Robert A. Ward

Infobox Person
name =Robert A. Ward


caption =Spring, 1982

In February 2002, Rev. Robert A. Ward was one of the many priests accused of child molesting during the Catholic sex abuse cases scandal. [cite web | url=http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories/020802_priests.htm | title= Abuse in the Catholic Church / Scandal and coverup | publisher=The Boston Globe | year=2002 | accessdate=2008-06-13] [cite web | url=http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories/020902_stunned.htm | title= Abuse in the Catholic Church / Cardinal Law and the laity | publisher=The Boston Globe | year=2002 | accessdate=2008-06-13] [cite web | url=http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/map/archmap_0303_rev.swf | title= Abuse in the Archdiocese: Priests Suspended, Charged, or Convicted in 2002 | publisher=The Boston Globe | year=2002 | accessdate=2008-06-13]

Records show that the archdiocese knew at least as early as 1995 that the pastor used cocaine and had been treated for drug abuse. The records also show that in 1999 Ward admitted to downloading of child pornography from the internet, a discovery made when a technician repaired Ward's computer and noticed the sexually explicit material. After Ward's admission, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law placed him on health leave but allowed him to retain his title as pastor of Holy Ghost parish in Whitman. The following month, Ward submitted his resignation to Cardinal Bernard Francis Law due to what he described to another church official as serious personal health reasons. Ward remained on health leave until January 2001, when Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, following a Review Board recommendation, reassigned him as a special projects development officer at the church's development office and allowed him to live at St. Mary's rectory in Dedham, Massachusetts. The assignment ended, when a local man alleged that Ward had sexually molested him in 1976 or 1977, when Ward was assigned to Our Lady of the Presentation parish in Brighton. [cite web | url=http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories3/121202_documents.htm | title= Abuse in the Catholic Church / Scandal and coverup | publisher=The Boston Globe | year=2002 | accessdate=2008-06-13]

He then was suspended in 2002 from the ministry by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. [cite web | url=http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news/2003_03_05_Robinson_DeepCuts.htm | title= Bishop Accountability | publisher=BishopAccountability.org | year=2003 | accessdate=2008-06-13]

References