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February 20, 2004/Shevat 28 5764, Vol. 56, No. 22
Leaving the scene
FLORENCE ECKSTEIN
Publisher
Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien appeared stunned Tuesday, when a jury unanimously found him guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal injury or serious accident. Trial testimony revealed that last June 14, the bishop struck Jim L. Reed with his car so severely that his windshield was shattered.
The bishop testified under oath that "the thought never occurred" to him that he might have hit a pedestrian.
In the 36 hours immediately following the accident, the bishop went home, ate leftover pizza, attended a family gathering, evaded attempts by police to contact him and tried to get his windshield repaired.
O'Brien, for 21 years the leader of the nearly 500,000-member Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, told the jury he failed to answer repeated phone calls or to open his door, because "I just felt like I wanted to be by myself."
This ordained cleric who ran from the scene of an accident and then hid from authorities had failed to master a basic religious teaching: "A person is always liable for his actions, whether awake or asleep." (Babylonian Talmud).
In retrospect, the bishop's actions were consistent with an established pattern of behavior: denying knowledge of wrongdoing and declining to take responsibility.
His life began to unravel in May 2002, when the Maricopa County Attorney's office launched an investigation of charges that O'Brien's office had allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children and women to continue working in the diocese. Dozens of alleged victims and their families stepped forward. Boston's then-Cardinal Law said that he sent troubled priests to Phoenix because it was one of the "dioceses with policies that are less restrictive than ours."
After six priests were indicted, O'Brien signed a deal with the county attorney granting him immunity in exchange for acknowledging that over two decades he had "allowed Roman Catholic priests under my supervision to work with minors after becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct." When the deal became public knowledge, O'Brien attempted to recant his admission of culpability.
Two weeks later, he struck Jim Reed and fled the scene.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he has acted irresponsibly as a religious professional, as a communal leader and as a thinking adult.
Following the hit-and-run, O'Brien spent a month chilling out at the beach in San Diego, then returned to his comfortable church-owned residence in north-central Phoenix, dining at nice restaurants, enjoying the opera - and astonishingly, conducting Mass.
Whatever his sentence, it is time for this convicted felon to withdraw from the Valley social scene, to weigh the impact of his wrongdoing and to embark on a mission of face-to-face service to the community he wronged. Perhaps in time he will begin to make amends for the harm he allowed to children and their families, to Jim Reed and his family, and to the Catholic faithful.
Contact the writer at flo_eckstein@jewishaz.com.
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