Key passages show inquiry's findings

The following are key passages from "The Report of the Independent Investigation," released June 24 by Mary Jo White. The entire text can be read at www.evangelist.org.

ON RUMOR AND GOSSIP

"The distinguished jurist Learned Hand worried...about what he called 'a spirit of general suspicion and distrust, which accepts rumor and gossip in place of undismayed and unintimidated inquiry.' Judge Hand went on to warn: 'That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy,...where denunciation...takes the place of evidence.'

"We have done our best to...replace allegation, rumor and gossip with reliable and verifiable evidence."

ON INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS

"It is worthy commenting on the issue of our independence and our ethical obligations....The relationship between Debevoise [Ms. White's law firm] and the [diocesan] Review Board plainly does not impose an ethical duty on Debevoise to refrain from saying negative things or finding adversely to either the Review Board or Bishop Hubbard."

ON WITNESSES

"This investigation attempted to identify and interview every person with whom Bishop Hubbard lived and many of the people with whom he worked. These people consistently described Bishop Hubbard as a driven, hard working, committed priest and Bishop. None of the individuals had any knowledge, or saw any evidence, that Hubbard was homosexual, was living an active homosexual lifestyle, or was involved in a sexual relationship with anyone."

ON THOMAS ZALAY

"Andrew Zalay asserted on February 4, 2004, at a press conference that [Bishop Hubbard] 'had engaged in a homosexual relationship with Mr. Zalay's younger brother, Tom Zalay, six months to a year before Tom's death on April 19, 1978....'

Bishop Hubbard submitted to a polygraph examination. [The polygrapher] concluded...that Bishop Hubbard was being truthful when he [denied having a sexual relationship with or even knowing Tom Zalay]."

"There is no evidence that Tom Zalay ever met Bishop Howard Hubbard....There is no evidence to substantiate the allegations of Andrew Zalay that Bishop Hubbard had a relationship with Tom Zalay, sexual or otherwise."

ON ANTHONY BONNEAU

"On February 6, 2004, Anthony Bonneau...asserted at a press conference that he had had two paid sexual encounters in the 1970s in Albany's Washington Park with a man he believed to have been Bishop Hubbard....The investigation talked to 16 current and former Albany Police Department officers whose work in the 1960s through the early 1980s regularly involved Washington Park. Each...stated that he had never seen or apprehended Bishop Hubbard in Washington Park....

"Bishop Hubbard underwent a polygraph examination,...and the polygrapher concluded that Bishop Hubbard was truthful when he denied any association with Anthony Bonneau, paying for sex with anyone,...or ever having sex of any kind with anyone.

"There is no evidence to substantiate the allegations of Anthony Bonneau....There is evidence suggesting that Bishop Hubbard may have been misidentified as a result of the activities of one or more former Albany priests who frequented Washington Park...."

ON THE MINKLER ALLEGATIONS

"Two documents surfaced in the media,...asserting that Bishop Hubbard had sexual relationships with three other named priests in the Albany Diocese. The first of these documents is the Minkler Letter,...dated June 10, 1995....The other document is the Minkler Notes, a set of handwritten notes signed by Father John Minkler; it is dated January 9, 2001....

"Bishop Hubbard voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination and was questioned as to whether he had ever had sex of any kind with another person. The polygrapher concluded that Bishop Hubbard was truthful when he denied ever having sex with another person....

"We have found no evidence to support the sexually-related allegations against Bishop Hubbard contained in the Minkler Letter and Notes....

"The sworn statements [by the Bishop and the priests named by Father Minkler] and the consistent results of the polygraph tests of the parties named in these allegations provide ample evidence that these uncorroborated allegations are false....There is also no evidence to substantiate the allegations that Bishop Hubbard ever led a homosexual lifestyle or engaged in homosexual relations at any time."

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS

"We have conducted a very thorough, objective and independent investigation into the various allegations of sexual misconduct that have been made against Bishop Hubbard....

"In sum, we found no credible evidence to substantiate the investigated allegations. Future allegations of a similar nature...should be met with considerable skepticism and should be very carefully scrutinized for their factual basis.

"The atmosphere in parts of the Albany Diocese has become so charged that there appears to be little or no room for reasoned discussion. Any claim of clergy abuse tends to be all too often treated as a cause for adversarial rather than thoughtful response. Any objective examination or questioning of the facts by a third party, independent or otherwise, is cast as assisting in the protection of pedophiles.

"Regardless of the perceived shortcomings of Bishop Hubbard or the Diocese in handling claims of clergy abuse victims, or their views of liturgical and social issues, there is no justification for the promulgation of the unsupported and provocative allegations discussed here. The allegations and conduct we have seen serve only to retard the discovery and remediation of legitimate allegations of sexual abuse by the clergy.

"We sincerely hope that this Report will lead in some way to the opening of new avenues of civil discussion, and a reexamination of the parties' respective conduct, in an effort to find common ground where the emphasis is on assisting actual victims of clergy sexual abuse"....

"It is apparent that rumor, innuendo, and 'conjecture' have prevailed over reasoned examination....Subsequent allegations of this sort should be met with considerable skepticism and scrutiny."

Lawyer's tactics outlined

The following material appears in an appendix to "The Report of the Independent Investigation," released June 24 by Mary Jo White. The entire text can be read at www.evangelist.org.

ON JOHN ARETAKIS

"On March 22, 2004, attorney John Aretakis released a typed statement to the Albany press signed by Mrs. Judy Berben, the widow of a former Albany police officer....The next day, in a March 23, 2004 statement, Mrs. Berben said:...'I strongly deny statements attributed to me by John Aretakis. [He] has twisted my words for his own agenda, and added on to the statement with things that are not true.'...

"The investigation spoke to one of Mr. Aretakis' former clients, who...requested confidentiality. This former client described [an] incident in which Mr. Aretakis urged the client to sign an affidavit that included a factual assertion that the former client did not personally know to be true and actually believed to be incorrect....Mr. Aretakis stated that the factual assertion was necessary so that the media would pick up on it. Mr. Aretakis subsequently submitted this affidavit to a court and released it to the media.

"The investigation also learned of two other instances in which John Aretakis and Andrew Zalay had contacted people and urged them to bring allegations against Bishop Hubbard. First,...Andrew Zalay told a man, who requested confidentiality, that Attorney John Aretakis had 'an anonymous letter' stating that the man had a relationship with the Bishop when the man was an altar boy. The man told Andrew Zalay that there was no basis for the claim, that he had never been an altar boy, and that he and Bishop Hubbard were actually close in age....

"Mr. Aretakis himself made the other call....He told another man, who also requested confidentiality, that he had information that the man had been an altar boy at a Troy church and had been in a sexual relationship with Bishop Hubbard....The man described being outraged at the call, and told Mr. Aretakis that he had never been an altar boy and had never even met Bishop Hubbard until recent years when they met at a charity event."

(7/1/04)