Agony in Albany - The Roman Catholic Faithful

Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. / AMDG May 2004 Albany newsletterThroughout the reading of the brief statement,which was intended to take about two minutes,Menard and her band of guerrilla actors and actressesrepeatedly tried to drown out this speaker as he calledon the area’s politicians, police and press to urgeHubbard to resign.Again, during the 40-minute question-andanswersession, Shirley O’Neil, a former Sister of St.Joseph, interrupted a reporter’s question to demandthe right to read a two page statement in support ofBishop Hubbard. That led to another long, chaoticdisruption, as most in the audience told her to sitdown.STRANGE REPORTAGEFor most of the 400 people present, the publicmeeting, convened by Brady, was a cathartic eventthat revealed the high level of concern for the healthof the Church of a broad segment of the diocese.But the reporting, especially by the print media,was appallingly dishonest.The Associated Press’ Michael Gormley,who was present throughout the meeting and whosestory appeared in newspapers from Long Island toFlorida, downsized the audience, and presented Hubbard’scritics as the disruptive element.“One hundred Brady supporters attended theevent at an Albany hotel,” misreported Gormley,“while more than 50 protesters filled the back of themeeting room. Protesters speaking in support of Hubbardwere drowned out by members of Roman CatholicFaithful reciting the Lord's Prayer and ‘HailMary.’“A small protest in support of the bishop washeld outside the Albany hotel. One Hubbard supporter,Gerry Ladouceur, 49, of Albany County, saidBrady has his own agenda and is using the claimsagainst Hubbard to promote it.“‘(Brady's) quoted as saying he wants to takethe diocese back,’ Ladouceur said. ‘The problem is hewants to take it back to the 15th century’.....“Albany Diocese spokesman Ken Goldfarbtold the Albany Times Union that Brady's group ‘havefor many years waged an unfortunate campaign ofcharacter assassination against church leaders withwhom they disagree. While their efforts at churchreform may once have been well-intended, they havelong since wandered astray’....”Gormley made no mention of this reporter’spresence, the statement to the press, or the 40-minutequestion-and-answer session, reinforcing the widespreadbelief that AP has an official, longstanding,policy of refusing to acknowledge The Wanderer’sexistence.The Troy Record’s Kate Perry also downsizedthe audience, reporting that “more than 100people” attended the event at the Crown Plaza; butthe centerpiece of her report was the “shoutingmatch” between ex-nun O’Neil, who was screaminginto the microphone, “I have a right to assemble....Excuseme, it’s not fair if you don’t hear bothsides of every story,” while Annette LaBrie was tellingher to sit down.“A rift among local Catholics,” wrote Perry,“precipitated by the sexual abuse scandal in the RomanCatholic Diocese of Albany and recent allegationsagainst Bishop Howard Hubbard was seen inliving color Sunday night as two women screamed ineach other's face.”Perry did capture the intense atmosphere atthe meeting, writing:“In recent days, some have implied that thebishop and the diocese played a role in Minkler'sdeath, either directly or by driving him to suicide.Hubbard's supporters maintain that the allegation isridiculous.“The most heated moments however, occurredwhen supporters of Hubbard spoke up. Theygathered outside the conference room and periodicallyinterrupted those speaking to express their disagreementor just to make statements of their own,which had the audience shouting ‘move on,’ ‘get alife,’ and ‘leave.’“But it was when one of the bishop's supportersapproached the microphone during the questionand-answerperiod that the most intense disagreementoccurred....“The incident occurred after Likoudis spokeabout his ties with Minkler, with whom he wrote the10-part series ‘Agony in Albany’....”The Albany Times Union’s Mike Goodwinalso downsized the turnout, but not quite as low as theAP’s Gormley.“At least 200 people crammed into a ballroomat the State Street hotel,” wrote Goodwin,“many frequently breaking into applause during Likoudis'speech. But he and Brady were repeatedly in-18