on Feb. 10 a ‘strict cautionary,’warning attorneys against public statements aboutcurrent and future lawsuits involving the Albany Diocese....“In most cases, disciplinary codes prohibitjudges and lawyers from communicating privately --or ‘ex parte’ -- about pending legal matters. Violationscan lead to sanctions.“Several of the news articles, which the judgesaid he ‘culled from various sources,’ have computercoding at the top and bottom of the pages indicatingthey were printouts from from the diocese's spokesman,Ken Goldfarb. One article contains handwritingthat Aretakis identified as that of the church's attorney,Michael Costello.....”THE PR CAMPAIGNAt a press conference on February 12, eightdays after a California man, Andrew Zalay, producedtwo documents inferring his brother Tom had a sexualrelationship with Hubbard, while he was bishop ofAlbany, that led Zalay to suicide, and further allegationsfrom a former street hustler, Anthony Bonneau,who claimed Hubbard was a client, Hubbard said hewas “determined to leave no stone unturned to refutethese charges and to restore my reputation.”Meeting the press at the diocese’s “pastoralcenter”, Hubbard compared the allegations againsthim to those against the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin,proclaiming to representatives of the print andbroadcasting media in Albany:One month later, swirling in controversyover his hiring of former federal prosecutor Mary JoWhite at $770 per hour, he received the “support” ofNew York’s Edward Cardinal Egan and managed toportray himself – via a very sympathetic report by theAssociated Press – as the victim of a smear campaignwaged by anti-Vatican II zealots.Cardinal Egan, in Albany to lobby GovernorGeorge Pataki and state legislators to oppose a “gaymarriage” law homosexual activists are pushing, tolda crowd of reporters that he had complete confidencein the investigation of Hubbard by former federalprosecutor Mary Jo White.“A very important person was asked to lookinto this in a very official and a very systematic matter,and that is under way right now,” he said. “So Iam going to join you and wait to find out just exactlywhat the outcome is. In the meantime, I am going toassure you the good bishop of Albany is a man wesupport, for whom we pray and, especially, do wepray for the people of God in the diocese of Albany.”On February 19, the bishop’s diocesan newspaperpublished a four-page spread of p.r. fluff.One report, “Christian Leaders Stand ByBishop,” listed all the local Protestant ministers affirmingtheir support for Hubbard and expressing thebelief that the allegations against him are false. Lettersto the editor expressed outrage that anyone woulddare question the integrity of the bishop; one writerwrote: “Have we returned to the days of ancientRome when Christians were thrown to the lions?” andcontinued, “In my opinion, [Hubbard’s] service to theAlbany area throughout his career and his sincerity tothe will of God ranks him as our local version ofMother Teresa of Calcutta.”An editorial titled, “Past Holds SignificantClues,” revealed the late Tom Zalay had a personalitydisorder and was under the care of a doctor at thetime he committed suicide. It gratuitously comparedZalay’s personality disorder to those of Reagan assassinJohn Hinckley and David Berkowitz, the serialmurderer known as “Son of Sam.”The editor concluded: “The detective’s reportof what the parents told him and Mr. Zalay’sself-analysis are not conclusive, but they should go along way toward convincing skeptical people that theBishop is innocent.”SMEAR CAMPAIGN IN HIGH GEARAn example of how a longtime Hubbard supporter,the Albany Times Union, continues to buck upHubbard’s image, was published on February 28. Aneditorial by Michael Rivest, director of the Renssalaeroffice of the New York State Office of Children andFamily, explained to the public that Hubbard’s critics“condemn homosexuality, ecumenism, feminism andchanges in Catholic liturgy, essentially every progressivestep the Church has taken since the Second VaticanCouncil.”Rivest then hammered Roman CatholicFaithful founder Stephen Brady and this reporter, sayingwe “prey upon the disillusioned and fearful, thosewho....have been so shaken by the Church they once12