T. AGATHA, MAINE, March 5, 2002: “The Catholic roots of this far-northern valley are about as deep as they get,” begins this Associate Press Report. “More than two centuries after Catholics marked the land with a large cross, people in and around this town named for a martyred saint are still steeped in the faith. So naturally they were stunned last month when the Rev. Michael Doucette, under orders from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maine, announced that 22 years ago he was “intimately involved” with a 15- year-old boy in another parish. “You could hear a pin drop in that church,” said one parishioner, Carole Plourde. But since then, the community has faced what many consider an even more painful trial. The diocese asked the parish council here to decide whether it wants to keep Father Doucette or have him removed. After the accusations of child molesting by priests in Boston, several dioceses, including New Hampshire’s and Philadelphia’s, immediately suspended any priests ever accused of abusing children. In recent weeks, diocese after diocese across the country have publicly acknowledged that they tried to rehabilitate priests accused of molesting children rather than remove them. The issue is of concern to Hindus, some of whom send their children to Catholic schools because they believe them to be more disciplined.
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